Excerpt from Diana by Phil Craig, Tim Clayton, plus links to reviews, author biography & more

When the weather looked good, Mary Clarke would plan an excursion to nearby Brancaster beach, where the Spencers had an old wooden beach hut. They would get the cook to pack up a big picnic basket and they would fill the Land Rover with dogs and children -- Diana, Charles and their friends. Other local families had huts there, and sometimes the excursions would involve several nannies and all their children. It was a thrill for everyone. The first excursion to Brancaster in the spring was always a big event. Since the previous autumn the winter winds would have reshaped the sand dunes and blown them all over the huts. All the way there, the children would be guessing how many steps to the hut would have been covered and how much digging would have to be done to excavate them.

At the beginning of the track to the beach huts Diana would shout, 'Let the dogs out! Let the dogs out' And they would all rush along, having a race to see who arrived at the beach hut first. As soon as we got there Diana would rush out to get water for the dogs to drink. We'd be trying to scrape away at the steps of the beach hut, seeing which of us had won the competition to see how many steps would be covered by the winter winds. And when we got to the hut and unloaded the jeep, Diana would be rushing around setting everything up, getting the water on so that we could all have a drink, and rushing off to the sea. Diana was always trying to do about a hundred things all together, just to get everyone settled in and organised. She did like everything to be totally organised. And then they would rush down -- the beach huts were built in the dunes -- so you ran down from the dunes on to the beach and they would have competitions to see who could take off from the top, and jump the farthest down on to the beach. Some of them used to roll the whole way down on to the beach.

They were really happy, carefree times down at the beach because you were free to roam anywhere. The sea was safe when the tide was in. And if the tide was out it would leave pools of water to swim in and huge expanses of sand. They could wander round collecting shells too.

I would tell them stories. We'd find the conch-type shells and hold them to our ears and see who could hear the sea the loudest. Diana, of course, always heard the sea the loudest.

And I would tell them stories of different places, of different seas. Diana loved to live in an imaginary world where everything was happy. She always wanted everything to be happy. And we were very happy down at Brancaster.

But the children did not need to go to the seaside to play. The house was big and full of toys and the wrought-iron banisters were perfect for sliding down. There was a grand piano in the music room at the back of the house from which the windows looked out over the climbing frame to the lawn, and beyond that the fenced hard tennis court. Behind the tennis court, up against the park fence, was a swimming pool with two diving boards and a slide. On baking summer days, Park House was very popular with the children who lived near by on the Sandingham estate, girls like Alexandra Lloyd, daughter of the Queen's land agent, and Penelope Ashton, the vicar's daughter, and even with the Royal Family. Although Diana and Charles only visited Sandringham House by invitation, Princes Andrew and Edward frequently dropped by unannounced at Park House. Mary Clarke used to watch Diana play with them.

Diana knew she was a very good swimmer and she used to take every opportunity to show off. She used to love nothing more than when we had crowds of people round the pool. Much against her father's wishes -- and she knew she wasn't really allowed to do this -- she'd run to the top of the slide and stand there poised -- and she was beautiful and slim -- and shout to everyone, 'Look at me! Look at me!' knowing that her father wouldn't reprimand her in front of everyone else, and execute this beautiful dive into the pool.

Copyright © 2001 by Tim Clayton & Phil Craig and Brook Lapping Productions.