Da capo, Lily. So schön war die Beauty im Gästebuch. Wollte sie aber nicht nur sehen, wenn ich es hin und wieder aufklappe. Ich bin schon sentimental, aber auch nicht übertrieben. Habe die echten Lilies durch ein Foto davon ersetzt, in mein Poesiealbum geklebt. Die echten hängen jetzt in der Küche, unterhalb Tims Hand mit der Zigarette, damals bei Sevenstar eingefangen, was in jeder Hinsicht gut passt, denn er hat sie ja ausgesucht, mir geschenkt, diese zauberhaften Königslilien. Beim Trocknen und Pressen dachte ich an Grace Kelly, die spätere Fürstin Gracia Patricia von Monaco, die über Jahrzehnte Blumen presste und die Bilder in ihren letzten Lebensjahren in Ausstellungen in Monaco zeigte. Was wohl aus all ihren Blumenbildern geworden ist? Ob sie in den Gemächern des Grimaldi-Palasts verteilt sind? Für die Öffentlichkeit zu sehen? Ich hoffe. Zu schade zum Verstecken.

Schönen Sonntag. Lege mich auf den Balkon und lese bzw. döse.

Happy Birthday, Brooke.

"I had lunch with Diana, I used to talk to her on the phone regularly, I used to send her stories we were gonna run, she would edit them and fax them back to me - so, you know - and I really liked Diana, she was fantastic. Diana worked the media exactly in the same way, the media worked Diana. She was the biggest celebrity in the world. Arguably the biggest celebrity that ever been. Very sharp, and knew exactly how to play the media.

And that is not to say, that there wasn't lots of intrusion into her life, there was. There's not to say some of that wasn't unwarranted. It was. It's not to say that she didn't get more attention than anybody else, because she was the biggest star. She did. And so it can't have been easy at all. But did Diana manipulate the media? Ruthlessly when she wanted to? Absolutely. She was mesmerizing, incredibly charming, very smart, very funny, but very like - you know - she wanted to make a point in front of William, about where the line is for the media, and I totally understood that - and it was good fun.

I remember, with William, I think it was around that time that we got offered pictures of a poster he had on his wall at Eton College which had "DON'T DRINK AND DRIVE - HAVE A SPLIFF AND FLY." And we bought that for I think about 2.000 pounds off the market and never published it. So when we talk about irresponsible tabloids, I've got a lot of stories like that of stuff, we didn't publish.

So, I'm not after any gratitude, but I do think in the scales of balance between the media and the royal family, the media has been as much a part of the longevity of the royal family, when many other monarchies have disappeared through Europe, one of the last standing ones is the British Monarchy. And a lot of that is because the media still fuel them and portray them as the biggest stars on the planet."

(Piers Morgan, former Editor Daily Mirror)

Altweltliches Stachelschwein, 1. April 2007, Berlin Friedrichsfelde