Legendary British film director Sir Richard Attenborough has revealed details of his fatherly friendship with Princess Diana for the first time in his newly published autobiography Entirely up to you, Darling. “I hadn’t ever gone into that publicly, but when we decided to do the book I thought I’d better make it absolutely clear and correct,” he told stv.tv.
Lord Attenborough, who has a secluded hideaway on the Isle of Bute, said he first met the Princess after receiving a request from Prince Charles while he was abroad.
“Prince Charles had just got married, and he wrote to me and asked me if I would coach his new young wife with public speaking, because she was very nervous and very frightened and self conscious.
“Of course, I immediately said yes (it was a good looking girl again in my life) and I got to know her quite well,” said the director of Gandhi.
Remembering the difficult times in Diana’s very public life, the 85-year-old revealed the difficult situation he found himself in as a confidant who didn’t want to overstep the mark.
He said: “Very difficult times, cruel times in many ways. We didn’t come <em>in loco parentis</em> (in place of parents) because her father was still alive at that time, but we tried to cosset her and look after her.
“She became very close to us. She was very kind to me and helped me with some of my charities and she knew the children, and so when she went it was an awful, terrible shock.”
After a glittering career in tandem to his equally famous broadcasting brother David, Lord Attenborough revealed he has found happiness, quietly enjoying the peace and quiet in a small corner of Scotland.
“We absolutely adore it, I mean <em>really</em> adore it. Firstly, it’s the privacy and the silence. In London there’s bloody aircraft going over every fifteen seconds.
“It’s so beautiful; Bute, Scotland is so beautiful. I think it’s one of the great, great beauties of the world.”
