{"id":240391,"date":"2023-11-04T11:51:56","date_gmt":"2023-11-04T11:51:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lovemainstream.com\/?p=240391"},"modified":"2023-11-04T11:51:56","modified_gmt":"2023-11-04T11:51:56","slug":"james-gilby-was-the-husband-diana-wanted-charles-to-be","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lovemainstream.com\/lifestyle\/james-gilby-was-the-husband-diana-wanted-charles-to-be\/","title":{"rendered":"James Gilby was &apos;the husband Diana wanted Charles to be&apos;"},"content":{"rendered":"<h1>James Gilbey was &#8216;the husband Diana wanted Charles to be&#8217;, royal expert claims, as the pair&#8217;s &#8216;Squidygate&#8217; phone-call revealed &#8216;the Princess&#8217;s deep loneliness&#8217;<\/h1>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Royal expert Emily Andrews spoke about the marriage on Channel 5 programme\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>READ MORE:\u00a0The Crown recreates one of the last ever photos of Princess Diana on Mohamed Al-Fayed&#8217;s yacht<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>James Gilbey was &#8216;the husband Princess Diana\u00a0wanted Charles to be&#8217;, a royal expert has said.<\/p>\n<p>Journalist Emily Andrews said the late royal&#8217;s friend &#8216;acts as her confidant&#8217; in a famously leaked intimate phone-call between the pair &#8211; notoriously known at the &#8216;Squidygate&#8217; recordings, which were leaked to the Sun in the 1990s.<\/p>\n<p>Speaking Channel 5&#8217;s Secrets of The Royal Palaces, which airs tonight, she and other commentators remarked how the tape &#8216;revealed the Princess&#8217;s deep loneliness&#8217; and gave a &#8216;shocking&#8217; insight into her marriage to the then Prince of Wales, Charles.<\/p>\n<p>The tender conversation happened on New Year&#8217;s Eve 1989, while Diana was staying with the Queen at Sandringham.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Mr Gilbey addressed the Princess as &#8216;Squidgy&#8217; and kept saying &#8216;I love you&#8217;, while she told him he made her go &#8216;all jellybags&#8217;.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/10\/31\/16\/77226767-12692805-image-m-68_1698769393193.jpg\" height=\"938\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>James Gilbey (pictured in 1989) was &#8216;like the husband Princess Diana wanted Charles to be&#8217;, a royal expert has suggested<\/p>\n<p>Diana&#8217;s long-time friend Mr Gilbey was then a 35-year-old marketing manager for Team Lotus.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>At the time, Emily explained, Diana and Charles&#8217;s relationship was &#8216;in tatters behind the scenes&#8217;.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;Diana was like a caged bird trapped in Sandringham,&#8217; she told the programme. &#8216;And when we get to New Year&#8217;s Eve of 1989, there she is, actually all alone in her room &#8211; except she wasn&#8217;t. She had a telephone.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>The recording &#8211; which was overheard by radio amateurs including Jane Norgrove and Cyril Reenan &#8211; was a &#8216;shocking&#8217; revelation.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Emily recalled how it laid bare the troubles between Charles and Diana.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;The wife of the heir to the throne being intimate over the telephone in a royal palace with someone who wasn&#8217;t her husband,&#8217; she remarked.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;He acts almost like the husband that she wanted Charles to be. He acts as her confidant.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>Writer Wesley Kerr also told the programme that Mr Gilbey offered the Princess a much-needed ally during a period of loneliness.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;We know now that Diana found that very very difficult, these Christmases at Sandringham,&#8217; he said.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/11\/04\/10\/77231507-12692805-At_the_time_Emily_explained_Diana_and_Charles_s_relationship_was-a-3_1699094906826.jpg\" height=\"1064\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>At the time, Emily explained, Diana and Charles&#8217;s relationship was &#8216;in tatters behind the scenes&#8217;. Both pictured in 1987<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/10\/31\/16\/77226487-12692805-image-m-65_1698769336941.jpg\" height=\"699\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Broadcaster and journalist Emily Andrews (pictured) said the late royal&#8217;s friend &#8216;acts as her confidant&#8217; in a famously leaked intimate phone-call between the pair<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/11\/04\/10\/77226489-12692805-Richard_Kay_pictured_told_the_programme_that_Mr_Gilbey_s_call_sh-a-1_1699094906778.jpg\" height=\"938\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Richard Kay, pictured, told the programme that Mr Gilbey&#8217;s call showed the Princess&#8217;s &#8216;loneliness&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;Even though she was with her boys, but they were really torture for her.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;James Gilbey is an old friend and he&#8217;s&#8230; a shoulder to cry on, somebody to talk to. Handsome young fellow.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;The the precise nature of that relationship cannot be said because neither of them have ever spoken about it,&#8217; the Daily Mail&#8217;s Editor At Large Richard Kay also said.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;It&#8217;s sad because it reveals the Princess&#8217;s deep loneliness, her unhappiness. This apparently perfect marriage was imperfect in every possible way.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>The reporters recounted that the tape was sent to the newspapers one or two years before it made the front page of The Sun.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;As a former royal Sun correspondent myself, you would literally think all your Christmases and New Years had come at once,&#8217; Emily said. &#8216;It would&#8217;ve been a scoop of the decade. Amazing story.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>However &#8211; &#8216;there was a real fear with upsetting the family&#8217;.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/11\/04\/10\/77226773-12692805-Mr_Gilbey_in_1993-a-4_1699094906911.jpg\" height=\"460\" width=\"306\"><br \/>\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/11\/04\/10\/77231859-12692805-Diana_in_1995-a-2_1699094906784.jpg\" height=\"460\" width=\"306\"><\/p>\n<p>The Sun had, alongside releasing a transcript of the tape, also set up a premium phone line &#8211; which cost 36p a minute &#8211; where you could listen to the tape on a loop. Pictured left, Mr Gilbey, and right, Diana<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/10\/31\/16\/77231567-12692805-image-m-64_1698769314868.jpg\" height=\"894\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>The tender conversation happened on New Year&#8217;s Eve 1989, while Diana was staying with the Queen at Sandringham. Diana and Sarah Ferguson pictured at a Christmas Day service in 1989<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/11\/04\/10\/77231831-12692805-Speaking_Channel_5_s_Secrets_of_The_Royal_Palaces_the_latest_ser-a-5_1699094907299.jpg\" height=\"453\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Speaking Channel 5 &#8216;s Secrets of The Royal Palaces, the latest series of which airs on Saturday at 8.30pm, commentators remarked how the tape &#8216;revealed the Princess&#8217;s deep loneliness&#8217;. Charles and Diana pictured in 1987<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;I think with any major, major scoop, any tabloid newspaper is worried about being first,&#8217; she said. &#8216;Yes they want to be first, but being first also carries huge risk.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;I received my copy in 1991,&#8217; Richard added. &#8216;Plain brown envelope, no forwarding address, no letter, just a tape.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;Because of the uncertainty about it, because nobody wanted to be responsible for breaking up what was known as the fairytale marriage, I think media companies hands were stayed and no one did it.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;So the tape was knocking around for a year, two years maybe, before it actually came out.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>The Sun had, alongside releasing a transcript of the tape, also set up a premium phone line &#8211; which cost 36p a minute &#8211; where you could listen to the tape on a loop.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;Knowing Diana as I did I&#8217;m sure she was probably one of the first to phone in and listen to it,&#8217; the Princess&#8217;s former bodyguard Ken Wharfe told the show.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;Why not? Why would you not do it?&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>He explained that the late royal was also keen for any proof to show that she was being monitored.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;All the things Diana was looking for was evidence to say &#8220;look, I&#8217;m not wrong here&#8221;,&#8217; he added.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;So yeah of course she would&#8217;ve listened to it and would&#8217;ve laughed about it and thought &#8220;well, you know, that&#8217;s what I&#8217;m telling you.&#8221;&#8216;<\/p>\n<p>Ken also remarked that Diana wasn&#8217;t worried about Charles in the aftermath, but rather, her mother-in-law.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;I remember being back at Kensington Palace soon thereafter in the sort of fallout from that because of her sense of duty to Her Majesty the Queen,&#8217; he said.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;I think she was always concerned about what she might think &#8211; she certainly wasn&#8217;t concerned about what her husband might think.&#8217;\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;The timing couldn&#8217;t have been worse for Diana because she was on holiday with the rest of the royal family at Balmoral [in 1992],&#8217; Emily added.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>This week&#8217;s episode of\u00a0Secrets of The Royal Palaces also looks at the time the late Queen spent with\u00a0Prince Phillip at Villa Guardamangia on Malta, an &#8216;erotic&#8217; gift which Prince Albert gifted his wife Queen Victoria and the deeply intimate relationship James I had with George Villiers.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><span>Secrets of The Royal Palaces is out on Channel 5, Saturday, 8.30pm<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Source: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/femail\/article-12692805\/James-Gilbey-husband-Diana-wanted-Charles-royal-expert-claims-pairs-Squidygate-phone-call-revealed-Princesss-deep-loneliness.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Read Full Article<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>James Gilbey was &#8216;the husband Diana wanted Charles to be&#8217;, royal expert claims, as the pair&#8217;s &#8216;Squidygate&#8217; phone-call revealed &#8216;the Princess&#8217;s deep loneliness&#8217; Royal expert Emily Andrews spoke about the&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":240390,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>James Gilby was &amp;apos;the husband Diana wanted Charles to be&amp;apos; 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