exclusive: Marie's revelation about the Princess Diana momento

Princess Diana & the late Marie Sutton in Sydney

Marie Sutton was the ex-nurse who conceived of a plan in 1995 to bring the late Princess Diana to Sydney to launch a new charity and medical research facility, the Victor Chang Institute. Victor Chang was a world renowned heart surgeon who was gunned down in a Sydney street by two thugs in a failed kidnap and ransom plot.

Much to Sutton's surprise, and the establishment figures behind her plan, Princess Diana phoned Sutton and said she would be happy to launch the institute and it would be her very last charity appearance before retiring to private life.
And the rest is history.

The Shuttle has written extensively about Marie Sutton over the years- she was fairly good pal having met her at various events in Sydney during Diana's visit.
You can read those tales here : 'Princess Diana broke up my marriage' 

and :  'Marie turns down a $1.6M for the "Diana Diaries'.
But there is one piece of information Marie Sutton told Whispers which we have never revealed before and promised not to while Sutton was alive. Marie passed away at age 73 in September from lung disease.
Only half a dozen people have ever been onto the island at Althorp, the family seat, which is where Diana's grave is. On a visit to Althorp Marie was escorted to the island by Diana's brother Earl Charles Spencer in 1997. And there she found a small memento placed on Diana's grave by her two sons.
It was a small silver box inside which was a locket containing a photo of Diana and her two sons William and Harry. It was to be buried with her coffin and had been placed there in a private ceremony by the boys.

Only a handful of people have ever been to the island where Princess Diana is buried. Marie Sutton was one of them.

Meghan Markle says the Mail distorted her father's letter

Click on link:

Meghan Markle Claims Mail Suppressed Key Parts of Her Letter to her Father About 'Exploitation by British Tabloid

Tales from The Dreamtime # 2

"I think JFK was murdered"

Thus concludes an article in the Aussie Who Magazine. It's a quote from the colourful ex-mayor of Geelong, former "King of The Paparazzi" and "media personality" Darryn Lyons, he of the hot pink cockatoo hairstyle.
We reckon Darryn's pretty spot on with this observation. A quick perusal of the shocking Zapruder Film shot on the day the US President died clearly shows something dreadful happened.
Apparently Lyons also believes the late Princess Diana may have died because of a conspiracy.

Whispers worked with Diana for three days on her last ever charity appearance : the launch of the Victor Change Institute in Sydney in 1995.

It was quite a shock to read some time later she was apparently having an affair with Dodi Fayed. Whispers had known Dodi in London for years and formed a quartet of party-goes and clubbers that included the actress Britt Ekland.
Most nights of the week we clambered into Britt's tiny black Mini, a gift from her ex-husband Peter Sellers and did the rounds of the West End clubs, like Maunkberrys and  Annabels.

One day out of the blue Whispers was invited to lunch with the then relatively unknown Mohamed Fayed. Mr Fayed had heard of our nightly jaunts and was perturbed about our mode of transport. He doted on Dodi. Fayed loaned Whispers a Mercedes for a year from his collection and requested we drive our little group about in what he said was a much safer vehicle.

When the ill-fated pair died in that Paris tunnel Fleet Street tabloids beat a path to Whispers door wanting the low-down on Dodi's' nightly activities, offering  big bucks for the story. We declined out of respect of Mr. Fayed's feelings even though there was much to tell.

Lyons says Princess Diana appeared on his doorstep one day to request that he photograph her ex Prince Charles and not her. Odd really as Lyons Big Picture photo agency was only created in London in 2002 and was dissolved in 2012. Diana died in 1997.

Darryn says he has photographs of Diana dying in that safe Mercedes taken by a paparazzi who worked for him, stored in safes around the world. We always believed the French police confiscated the paparazzi's film on that dreadful night.

In 2008 at the British inquest into the tragic accident the jury concluded Princess Diana and her companion Dodi Fayed had been unlawfully killed by a combination of the driving of their Mercedes by their chauffeur Henri Paul and the driving of following vehicles - the posse of paparazzi photographers who were dogging their final journey.
We'll just leave that one there.

Awards

 Don your sunglasses before reading this: 

Two of Australia's vintage fashion designers received the Order of Australia in the Queen's Birthday Honours on Monday.

Linda Jackson and Jenny Kee reigned supreme in the 80s with their colorful outfits.
Living in New York at the time Whispers could easily spot a visiting tourist from Oz as they sported their multi-colored Jenny Kee pullover.
Even the late Princess Diana wore one to the Polo. Apparently Prince William loved it.

Snapped

TV presenter Sam Armytage has been tweeting about the dreaded paparazzi hounding her at Bondi Beach. To nip them in the bud she posted this snap on Instagram. And who is the chap Sam is getting up close and personal with on the far right ?. it's designer Jonathan Ward who has been responsible for the successful revival of the iconic Aussie brand R.M.Williams.

The annual Fag Hag 2018 bash went off with masses of wigs and hairspray at The Star Sydney as a lead-up to the Gay & Lesbian Mardi Gras (pics by Belinda Rolland)

The Bay Soiree at the Watson's Bay Boutique Hotel raised funds for the Victor Chang Institute (launched in 1995 by the late Princess Diana as her last public charity event). Artistic duo Charles & Krista Billich (left) attended 
(pics by Belinda Rolland)

And last but not least: our snaps from the sensational Inaugural Grammy Awards party hosted by Steven Tyler in Los Angeles to raise funds (nearly $2M !) for Janie's Fund which assists young girls from across America who have suffered from trauma and abuse. Our own Ruby Rose was there along with..some Kardashians (it's not a party without a Kardashian) Alice Cooper with Sharon Stone while Tyler performed.

Princess Diana broke up My Marriage

The charity worker who brought the late Princess Diana to Australia, Marie Sutton has told Whispers how the experience ended up wrecking her marriage.
When Sutton raised the idea of inviting Diana to Sydney to help launch the Victor Change cardiac unit at St Vincent's Hospital to the charity committee organizing the event, no-one thought it could possibly happen. But one week later Marie was astonished to receive a late night phone call from Diana herself who confirmed that not only would she launch the charity, it would be her last public appearance before retiring from the public eye.

The dramas that followed have been well documented as then NSW premier Nevile Wran and a number of society figures tried to wrestle control of the project from Marie. But Diana remained loyal to Sutton and Marie eventually accompanied the Princess during her 4 day visit.
But Sutton now says the stress she suffered as vested powerful interests continually tried to take over the event eventually led to she and husband splitting.
Marie has given an interview to Channel Ten's Studio Ten show with show-biz editor Craig Bennett which you can view below.

The Palace issues a warning..

Marie to tell All about Princess Diana

2017 will be the 20th anniversary of the death of Diana, Princess of Wales who died in Paris after a car accident with Dodi Fayed, the heir to the owner of Harrods, Mohamed Fayed.

Now the Australian charity worker Marie Sutton who engineered the very last public function attended by Diana in Sydney is to author a book on the tumultuous visit to Australia that marked Diana's retreat from public life. A few months later Diana was dead after a world-wind supposed affair with the tempestuous Dodi in the South of France.

Whispers knew Dodi well and lived in his Park Lane apartment for 3 months. Dodi's cocaine habit was legendary and Whispers, a non drug user, once saved the life of the secretary of a famous movie star in Dodi's apartment while Fayed and the movie star were literally, off their heads on cocaine.
                                                                         
Marie conceived of the project to get Diana to launch the Victor Chang Institute on the strength of being a pal of Dr Hasnat Khan who reputedly Diana was obsessed with. Once Diana agreed to come to Australia Sutton found the reins of the visit were snatched from her by then NSW premier Nevile Wran and a coterie of Eastern Suburb's society figures. But Diana remained loyal to Sutton and ensured Marie was by her side at every event during the visit. And we should know. We were there at the same time, once hiding under a rug in the back of a limo with Diana as she was whisked out of the Double Bay Ritz Carlton, avoiding the world's assembled media. It was on that occasion that Diana leaned out of the window of the car as we passed St Mary's Cathedral and she spotted a wedding party ascending the stairs and shouted "Don't do it !". Did the happy couple realize their heckler was the World's Most Famous Woman? . Marie also has the only known photos of Diana's grave on an island at the family property Althorp with some very touching mementos from her sons Princes William & Harry. Having seen them, Whispers has been sworn to secrecy but perhaps they will appear in Marie's expose.

Princess Diana's Aussie pal may write a book

Diana & Sutton

Chatting to Marie Sutton at the Darling Point morning event to launch the AGCF cancer charity (see above) brought some new revelations about the late Princess Diana's last visit to Australia in 1996 to launch the Victor Chang Institute. The visit  was to be Diana's final charity contribution before retiring to private life. Subsequent events have become history but Mrs Sutton revealed that she is seriously contemplating writing a book on her battle to maintain control over the plan which she conceived after contacting her friend Dr Hasnat Khan who was Diana's secret lover.

'My husband Bill kept incredible detailed diaries about the battle I had' says Marie. "Powerful people were desperate to seize control because of Diana's profile but she remained loyal to me". It is no secret that having conceived of the plan, Sutton found herself under intense pressure from figures like the late Nevile Wran who tried to wrestle control from her.

Whispers was lucky to accompany Sutton & Princess Diana on the tour and can confirm that Diana remained steadfastly loyal to her Aussie pal & was fully aware of the political machinations around her visit. When Diana died (and Whispers also had a connection to the late Dodi Fayed having lived in his Park Lane apartment for 3 months during the early 80s) Marie was rewarded by Diana's brother the Earl of Spencer with a personal tour of Diana's resting place on an island in the middle of the Althorp estate. Visitors cannot access the island and trees have been grown to prevent aerial photography of the grave. Marie took some photographs of Diana's resting place which had some extremely touching personal mementos placed upon the grave by her sons William & Harry. Although we have seen the snaps we are sworn to secrecy to never reveal what the items were. Sutton is still offered a small fortune by European publications for the photos.
A book on Sutton's Diana exploits would make fascinating reading.

Intercontinental bash

It was the first of what is expected to be many parties and promotions at the new Double Bay Intercontinental.
Local jeweler Jan Logan one of Australia's top purveyors of fine pearls and other gems celebrated 25 years of being in the Bay with the first official party at the Intercon. Jan also introduced the new 'face' of her range beautiful Perth born actress Courtney Eaton and premiered a film produced, directed by and starring the actress Rachael Taylor, a tribute to Logan.

Among the guests, Marie Sutton, Carla Zampati,Marta Dusseldorp and Georgie Gardner.


above : Marie Sutton
Right : Jan Logan and Courtney Eaton.

Good Reads

Dean Dudley & Marie Sutton

DIANA-SURVIVOR. This book was brought to out attention by Princess Diana's Aussie pal Marie Sutton who organised Diana's last official function before she was to retire- the Victor Chang Institute fundraiser in Sydney in 1996. It's the debut book by British writer Dean Dudley and is available in paperback or Kindle version.                         
Diana-Survivor tells the story of Diana surviving the car crash and giving birth to Dodi Fayed's Muslim son. Some years later, in the wake of 9/11, her child is kidnapped.
 "I can almost imagine this happening " says Marie. "it's a completely believable tale with twists and turns.I loved it". Along with Marie's endorsement it also gets a seal of approval from the Scottish Herald. Buy it here

Ta-ra-ra-boom-de-ay: The dodgy business of popular music  by music figure Simon Napier Bell is a complete history of popular music from the late  1700s- when composers first obtained legal copyright - to the present day. Simon is the best selling author of Black Vinyl White Powder which is described as the definitive history of pop and was included in the UK school curriculum in 2013. 

Simon's books are never boring. His I'm Coming To Take You To Lunch which charts his successful endeavours to get the band he managed WHAM ! as the first Western pop music band to give a concert in China is fascinating. Napier-Bell is also a writer of huge hits for Dusty Springfield & Elvis Presley. Buy it here.

 As You Wish: Inconceivable Tales from the Making of The Princess Bride by actor Cary Elwes who starred in the Princess Bride and Robin Hood Men in Tights, Glory, Days of Thunder, Twister, and Saw and dozens of movies since. Elwes is to direct his first film about the late Kit Lambert the discoverer of The Who & Jimi Hendrix who died in mysterious circumstances in 1983. Cary's book takes you behind the scenes of the making of a Hollywood film and has received rave reviews from the New York Times and US Weekly. Buy it here.

 

Lifesurfing : Your Horoscope Forecast Guide 2015 by noted Astrologer Victor Olliver is an invaluable guide for the coming year. We at the Shuttle still consult our 2014 guide and swear by Olliver's accuracy. Buy it here.

'Aussie' Champagne Great Dies

Nicholas Feuillatte the man behind France's top selling champagne has passed away at the age of 88.

Born in Paris, Feuillatte divided his time between a Parisian townhouse, a Rushcutters Bay penthouse in Sydney and a grand villa in Morocco.  He first made a fortune selling coffee in the USA and in 1976 he took command of his family’s 12-hectare Champagne vineyard at Domaine de Bouleuse, in the Ardre Valley and began to produce the Champagne bearing his own name.

 

It is the number one selling Champagne brand in France and the third biggest-selling Champagne brand in the world. Due to his well known connections with this country in Paris Nicholas Feuillatte Champagne is dubbed "the Aussie champagne".

                                                    And he partied with the jet-set including Princess Diana, Lauren Bacall and Jackie Onassis who were all good friends. One close friend from New York found Nicholas' Moroccan villa to be the perfect holiday hideaway where she could hang out in peace-Great Garbo. In Sydney his close friend was the late Lady Sonia McMahon.

Dreamtime

Melbourne has  Geoffrey Edeslten and Geelong has it's new clown town mayor 

Darryn ("Yes, I knew the Princess of Wales very well") Lyons (who gives jumping onto a trend ten years after it fizzled out new meaning). He's been featured in a Sydney Morning Herald piece titled The Emperor Of Geelong.
 My sources say the piece was heavily legalled and it would seem so as the article by Susan Chenery has less of the usual bite we can expert from the experience interviewer.
Still it gives us some insight into the label dropping (they should sue) , name dropping fantasy that now governs the lives of Victoria's second largest city. Probably the most pertinent sentence comes from Lyon's own lips in respect of Geelong's current troubles with collapsing businesses : "I am certainly not the saviour and I haven't got the magic wand".
# Is that a tasteful Charles Billich work of art on his wall ? I think we should be told.
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Kylie Minogue did a surprise concert last night at the Beresford Hotel in Surry Hills after she spent all day tweeting that should be there.

Nice Set of Wheels

New York got Daniel Craig when the new Range Rover Evoque was launched earlier this year but we got someone far prettier and a tad taller Jennifer Hawkins who did the honours at a rather swell party at the Overseas Terminal.

On the wharf  with a view directly opposite the Opera House it was the perfect evening. Other 'ambassadors' were on hand-George Gregan and Heidi Middleton who joined 250 guests including Skye Leckie, Tom Waterhouse, Magdalena Roze,  Peter Overton & Jessica Rowe for a cocktail party. You really have to sit in one these cars to appreciate them- pure heaven!

Peter Overton, Jessica Rowe, Heidi Middleton & pal, David Novak-Piper, Neale Whittaker, Magdalene Roze, Darren Robertson

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Here is promotional pic from the new film Diana based upon the last turbulent years of the late Princess Diana.  

Naomi Watts plays Diana and bears an uncanny resemblance to the fated royal as the Shuttle's own snap shows taken on Diana's last visit to Australia in 1996.

Plenty of Flavour in this Latte

Transvaal Avenue in Double Bay

While daily newspapers are losing readers at the rate of up to 20% every 6 months, former Fairfax editor Andrew Jaspan says it's the local publications that will be the beneficiaries as readers turn to specialised newspapers. Double Bay's Latte Life, now in it's 3rd year seems to be proving Jaspan right as it goes from strength to strength.

The Shuttle recently witnessed a well known newspaper columnist verbally attack an 18 year old intern from Latte Life over an alleged slight at a recent Kings Cross party- they must be something right.
This week's edition has an up and close interview with the paparazzi Jamie Fawcett who has emerged from the manicured bushes of the Bay-one of his haunts-to give his thoughts on local celebrity hunting, and also brings an update on the scandal they broke some months ago the outrageous shop in the Bay that is still selling luxury label rip-offs right under the noses of some of the smartest boutiques in the country.
All this comes courtesy of a new journalist Jonathon Marshal (known in the trade as  Maverick Marshall) who broke the story about stripper parties at the once snooty former Ritz Carlton Hotel in the Bay-one time home of such notables as Bob Hawke, Bill Clinton, Madonna, Princess Diana and George Bush Sn.
Pick up a copy around the cafes of Double Bay or you can read Latte Life online here.

"Just say No to Knitwear "

Pop critic for the UK Telegraph Neil McCormick got stuck into the British music bible NME's 2010 Cool List and exhorted readers to 'just say no to knitwear' , a reference to his horror that a 1980's jumper revival may be ready for a comeback. Feature writer Hannah Betts of The Guardian agreed calling these colourful creations from our own beloved fashion ikon Jenny Kee : nasty knitwear-more chunky than funky !. Betts was referring to Kee's famous Koala jumper as worn by the late Princess Diana in the 80s. Have they no shame?                                    
Our Jenny was inducted last night as the 6th Annual Australian Fashion Laureate as shown by our snap above where Jenny is pictured with Heidi Middleton of sass & bide, Nicholas Huxley head of the fashion design school TAFE NSW and Vogue heavyweight Nancy Pilcher.
Before you gaze upon the our snap below it's recommended sun glasses be donned : here's Jenny and a group of pals in 2012.

Bushells Tea, Murdochs, China & Ewan Mcgregor

Altona                                              Carthona                                                    Iona

The only news that really matters in this town is property prices. One week they are up, the next down according to our scribes on the tabloids totally uninfluenced by the massive amount of advertising dollars that stream in to the dead tree press.
Naturally news today that Sydney's "most expensive house" Altona has sold for a whopping $50M plus has pulses racing. It's been snapped up by a Chinese mega millionaire 75 year old Xiuzhen Ding who also owns a splendid bay side manor in  Melbourne.

As the Shuttle has reported before, Altona in Point Piper was once owned by Rupert Murdoch's nephew Matt Handbury and his then wife Fiona. They held superb parties attended by the likes of yours truly. Fiona copped Altona in a divorce settlement, promptly sold it for a reputed $29M to publisher Deke Miskin, and then nipped off to the UK  to join the British aristocracy as Lady Dartmouth when she married William Legge the grandson of legendary romance novelist Barbara Cartland and stepbrother to the late Princess Diana.

         The Handburys                            Chris & Tracey-Ann Oxley

Just around the corner from Altona in Darling Point is a complex of 3 houses owned by one family, the Oxleys who inherited the Bushells Tea fortune. Carthona sits in the middle, a magnificent Gothic pile which Tom Cruise once tried to buy for Nicole Kidman.  On one side is Beach House and on the other is the superb new modern abode built for Christopher Oxley with, as the other two houses have, the most commanding views of Sydney Harbour that sweep from the Opera House to The Heads.

It was an appropriate location for the launch of a new LG $16K television set  launched at great expense today by LG's "ambassador", movie star Ewan McGregor. Ewan reckons this TV makes him look sensational , or as he puts it more simply :"just say that they're fucking good tellys". The tellys go on sale around the world later this year. Ewan also had some nice words to say about Baz Luhrmann who directed him in Moulin Rouge, describing his  1996 flick Romeo & Juliet as one of the "great movies of all time". Luhrmann's own house Iona, the 1880's mansion in Darlinghurst is also on the market for $15M.

In The Dreamtime With Diana & Freddie

The Hollywood actress Shelley Winters was once lunching with an actress pal who wanted to pick her brains- she was penning her autobiography and was worried that she had led a fairly tame love life. "I 've had few affairs with stars" she said.
Winter's responded :"look, if they are gay or dead, just say you screwed them. None will complain"
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The Shuttle's eye was drawn to a tale that swept the world yesterday. No-one yet has clocked it as an April Fool's Joke. Such fine publications as the Sydney Morning Herald and the Daily Telegraph have faithfully repeated the tale verbatim.
Cleo Rocos who worked with the late British DJ Kenny Everett says that one night in 1988, she, Kenny and the late Freddie Mercury dressed Princess Diana in military jacket and sun shades and they all went of to the South London gay pub the Vauxhall Tavern where Diana was able to buy drinks with nary a punter spotting that the Most Famous Woman On The Planet was in their midst :
“When we walked in . . . we felt she was obviously Princess Diana and would be discovered at any minute. But people just seemed to blank her. The venue was packed, but the presence of Mercury, Everett and Rocos helped divert attention and Diana was able to order drinks at the bar before the group left,"
Such a  sweet tale from Cleo's new tome : ' The Power of Positive Drinking".

In 1996 the Shuttle spent a few days with Diana on her last trip to Australia for the Victor Chang Institute, accompanying her to various events to document the visit, commissioned by her Aussie pal Marie Sutton who had talked Diana into her last charity event before retiring from public life.

One night we were smuggled out of the Ritz Carlton Hotel in Double Bay, all 3 of us crouched in the back seat of a car, to avoid the press. Diana was visiting the St Vincent's Hospice to meet HIV patients. We were sworn to secrecy. She wanted no publicity. Diana sat and chatted to patients for over 5 hours. We took snaps of each patient with Diana as memento's.

Marie Sutton

Driving back to the Ritz Carlton the driver took us via Oxford Street to show Diana the Golden Mile of gay clubs. Diana commented that she visited gay AIDS patients around the world but had never been to a gay bar. Whilst she was still a Royal she said "my detectives would have never let me enter one without it being searched for days beforehand. In fact going to any bar was out of the question".
Freddie Mercury died in 1991 from AIDS. From about 1987 he had become a recluse and was never seen again in public again . Kenny Everett was a regular at the Vauxhall Tavern but usually went unnoticed mainly as all the patrons more or less looked just like him. It was 'clones' pub.

Diana was finally divorced from Prince Charles in 1996 and lost her Royal title and the privileges that came with it including 2 permanent detectives from the Royal Protection Squad - the ones who "would have never let me enter one (gay bar) ".  In the year leading up to her Australian visit she spoke to Marie Sutton almost daily. She would relate the extraordinary lengths she would go to meet her lovers- the private houses of the Aristocracy where she could arrange a discreet visit for a weekend  in privacy which she knew the Protection Squad would always vet. Perhaps they slipped up in the Vauxhall Tavern incident.
What a shame Diana's great pal Sir Elton John hadn't joined this little pub crawl to confirm the tale.