Missing “The Boss” after 15 Years

It’s 15 years ago today that I got up for work, turned on the television and my life changed. I still remember listening to the news anchor telling the world that Princess Diana had been killed in a car crash in Paris. I remember staring at the TV, not believing a word of what he was saying.

I mean, “The boss” was coming back to London today, meeting “the boys’ at VIP Heathrow and we were all going to have a happy few days together at Kensington Palace before William and Harry returned to Ludgrove school. I know that because she told me before she left.  It couldn’t be true, it just couldn’t, besides, I had the food for dinner that night, I was going to cook their favorite meal. I knew the Princess would like that, she would be spoiling them too because she hadn’t seen them since they went off to Balmoral to spend part of the summer vacation with their father.

I called the Palace, cursed because I couldn’t get through. All the lines were busy, the whole world wanted confirmation. I got in my car and drove to Kensington Palace… and took the food with me for her dinner.

Princess Diana was like a beacon of light when she walked into a room. Everyone stopped and stared at her. I admired the way she faced her challenges, where most people would see the difficulty in each opportunity she saw the opportunity in every difficulty.   I miss her sense of humor, her risqué jokes in the kitchen while she was having lunch. And I miss seeing the way she interacted with “her boys” that she adored. I know that today will be a tough day William and Harry. At such a young age when she died I don’t think either of them really know how much their mother impacted so many lives around the world.

I do know though that the four years I spent rattling pans in the Kensington Palace kitchens for Princess Diana and the boys were some of the happiest years of my life.