Diana’s friends sell private letters for R3.2 million

Over 25 years after the death of the “queen of hearts”, Princess Diana, the British press’s handling of the royal is still a lucrative business. 

Diana was very open about her dismay at the British media’s tactics to get intimate details about her life, her divorce from then Prince Charles and the paparazzi following her every move. 

It has been reported that letters Diana wrote detailing her feelings about her and Charles’s divorce, which was widely covered across the globe in the early to mid-1990s, dabbed the ‘War of the Waleses”, were sold at a private auction. 

R3 million for Diana’s private letters

News24 reported that 32 letters written by Diana were sold at an auction in Cornwall, by Lay’s Auctioneers.

One of the letters was dated 17 December 1996, just seven months before Diana’s death on 31 August 1997. 

In one of the letters, she wrote: “I’m on my knees and just longing for this divorce to go through as the possible cost is tremendous”.

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The letter was written to Diana’s close friends Susie and Tarek Kassem, and was in their possession prior to the sale. 

News24 further reported that the decision for Kassem to sell the letters was because she didn’t want to pass the letters and notes on to their children or grandchildren as they were “poignant documents”. 

In another letter dated 20 May 1996, reported by the BBC, Diana wrote: “If I had known a year ago what I’d experience going through this divorce, I’d never have consented – it’s desperate and ugly”.

The letters and notes sold were dated between the late summer of 1995 to the spring of 1997.

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Because the contents of the letters deal, Lay Auctioneers said it was rare for them to be sold at an auction. They added the letters show how much the princess loved her friends. 

In one note to Kassem, Diana said: “I am lost for words for all the lovely things you bring into my life when many people would have deserted this ship!” 

The proceeds will go to charities fond of the late royal and her friend Susie.

Diana and Charles’s divorce was finalised in August 1996.  

She hoped 1997 was going to be an easier year – writing on Christmas Day in 1996, she said: “I will top myself if I remain here”. 

Adding: “I hope that ’97 will be an easier year for us all”. This was the highest letter sold at the auction, at £26,000 (approximately R574 400). 

All 32 notes and letters were sold for £145,55- R3.2 million. A clear indication that Diana’s popularity hasn’t waned down since her death. 

Many items belonging to Diana have been sold over the years, the most recent being a pendant worn by her in 1987, which socialite Kim Kardashian bought for R3.4 million.

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*Compiled by Sandisiwe Mbhele