My memories of Princess Diana

I saw Princess Diana three times, each time it was just a brief glimpse of a young woman who was to become an extraordinary icon for this country and around the world both in her life and in her tragic death 20 years ago today. The first time was her wedding day. I was working for the Daily Express as a reporter. The huge black-glass-fronted building was at the bottom end of Fleet Street, and leaning out of one of the front windows provided a wonderful view of the steps of St Paul's Cathedral. And there she was, walking gingerly up the steps in her magificent billowing meringue wedding dress with its long long long train falling back down the steps. She didn't glance back but that view had a lasting affect on me. It was truly a princess moment, totally romantic and emotional. Much later that day, I left the Daily Express and caught my train home from Waterloo. As my train began to quicken after leaving the station, another train drew up and went past. And there she was again!! She was standing with her husband, the Prince of Wales, at the back of the special royal train which had a little viewing gallery. Dressed now in her going-away outfit, she looked blissfully happy and a little overwhelmed. That was my second brief glimpse. The third occasion I cannot put into any sort of chronological order. I'm not sure when it was. But I was driving around Buckingham Palace and preparing to head off down Constitution Hill towards Hyde Park Corner when a limousine came out of a side gate at the Palace. Princess Diana was sitting in the back on her own and she turned and waved at the top windows of the Palace. No one seemed to be waving back. But it was one of those moments which summed up the youth and vitality of Diana. None of these experiences makes me an expert on Diana. There are so many of those around, some of them making pots of money thanks to their various relationships with her. But, like everyone else in the country not living in Buckingham Palace, my briefest of views of the princess uplifted me and placed me firmly on her side, whatever happened later in her short life. She was beautiful, wonderfully coy, and a genuinely caring human being who deserved total happiness but spent much of her life in personal anguish. As Tony Blair famously said (scripted by Alastair Campbell, his press secretary), Diana was the people's princess and she will always remain so. Certainly in my eyes.