Diana Inquest: Princess's 'Paranoia' Made Life Difficult For Jephson
Written by Joanne Leyland
Friday, 25 January 2008
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Diana, Princess of Wales' former Private Secretary, Patrick Jephson, has told the High Court inquest into her death that the princess’s patronage of astrologers
and clairvoyants fed the "paranoia" which lurked beneath the surface.
As previously documented in Jephson’s autobiography of life behind the walls of
Kensington Palace, Diana was always especially eager to be told details of what
the future held for Prince Charles.
Mystics and astrologers regularly warned the princess that the prince would never
accede to the throne because he would suffer a terrible accident or even be
killed before he was able to fulfil his destiny to be crowned king.
The former royal aide, who worked for Diana from 1990 to 1996, was asked
by Jonathan Hough QC, representing the Coroner, about statements he’d made in
his 2000 autobiography, Shadows of A Princess.
In the book, which painted an overall negative portrait of Diana, Commander
Jephson wrote that the soothsayers and astrologers to whom Diana increasingly turned
from 1993 onwards "fed the paranoia that never lurked far below her surface."
Jephson told the court when questioned about Diana's reliance on such associates and their prophecies: "I thought it was a harmful
effect and certainly made my job more difficult."
The former Navy Officer also spoke of the princess’s reliance on what she
referred to as "Fergie’s witch woman".
Although it isn’t clear to whom Diana was referring, in the weeks before her official
separation from Prince Andrew in 1992, Sarah made headline news for her own
reliance on alternative therapies.
These included visits to her favourite healer, Madame Vasso, during
which the Duchess sat beneath a large blue triangle as part of a
process to remove negative energies.
