And Another Thing | 2 February 2008

The litigation about the death of Princess Diana drags on, to the confusion of most of us, the satisfaction of none, and I imagine to the great distress of her two sons. And what is forgotten in this grimy attempt to prove conspiracy theory is the woman herself, a true princess of delight and fantasy. She was a wonderful example of a certain type of gifted woman, the epitome of whom is Rosaline in Love’s Labours Lost. She always insisted that she was uneducated (though her handwriting was excellent) and far from intelligent — ‘thick as two planks’ was the expression she used. But I have never met anyone, male or female, who had such strong powers of intuition. And intuition, I have come to realise, is often as important, sometimes more important, than intellect. She could not reason very well but she could intuit, deeply and instantly, and this enabled her often to understand people the moment she met them, and to communicate with them, to their enormous delight.