Description:

Diana of Wales Princess

Princess Diana ALS thanking her voice coach


Boldly scripted ALS, 6.25" x 4", rendered in black felt tip on a Kensington Palace stationary card with Diana's crest, rimmed in a red border. Dated "21.9.92" and signed by Princess Diana with a large flourish as "Diana". Slight faded handling mark to verso, else near fine. Accompanied by an unaddressed mailing envelope with the name "Peter" scripted in her hand and signed a second time with the letter "D" to the front.


An ALS from Diana to her voice coach Peter Settelen, whom Diana worked with extensively between 1992 and 1993. However, the date of this thank you note to Peter was on the day of the most infamous early tape, the one in which Diana bared her life and divulged her most intimate thoughts to Peter on tape. Her simple, slightly cryptic but emotional thank you card asserts: "Dear Peter, As always an enormous thank you for responding so promptly to the request! …" And the unaddressed envelope would imply it was handed to him rather than mailed.


Diana had originally hired Peter to help her improve her public speaking as most of her early speeches demonstrated she had little skill as a speaker. But after working with Settelen, she improved dramatically. When Settelen began to work with Diana, he told her she would have to find her own authentic voice if she wanted to excel at public speaking. To that end, he recorded a series of sessions with her in which she described the events of her life. They are charming and candid, and well worth watching.


Settelen has been criticized, of course, for making the tapes public. He had to go to court and fight to get them back after they were found in Paul Burell’s attic. Earlier, Settelen had been told the tapes had been destroyed. Settelen candidly admits they were meant to be private teaching tools. But, as he also says, Diana did not know she was going to die; and the opportunity to hear the story of her life in her own words is a powerful way to preserve her memory.


The date of this thank you card to Peter, was also the very day that Diana first plopped herself on a couch and proceeded to divulge her most illuminating self story ever taped by her. The following 20 tapes that Peter recorded focused more on her practicing interviews and speeches, however, in her session on September 21, Diana instead began to tell Peter all about herself with a frank and wide ranging discussion of her life since her childhood. Later in a 2006 interview, Peter noted "She wanted to be heard, she needed to be heard." Peter later decided to publish them, although he recognized it was a breach of her confidentiality. He noted that she did not know "She was going to die" nor would she know what other people would make up about her in the media during her divorce, or after her death. The tapes were confiscated and only recently managed to be released. 


An absolutely astounding thank you card written by Diana to Peter on September 21, 1992, amidst the tumulus undercurrent of the UK monarchy. The secret tape filmed by Peter with Diana on this very day divulged her past in the most raw state of emotions, as she revealed her intimate details with Prince Charles and her life. A tape which was never intended to see the light of day, but in the end, perhaps saved her image after her death!


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