Friday July 31, 1981

 _. New Moon

Ally had a day in bed feeling lethargic. _________. I came home at 5:30. She looked very pretty.

To Morrison's [a few provisions]. They have a record section. I spotted Beethoven's 'Emperor' concerto and snapped it up. I also enrolled at the local library. Ally took out a couple of Dorothy L. Sayers novels. Back at home we sat drinking coffee, eating chocolate buns and listening with rapture to Ludwig's piano concerto No. 5. Spent the evening 'cuddling'.

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Thursday July 30, 1981

Diana: unmade bed.

 _. Out of bed at 6:30.  Ally looked ghastly but insisted on going into work only to come home and to bed at 10:45. ___________.
Royal wedding round up: some comments in the office. Sarah, a follower of fashion if ever there was one, has no good word to say about the fashions yesterday. Lady Diana 'looked like an unmade bed' in her 'tatty', 'creased', 'crumpled' gown, with a 'hideous veil'. Surely, taffeta is supposed to look crumpled? It didn't end there. Diana's hair was 'like a wet rag'. My dear, sick wife, in Diana's defence, says she looked 'exquisite', and that my work colleagues are nothing but jealous. The Prince and Princess of Wales, we are told, spent the day fishing in the River Test and walking 'hand in hand' in the sprawling grounds of the Broadlands estate.

This evening Ally came downstairs only briefly. She looked horrible.

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Wednesday July 29, 1981

John & Maria.

 _. The wedding day of HRH The Prince of Wales, KG, KT, &c and the Lady Diana Frances Spencer. Ally and I were up and out at 7am to buy newspapers, and then we took up our positions before the Tv set. Angela Rippon was there on the streets whipping up excitement for a couple of hours, and then Tom Fleming took over in time for the processions. Lynn, Dave, Frances, Sue and Pete came at about 10. John and Maria came along later.

Ally.

A potted review of the ceremony: The Queen [in blue] left the palace followed by the Queen Mother [peppermint], all members of the House of Windsor following on. The Prince [of Wales] in an open landau with Prince Andrew, looking tense. Vast crowds lined the Mall. The bride left Clarence House with her father Earl Spencer at about 10:30. The usual fairy princess malarkey, romantic, yards of taffeta, yard after yard of silk &c. The poll at Pine Tops was that the dress was not up to standard. 'Dowdy' was mum's comment. The Emanuels are our greatest designers, but have they erred? The musical part of the service was wonderful. Kiri Te Kanawa sang Handel's 'Samson', and Jeremiah Clarke's 'Trumpet Voluntary' blasted out as the bride made her three minute walk to the altar. For the staggering Earl Spencer it must have been a great ordeal. Diana promised to take 'Philip Charles Arthur George' as her wedded husband, and Charles promised to endow his bride with HER worldly goods and not his. The Queen Mother looked tearful, toying with her handkerchief. The Queen, tense, as she always is. After the signing of the register the bride and groom came down the aisle to Elgar's 'Pomp and Circumstance' March No. 4. Tumultuous drive back to the palace. Wildly cheering crowds. Kisses on the balcony. Flags waving. They left in a landau for Waterloo Station and on to Broadlands. Charlie has done it at last.

We left Guiseley at about 10. A good family gathering.

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Tuesday July 28, 1981

Nancy: fish out of water/

 _.Got a bus to Guiseley at 5:30 and Ally met me there. We went to Pine Tops to watch the Prince of Wales and Lady Diana interviewed. It was recorded in the summer house at Buckingham Palace in the middle of last week. A touching, simple little interview. I thought Lady Diana looked very thin and pale. From tomorrow I do hope that the couple will be afforded some privacy to lead a normal existence. We don't want our future Queen to spend her life in a Tetbury asylum.

There was a Hyde Park fireworks spectacular tonight for the 'crowned heads of Europe'. Fireworks are very nice if you like that sort of thing. They sat Nancy Reagan next to a Mandingo chieftain. She looked like a fish out of water.

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Monday July 27, 1981

 _. Back to the YP. Sarah, it seems, lost the 'royal wedding ballot' and is working on Wednesday. She isn't all that bothered about looking in on the royal nuptials.

Ash Tree Cottage this evening almost buzzed with activity. After eating I bottled almost 20 bottles of lager, then brewed another gallon. One never knows when cousin Steve might drop in for a slurp.

Watched 'Far from the Madding Crowd' starring Julie Christie and Peter Finch. Such a depressing take of woe. Thomas Hardy's books always have an aura of melancholy which is quite unique.

Crowds on the Mall.

Royal wedding fever is getting to everyone now. Crowds are already gathering on the streets of London. Old ladies lagged in the Union flag, encamped on the Mall. A gang of punk rockers, would-be rioters, waving plastic flags with gusto outside Clarence House. The Queen Mother, ill with a leg ulcer, has the press convinced that she will miss the ceremony. I do not suppose that the Her Majesty would miss the event even if it meant being wheeled into St Paul's in an oxygen tent. I do wish that the press would desist repeating that Lady Diana will be the first English Princess of Wales since the Plantagenet era. Mary of Teck might sound foreign, but she was born at Kensington Palace to an English princess mother
.

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Sunday July 26, 1981

 _. 6th Sunday after Trinity

Warm. A morning in bed with the sunlight hurtling in through the curtains. We took a leisurely breakfast.

Slumped on the settee watching a John Mills film Ally remarked upon my indolence. Taking this as a hint I took up a bucket of hot, soapy water and gave the car a good clean. It cannot have been touched since the Spring.

We lunched on lamb chops, cauliflower cheese and new potatoes. Absolutely delicious.

Sue & Pete: anniversary.

Royal stuff on the news. The Prince of Wales and his team playing polo at Windsor v. Spain. Lady Diana, like a frightened rabbit, was at the back of the royal box and refused to come out. The poor Queen was entertaining Nancy Reagan, but the 'First Lady' left the match early surrounded by secret service and CIA agents. 

To Pine Tops at 7, first calling at Sue and Pete's with an anniversary card. It's their first today. John, Maria and the children were with Mum and Dad. Catherine was eating a banana like a tiny chimpanzee. Maria was complaining about her throat - another case of tonsilitis. 

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Saturday July 25, 1981

Diana: tears.

 _. Ally made me go shopping with her. I was opposed to the idea. We stamped around John Street Market buying lamb chops and bunches of grapes, but without enthusiasm. We were home at 4. Ally concocted a lasagne, but we didn't eat until 9. We have arranged to go to Mum's tomorrow evening. To avoid the Royal International Horse Show on the telly we switched over to BBC2 and Boris Karloff.

Royal wedding trivia: Poor Lady Diana is giving in to her nerves in these final, gruelling days before the royal nuptials. At a polo match in Hampshire she burst into tears following a harrowing experience with ardent photographers and she was led away, quite desolate, by Lord and Lady Romsey. She didn't stay long enough to see the Prince of Wales strike a ball. Obviously, news coverage of the event are taking the angle that the bride is about to call off the greatest royal event since the restoration of King Charles II.

Bed followed the lasagne.

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