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The Day before Diana died

On the afternoon of August 30th 1997, I went to Swiss Cottage Library, which was several miles away from where I lived. My intention was to look through a book about Lord Louis Mountbatten by Charles Smith, which I'd seen listed on a Camden Libraries computer.

At the library, I did look through the book, but saw nothing concerning Lord Mountbatten's UFO involvement. But, when skimming through another book - 'From Shore To Shore: The Final Years - The Diaries Of Earl Mountbatten Of Burma 1953-1979' - I came upon some relevent information:

' On 10 July 1977 in Nairobi:

We went to the VIP lounge where we ran into the Prince of the Netherlands on his way to stay with Kenneth Kaunda, the President of Zambia. I hadn't seen Bernilo since his troubles over the Lockheed bribery and gave him an especially warm embrace which he warmly reciprocated.

After family talk he couldn't resist telling us that on his way to an airport in Italy recently he had actually sighted two 'flying saucers.' I asked him if he had any witnesses and he said two policemen and his chauffeur, but alas there was no chance to photograph the UFOs. They discussed the incident afterwards between them and all three were agreed that two separate UFOs were seen not very far away which appeared to be carrying out some sort of aerobatics for fun. As Bernilo put it, it was almost as though they were trying to mate with each other. After three or four minutes they gave this up and then disappeared at high speed. He had never believed in 'flying saucers' at all and was simply staggered at what he saw.

I told him that my son-in-law, John, had seen a UFO crossing the Atlantic; the Senior Naval Officer of the South Atlantic had twice seen a UFO with all the men on duty on the bridge at the time. I told him that Sitta (Queen of Rumania) and her sister, Tim (Duchess of Aosta), had seen one together in the South of France so he was in good company. I told him to give Kenneth Kaunda my regards as I know him quite well.'

I walked back from Swiss Cottage, passing through Hampstead, Kentish Town and Kings Cross along the way.

I walked along Prince Of Wales Road, which runs from Haverstock Hill to Kentish Town Road - the name of the road made a slight impression on me, though I wasn't consciously thinking of the link with Lord Mountbatten.

Closer to Kings Cross, I walked past a building on which the name 'Spencer' (prominent; reason not recalled now) caught my attention. While slightly connecting it to my having previously walked along Prince of Wales Road, I also briefly wondered whether it might be a significant coincidence that someone I had once met up with in connection with David Bowie, had the same first name as the Princess of Wales's surname.

Looking at an A-Z guide to London, yesterday, I noticed that in a direct line with Prince Of Wales Road, on the opposite side of Kentish Town Road, there is a Lawford Road - that's the surname of a man who has been seen as a crucial figure in accounts of the death of Marilyn Monroe.