everythingroyalpublicity

Everything Royal

Alicia Carroll

Publicity

I am disappointed with the media (television), writers and journalists from various magazines and newspapers in that they say one thing, promising to write a particular type article and what appears in print is the exact opposite. I have been interviewed by papers and news magazines from around the world. I have come to realize sensationalism is their main interest. It is amazing how a sentence can be turned into something entirely different from what I said!

Recently, much has been written about Everything Royal after romantic letters from Prince Charles were offered for sale on eBay.The media has reported Everything Royal has gone bust or is in bankruptcy. Everything Royal has and continues to be a successful commemorative company. I am ready to retire. I spend 6 months a year living on the east coast. Running a west coast business full time has become difficult. It's time to retire, travel and do all the things running a business for nearly 30 years has prevented.

There is much more to the Everything Royal collection than items pertaining to HRH Prince Charles or the late Princes of Wales. The Everything Royal company was started because of a love of British history from Queen Victoria to the present family members. There is more to the collection than love letters from Prince Charles or a bracelet once belonging to Princess Diana, All we know about history is from a book, a photo or a letter. This is a vast and wonderful collection. When reading the following articles, please remember, this collection consists of thousands of books, newspapers, magazines, postcards, commemorative items, letters, Christmas cards, photographs, gifts & more.

The Toronto Star

thestar.com

Canadian girlfriend's love letters to Prince Charles re-listed on eBay

Mar 22, 2009 04:41 PM Adrian Morrow staff reporter

Six love letters from Prince Charles to a Canadian girlfriend have been re-listed on eBay, after the man who recently bought them defaulted on his payment.

The letters, originally listed earlier this month, sold for their $30,000 asking price to a bidder from Orlando, Fla., the seller, Alicia Carroll, said today. When she tried to contact the man, she says he never returned her phone calls or responded to her emails or invoices.

"I've never had a bad cheque, I've never had a bad customer," said Carroll, who runs Everything Royal, a company that has been selling memorabilia of the British ruling family for decades. "I've never had a bogus buyer."

The purported buyer has not returned the Star's phone calls. The letters were re-listed on eBay Saturday for the same asking price as before. As of this afternoon, they haven't received any bids.

Carroll says she received 3 offers to buy the entire set, but the bidder from Orlando was the only one who offered her the asking price of $30,000. She says she turned down a bidder who offered her about $10,000 less.

Users of eBay are expected to follow a user agreement that stipulates they must pay for anything they purchase via the site, and Carroll says she is considering contacting the district attorney's office in Orlando to see if she can take legal action against the man who won't pay. "It's just not nice not to contact someone," Carroll said. "I would have appreciated it if he had called me.

The letters were written in 1976 and 1980, and addressed to "Janet" — reportedly Janet Jenkins, a Toronto woman then living in Montreal. She met the heir to the throne in 1975 while she was working in the British consulate there.

"What a pity you can't see my ship," Charles writes in one letter dated March 23, 1976, while serving in the Royal Navy. "(It) doesn't go to exciting places like Montreal where ladies live behind bushes in order to pounce on unsuspecting naval officers."

In a letter written just over three months later, he tells her, "I wish I could come roaring across the Atlantic to make you feel less lonely."

In the final letter, dated June 8, 1980 — less than a year before he married Diana Spencer — he says that he is being pressured into finding a wife and jokes that, "I still think my solution of marrying a girl from each Commonwealth country is the best one."

The prince couldn't marry Jenkins because she was older than him and had been engaged before.

Carroll, who says she obtained the letters about 10 years ago from Jenkins, is selling them as she tries to run down her company's inventory before she retires.

"I've been doing this for a long time," she said. "It's not exciting anymore. Unless Prince William gets married — then it'll bring a whole new generation in."

March 7, 2009 Prince Charles love letters for sale on eBaySix love letters written by a young Prince Charles to a woman in Canada three decades ago have been put up for sale on Internet auction site eBay, ...

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news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090306/od_afp/uscanadabritainroyalsletters_20090306224807

March 7, 2009 Canadian Broadcasting Company

http://www.cbc.ca/national/

Dispute surrounds sale of Prince Charles love letters
Last Updated: Friday, March 6, 2009 | 1:02 PM ET Comments27Recommend24CBC News

Six love letters written by Prince Charles to a woman in Montreal during the 1970s are for sale on eBay, although a dispute is brewing over who exactly owns the letters. Written between 1976 and 1980, the letters were sent from Charles to a British-born woman, Janet Jenkins, who worked for the British consulate in the city. They are listed for sale on the auction website for $30,000 US and offer a glimpse into the romantic life of the bachelor prince.

In one letter dated Mar. 23, 1976, Charles wrote to Jenkins from a ship. "I only wish I hadn't had to rush off to catch a train and thereby ruin a gloriously cozy evening. What a pity you can't see my ship — very different from an aircraft carrier and much less entertaining, and doesn't go to exciting places like Montreal where ladies live behind bushes in order to pounce on unsuspecting naval officers." A year before his 1981 marriage to Diana, Charles wrote: "My new private secretary is horrified by the idea of ladies in hotel rooms during foreign visits. I can see that I shall just have to get married as soon as possible and then all these people might relax a little … ! I still think my solution of marrying a girl from each Commonwealth county is the best one."

Another letter is signed "love and a vast hug." Jenkins surprised by eBay posting
Jenkins, who spoke to CBC News from Toronto on Friday, said she gave the letters to a woman who had contacted her from Los Angeles. The woman, Alicia Carroll, wanted to display them in a museum, said Jenkins. "I was very excited about that. She has hundreds of other letters and so on from people … so it was going to be a very interesting place," she said.

However, Jenkins said Carroll, who sells royal memorabilia through her company, Everything Royal, has refused to return the letters. "In the last seven years I have written so many emails, contacted her, phoned her and now I see they're on eBay for sale, which is very annoying," she said. Jenkins said she hasn't ruled out legal action to try to get the letters back. "I have looked at legal action to see if we can stop her from doing this. At this point it’s very new. I had no idea until today — literally — when I read it in the newspaper. It was all new to me," she said.

Jenkins sold me letters, says seller However, Carroll disputes Jenkins's account, telling CBC News that Jenkins first contacted her to sell the letters because she needed money at the time. "Mrs. Jenkins sold me these letters more than seven years ago after tracking me down through an article written about me," said Carroll in an email. "She sold the letters to me as she needed funds at the time." "If she is now embarrassed by the letters becoming public, I am sorry. She knew when I purchased the letters, I would be reselling them." Carroll said she is in the process of closing her memorabilia shop and selling her inventory. The letters from Charles are historically significant because he is the future king of England, she said.

"These letters are harmless, romantic letters written more than 30 years ago from a young man enamoured with her," she said.

Charles won't be upset, says Jenkins Jenkins, who has spoken publicly about her relationship with Charles in the past, said she doesn't think the public revelations of the private correspondence would embarrass the prince. "He's a very charming, wonderful man to know and I think that, you know, at least the parts that she is showing on eBay are not embarrassing for anyone," she said.

Jenkins described the prince, now married to Camilla, as "charming and very, very handsome." They remained in contact until he married Camilla in 2005, she said.

"We received Christmas cards and so on from both of them and remained friends over the years," she said.

Jenkins said she doesn't think Charles will be bothered by the release of the letters. "I think they’re so used to having things done like this that I would not think he would give it a second thought at this point other than being very annoyed," she said.

A statement from Prince Charles's office at Clarence House offered a "no comment" on the matter.

THE SUN

Love notes by Charles for saleBy DUNCAN LARCOMBE
Royal Correspondent

Published: 06 Mar 2009

PRINCE Charles’s love letters to a girlfriend were put up for sale on auction website eBay yesterday.
One of the six notes to Janet Jenkins was written in 1980 — just a year before he married Diana.

Charles, then 26, and Welsh-born Janet, 30, met in 1975 when she was a receptionist at the British consulate in Montreal, Canada.

Prince Charles ... in 1977

Suggesting a tryst, Charles writes: “I would have thought your apartment is the quietest place. “If we went out the press would be on to it in a flash and that would be misery.” Writing about failed marriages, he says: “Making a mistake like that is, frankly, something which concerns me enormously.”

In the last seven-page letter, he writes on Windsor Castle paper: “My new private secretary is horrified by the idea of ladies in hotels during foreign visits. “I shall just have to get married as soon as possible and then all these people might relax a little! “I still think my solution of marrying a girl from each Commonwealth country is the best one.”

One of the notes says he found an excuse to visit her — while watching sister Princess Anne compete at the Montreal Olympics.

The letters have an auction starting price of £25,000. It is thought Janet sold them to LA-based collector Alicia Carroll, whose firm is closing after 30 years.

Janet, of Toronto, has said she first slept with Charles as guards waited outside her flat. She has also claimed they last made love in 1992. Charles and Diana separated in December that year. She once said: “The letters show him to be a deeply sensitive, compassionate man.”

Clarence House refused to comment yesterday.

Intimate notes written by Prince Charles to Welsh love up for saleSEND TO A FRIEND6 MARCH 2009
Love letters penned by Prince Charles to a former girlfriend went up for sale this week on internet auction site eBay.

Six notes written by the future king between 1976 and 1980 to Wales-born Janet Jenkins, whom he met in 1975 when she worked as a receptionist at the British consulate in Montreal, are to go under the hammer, with a starting price of £25,000.

Giving a rare and intimate insight into the young royal, who was 26 when he first met 30-year-old Janet, the letters include Charles' fears of marrying the wrong girl and his frustrations with the press.

Referring to choosing the wrong life partner he writes: "Making a mistake like that is, frankly, something which concerns me enormously."

Deciding on where to rendezvouz also had its problems. "I would have thought your apartment is the quietest place," the 60-year-old writes in one. "If we went out the press would be on it in a flash and that would be misery."

In the final seven-page note, written on official Windsor Castle paper, he says: "My new private secretary is horrified by the idea of ladies in hotel rooms during foreign visits. I shall just have to get married as soon as possible and then all these people might relax a little!"

To read all articles on the sale of Prince Charles romantic letters, go to Google, type in Prince Charles letters for sale

GLOBE

Tim Miles newstip@globefl.com

October 24, 2005
Steamy letters written by Prince Charles to a Canadian girlfriend have sparked a furious royal row between the heir to the throne and his new wife Camilla.

The jealous Duchess of Cornwall went berserk when she discovered that six letters were for sale by Internet auctioneers on eBay with a $72,000.00 price tag, and screamed at Charles, "How many other women are out there you haven't told me about?" Cringing Charles whimpered, "Darling, it was all a long time ago ...it was just a fling." But the Queen-In-Waiting shot back, "We were sleeping together then, in case you'd forgotten.

Royal memorabilia collector Alicia Carroll, who is selling the letters says, "They are significant because they are written at a time when Charles claims his only TRUE love was Camilla Parker-Bowles."

Five of the letters were penned in 1976, when Charles was a junior navel officer with "a girl in every port," and one was sent in 1980, a year before he married Princess Diana. Even though he married Diana and fathered two sons, Charles remained under Camilla's spell and even made secret calls to her on his honeymoon. And she was secretly cheating on her henpecked husband Andrew Parker-Bowles, who she divorced in 1995.

In the 1980 love letter, Charles moans about not being able to sneak women into his hotel rooms while on tours for fear of being caught by the press. An earlier letter tells how he longs to spend more time with the woman and another says he hopes they can be together when his ship visits Canada. It reads, " I wish I could come roaring across the Atlantic to make you less lonely." And referring to the pressure on him to wed, he complains, " I will just have to get married and then all these people will relax a little." Says a royal insider, Even thought Camilla was married at the time, she was cheating with Charles and believed him when he said she was his true love. "Their affair started in 1972 after they met during a polo match and never waned. They finally married this year. "Camilla realizes the letters were just evidence of a youthful affair but she’s the jealous type and now realizes that she wasn't the only “mistress” in Charles' life.

"They had a screaming match and Camilla, who always wins arguments because Charles is such a wimp, told him, "I thought we had something very special." The feud. puts added strain on the royal couple's official tour of the U.S. next month, when security advisers expect them to face angry demonstrations by people still loyal to Diana. There will be various protests, " says Alan Berry, head of the Diana Circle, a group formed to protect the late princess' legacy. "And it won't be just our members who are against all this." "There are other organizations and Diana fan clubs that are opposed (to Charles and Camilla's union). " We don't believe Charles is even legally married anyway because of law preventing members of the royal family from getting married in civil ceremonies."

Proof of Camilla's long hold on Charles
March 7, 2005 Richard
www.dailymail.co.uk/richardkay

Any lingering doubts about Camilla Parker Bowles’s long influence over the Prince of Wales is about to emerge in a so-far unseen letter in the Prince’s hand. In it Charles writes with extraordinary candor of the woman who will finally become his wife next month — 33 years after they first fell in love — as ‘my professional advisor. What makes the letter all the more intriguing is that it was written some six months before Charles’s engagement to the then Lady Diana Spencer — but after their courtship had begun. It is compelling evidence of Mrs Parker Bowles’s role in Charles’s life that so troubled Princess Diana.

Now the three-page handwritten letter, which the Prince wrote on the Royal Yacht Britannia in August 1980, is being put up for sale, with a reserve price of almost £22,000. It is being sold by a U.S.-based royal collector, Alicia Carroll, who tells me that since Charles and Camilla’s engagement she has had more than 200 inquiries from around the world for memorabilia relating to the couple. ‘Having read the entire letter, it wouldn't surprise me if Camilla, in her capacity as his professional advisor, had orchestrated the wedding between Charles and Diana, knowing full well that they would be able to continue their affair afterwards,’ she says. That, of course, was the conclusion Diana also reached. ‘People thought Diana was going to be a push-over, but they underestimated her,’ says Carroll.
Meanwhile, another timely letter — this one can be yours for a mere £6,000 — throws embarrassing light on the Prince’s current tour of New Zealand.

Writing home to friends in 1981, during a previous trip Down Under, Charles complains vehemently about his royal duties: ‘The real problem is keeping up my enthusiasm on each new day because I am beginning to get fed up with the amount of nonsensical rubbish I take all day and every day. If one more NZ [New Zealand] child asks me what its like to be a Prince, I shall go demented.’
THE BBC will use the occasion of the royal wedding to broadcast a Money Programme investigation into the running of the Diana memorial fund. It will allege that the fund, which has famously been embroiled in costly litigation over Diana dolls in America, has wasted many of the public donations that poured in after her death

HOW AMERICAN DEALER SOLD DIANA ADDRESS BOOK FOR 40,000 POUNDS

By Caroline Graham in Los Angeles and Paul Henderson in London

Princess Diana's private address book, packed with the names of some of the most powerful and influential people in the world, has ended up in the hands of a shadowy private collector, The Mail on Sunday can reveal. The 44 page book, bound in embossed blue leather, was sold earlier this year for 40,000 ponds by an American dealer in royal memorabilia to a millionaire socialite in Japan. It contains scores of home numbers and addresses for Diana's closet friends and contacts, and testifies to the extraordinary range of her social circle. There are numerous entries for her lover, Dodi Fayed and his Father, Harrod's owner Mohammed Fayed. Other famous names include US Secretary of State Colin Powell, Margaret Thatcher, Michael Barrymore, Lord Attenborough who was a father figure to her and pop singer Bryan Adams. Diana's astrologer Debbie Frank and faith healer Rita Rogers are listed along side society jeweler Theo Fennell. The US millionaire Teddy Forstmann; once rumored to be a lover, Elton John and Henry and Nancy Kissinger are also featured as is her favorite photographer Marion Testino and the late designer Gianni Versace.

It appears Diana compiled the book in the months before her death, clearly transferring many numbers at the same time from an earlier list. Other, newer, numbers and addresses are added in different inks-but all in her distinctive looping hand. The volume is embossed with her personal crest with a crown atop a capitol D. A hand writing expert confirmed last week that the volume was genuine. The book is one of the most intimate royal artifacts ever to be exposed to the public gaze, and it's emergence onto the open market will alarm courtiers. They will be intrigued, too, by the role in the affair played by Paul Burrell-Diana's famous Rock-for it is known that the ex-butler once had possession of an address book of hers, only for it to mysteriously disappear.

In his memoirs, "A Royal Duty", Burrell says, he read form the address book while keeping vigil next to the Princess after her fatal accident. He then described how the book - which he says had a green cover, in contrast to the book sold to the collector- disappeared after he went to work for The Diana Memorial Fund. "The Princess's leather bound green address book had been left on my desk in a locked room, separate from the main general office at Millbank Tower," he says." Then one day during the infancy of the Memorial Fund, the address book went missing. It contained the names and numbers of all the Princess's friends. It was a directory of her life, the book I had read to her during the all night vigil." He reported it missing. "The police were not called", he writes. "There was not even an internal inquiry. Contact with the Princess's circle had been denied to me. "

A Mail on Sunday investigation has established that the book sold to the Japanese collector this year was acquired by Alicia Carroll, a specialist broker in royal memorabilia based in Los Angeles. But how did the volume find it's way to her?

This newspaper approached Carroll after learning the address book had been offered for sale. She told our reporter that she had taken possession of the address book in the belief that it had been given as a keepsake by Paul Burrell to Vanessa Corringham, a former press officer at the Diana Memorial Fund, and that Corringham had decided to sell it through an intermediary.

The newspapers was shown what purported to be a letter of authentication from Vanessa Corringham, which says: "Dear Miss Carroll, This is to confirm that I was given the Princess of Wales address book by Paul Burrell when we both worked for the Princess's Memorial Fund. It was presented to me by Paul as a "thank you" keepsake for the duties I carried out for the fund at what was a difficult and sensitive time."

The Mail on Sunday has established that the intermediary was Adam Helliker, Vanessa Corringham's former boyfriend. Helliker has been diary editor of The Mail on Sunday for the past two years since arriving from the Sunday Telegraph, where he had been editor of the Mandrake Column. Carroll says, " Adam ring me up and said his ex-girlfriend Vanessa Corringham, had Princess Diana's private address and she wanted to sell it." Helliker confirmed to senior executives at The Mail on Sunday last week that he had sold the address book to Carroll and she had paid 25,000 into his bank account. He explained that he had conducted the sale on behalf of Vanessa Corringham, who did not want to make the deal herself for fear of embarrassment. He said his former girlfriend had supplied the letter of authenticity. However, when it was pointed out that the letter was written from an old address he used to share with Corringham and that hand writing bore a remarkable similarity to his own, he changed his story.

Helliker said he had written the letter himself on Corringham's behalf and with her approval-again-in order to save her embarrassment. He said he had paid all the 25,000 he had relieved from the sale to Corringham in cash.

Vanessa Corringham categorically disputes Hellikers story. When approached by The Mail on Sunday on Friday night, she seemed genuinely astonished to be told that the address book had been sold. She said that although Helliker was a good friend of hers, she had no knowledge of the sale and no knowledge of any letter of authenticity. Although at one stage the book had been in her possession, there is no suggestion that she had obtained it improperly.

In a statement to The Mail on Sunday yesterday, she said , " I confirm that Adam's sale of the address book was made without my approval or prior knowledge. The first I knew of it was when you explained what had happened yesterday evening. My husband tells me you have been told that the proceeds of the sale "or some part of them" have been paid to me in cash, this is quite untrue. "

Yesterday The Mail on Sunday also spoke to Paul Burrell. Shown a copy of the address book sold to Alicia Carroll, he declared, " listen I am completely innocent." He immediately recognized Diana's handwriting but could not confirm it was the book that went missing from his office at the Memorial Fund as the Princess had more than one. He recognized his own hand writing on the first page where it read, "HRH" and gave a seven digit phone number assigned to the princess at Kensington Palace. He said he wrote it in for her, as her number was changed frequently for security reason. He was emphatic that the rest of the book was in Diana's hand. Mr. Burrell insisted that he never gave Diana's address book to Vanessa Corringham or Adam Helliker and that he had never hear of Alicia Carroll.

He said, "the address book was in my possession at the Memorial fund in Millbank Tower. It went missing. It was in my possession because I was the only person who had access to the Princess's diary, her address book and her notes, and they needed that to establish the Memorial Fund."

In a Royal Duty, Burrell said the leather book address book, which had been left on his desk, had a green cover. The one sold to Alicia Carroll had a dark blue cover. Burrell did not know about the discrepancy when asked about the color. He thought for a moment and replied, " I think it was either green or dark blue. She "the Princess", changed the color every time she got a new address book: she was bored with the last color. It was always the same design, hardback; with a "D" and coronet at the front. "

Neither Diana's sister Lady Sarah Mc Corquodale nor brother Earl Spencer would comment.

Yesterday afternoon, in a further interview, Adam Helliker admitted that Vanessa Corringham had no knowledge of his sale of the book and retracted his earlier story. He admitted he had not paid her any of the money he had received from Alicia Carroll. He indicated that the address book had come into his possession while he was living with Vanessa Corringham and she had left it with him when the couple separated. He insisted Corringham had obtained the book honestly.

Last night a Mail on Sunday spokesman said, "Adam Helliker has been dismissed from his position. as Mail on Sunday diary editor and has left the company.

Roundabout story of dubious Diana deal that did for a diarist
By Tom Leonard
(Filed: 08/07/2004)

Journalism is certainly no exception to the adage that what goes around, comes around. But rarely has that circular journey been quite as dramatic as the Mail on Sunday's investigation into how an American dealer came by an old address book that once belonged to Diana, Princess of Wales.

The hunt that began in the MoS's Kensington offices for the person who had sold the book to a Los Angeles dealer for £25,000 (who sold it on to a Japanese collector for £40,000) ended precisely where it started.

Adam Helliker: diarist
The princess has supplied the Mail titles with a rich seam of stories for years, and last weekend's MoS was no exception. Two pages were given up to what appeared to be a textbook example of the "the Diana mementos pillaged by cynical looters" variety.

This article promised to reveal the provenance of a book "packed with the names of some of the most powerful and influential people in the world".

First, the story suggested that the 44-page blue, leather-bound tome might be related to an address book that had "mysteriously disappeared" from the possession of the former royal butler Paul Burrell. Whether they were the same book or not, the MoS was able to reveal that the blue one had been acquired this year by Alicia Carroll, an LA-based specialist broker in royal memorabilia.

The late Princess Diana and Alicia Carroll

Carroll told the paper that she had been led to believe that Burrell had given it as a keepsake to Vanessa Corringham, a former press officer for the Diana Memorial Fund. Corringham, she said, had then decided to sell it through an intermediary. There was even a letter of authentification, apparently signed by the ex-press officer.

Then, in a plot twist at which even Jeffrey Archer would have blanched, the paper revealed that the "intermediary" was none other than the Mail on Sunday's own diarist, Adam Helliker. According to Carroll, he told her that Corringham - his ex-girlfriend - wanted to sell it but did not want the potential embarrassment of handling the transaction. So the dealer paid the £25,000 direct to Helliker.

However, the article continued, Corringham denied all knowledge of the sale. It also emerged that Helliker had written the authentication himself.

According to the MoS, the 44-year-old diarist then retracted his earlier story and admitted that his former girlfriend had told the truth.

The epilogue to this most bizarre expose was provided by an MoS spokesman, whose curt announcement that Helliker had been "dismissed from his position" was clearly intended to draw a line under the affair.

If only. Yesterday, Helliker instructed lawyers to sue his former employer for unfair dismissal, arguing that the paper had failed to follow the correct procedures in sacking him. He told The Telegraph that he felt "very angry - they have defamed me".

He'd had no inkling of the approaching storm, he said, until he was summoned to see the editor, Peter Wright, for what he assumed would be their usual Friday afternoon meeting to discuss the contents of his column. It wasn't. Mr Wright was waiting with the managing editor, John Wellington.

"Wright said: 'Do you recognize any of these?' - and he started shoving documents over his desk: all sorts of things, like phone transcripts and my bank details, saying: 'Did you sell this?' " continued Helliker. "And I said: 'Yes, but you didn't have to go to these lengths.' I never made a secret of it."

Helliker - who joined the paper on a six-figure salary two years ago after writing the Mandrake diary on The Telegraph - was suspended. The next day, he was summoned to another meeting with senior executives, at which he was told that the paper planned to publish a story about the controversy.

His letter of dismissal for gross misconduct - delivered later that day - gave various reasons. You have "failed in your primary function by not informing the editor of an important news story", it said, and shown "reckless disregard for this newspaper's reputation". It also accused him of lying to the editor.

Helliker contests the assumption that he had a duty to tell the paper about the diary. "The principal reason they sacked me was for not informing them of a newsworthy item - but it is a private matter. Both Vanessa and I have great respect for [Diana's] memory. I don't mean to sound pompous, but the MoS couldn't be trusted with something like that.

"The MoS pays lots of money and they consider they own your life. The feeling is that anything you do in your personal life is fair game for them - which I don't accept."

Helliker insisted that he had believed Carroll was buying the book for a museum of Diana artifacts that she had talked about setting up. He also said he had documentary evidence to prove it. Did he say this to the MoS? No, he said, "they didn't give me time".

Meanwhile, insiders at the paper denied that the documentary evidence which Wright produced at the meeting consisted of illegally obtained bank details and phone transcripts. It was, they claimed, a record of Carroll's payment to Helliker and her account of various phone conversations she had with him.

Helliker conceded that he hadn't told his bosses that he planned to give the money to "something worthwhile", though he won't say what. Informed sources on the paper say that, in fact, the diarist told Wright that he had spent the money on building work.

Helliker wouldn't say why he had changed his story. All will be revealed if he has to go to court, he promised.

He also refused to discuss how he had obtained the book, saying he was trying to protect a "third party". He still maintains that Burrell gave it to Corringham - though Burrell denies this. As to how the paper stumbled on the story in the first place, sources say it received a tip that an address book belonging to Diana had turned up in California and been sold to a private collector there. Was it the same one that Burrell had mentioned in his autobiography as having been stolen, asked executives.

Wright's reaction on learning of Helliker's involvement was, say insiders, one of "horror" and "incredulity that anyone could be so stupid".

Still, why did he have to publicize it? The obvious answer - and one that Helliker says his superiors mentioned - was that they suspected another newspaper would find out and present the tale less sympathetically.

MoS chiefs are understood to be confident about their legal position. One said: "If Adam wants to go into a witness box and explain how he got hold of this, and how he has given three different stories about the transaction, then let him."

In the meantime, Private Eye has already trawled up a list of scathing things that Helliker has written in the past about those who have traded on Diana's legacy. (It missed his prescient article, published 10 days ago, headlined: Knives out for royal pilferers).

Would the diarist, the magazine asked, follow his judgment on James Hewitt, who - Helliker wrote - had "done the decent thing" and gone abroad? "No," said Helliker. "I'm not quite in the same league as Hewitt."

The address book is hardly as revealing as Diana's love letters, he argues. It is, he believes, only one of five or six of the princess's address books in existence - and not the one that Burrell lost. "The MoS seems to think this one is the Holy Grail. But frankly most of the numbers are old."

Tribune -Chronicle

Warren Tribune Chronicle, Warren, Ohio

Area Woman Makes A Royal Success
by Burton Cole

August 27, 2003

Lets not kid ourselves. For all that cynicism that pervades this age of fallen angels, we want to believe in fairy tales.
Alicia Carroll's banking on it.

She has, over the past 15 years collected a vast amount of letters, clothing, jewelry, mugs, busts, dolls and other artifacts pertaining to the British royal family. Her collection has grown to become one of the largest private collections of royal memorabilia in the United States and possibly World-Wide. It's a venture that came about as Americans became enchanted with the story of a little girl who grew up to marry the prince. "In the 50s we had heroes and heroines. We really did: Carroll said. Now your children have no heroes.

So when a fresh faced former nanny and kindergarten teacher with a pure record married the prince on July 29, 1981, in a wedding that seemed to come straight out of a fairy tale, a world starved for heroes lapped it up. Even though her marriage had fallen apart by then, when Princess Diana died in a car crash nearly seven years ago people were glued to their televisions, even people who couldn't previously tell you the Queen's names. "My aunt and uncle who live in Bristolville, Ohio are not royal watchers, but they watched the funeral," Carroll said.

Carroll's own fairy tale began when having graduated from private school in Buffalo, New York, she traveled to Los Angeles and became an actress. Back then the Warren native was known as Carol Kirk. Her parents, Fran and Elsie Mendenhall, now live in Cortland.

Over the following years, Carroll took a number of acting roles, the last being a recurring role on "General Hospital" ."I did a lot of TV work. Then you turn 30, and you're old, she said. "So, I worked in estate broker for years. I wanted to do something new and exciting. It was either marry someone with money, or --. The or was answered nearly 17 years ago by watching the fascination of the day. "At the time, TV was full of Charles and Diana. I wondered if anyone would buy an item pertaining to royalty. .I went to a newsstand and bought everything I could find about Charles and Diana. I took $20,000.00 from my savings, went to England and bought your basic cup and saucer with the Queen's photo on them. I came back and sold my $20,000.00 in inventory for 100,000.00.

Everything Royal was born!
A star business was born. Carroll named it Everything Royal and started issuing a catalog and built a Website at everythingroyal.com.
I started by buying out several companies who were in the business I had just started. I just said, I'll take you're whole inventory. I started advertising in the British magazines. "I have over the years accumulated one of the the largest private collections of royal commemoratives, especially of Charles and Diana.

Among many write-ups in newspapers and magazines Carroll created a sensation in London last November in the Mail on Sunday newspaper when she exposed a network of dealers trafficking in goods pilfered from the Palace. She told about items she was offered, letters, dinnerware, gift tags and even Princess Diana's nail clippings by disloyal and dishonest royal family staff members. She informed the palace and was ignored. She said staff and palace friends rang her phone off the hook with offers just hours after Diana's death.
Since the expose, the royals are running checks on royal goods being sold to dealers such as Carroll. Not that she's on a first hand basis with the family but they certainly know of Everything Royal and her name. After she's read so many of their letters and books and seen so many pictures and personal items, Carroll pretty much does know the royal family. Now she wants to introduce others to the world of royalty. A majority of her vast collection is now being offered for sale via catalog and on the Internet. To see the Everything Royal collection, go to http://www.everythingroyal.com

The Mail On Sunday
November 17, 2002, By Caroline Graham and Ian Gallagher
DEALER REVEALS ONE MILLION POUND TRADE IN ROYAL TREASURE
THEY EVEN SOLD HER NAIL CLIPPINGS
WORLD EXCLUSIVE, BEVERLY HILLS COLLECTOR REVEALS HOW SHE PAID ONE MILLION POUNDS TO ROYAL RELATIVES AND SERVANTS - AND HOW WHEN SHE REPORTED FEARS OVER THEFT, THE PALACE DID NOTHING.

A covert network of Palace servants and international dealers who trade in stolen royal artifacts is sensationally exposed today by the Mail on Sunday. The scale of the trade - which is systematic and highly organized - is laid bare by Alicia Carroll, America's foremost dealer in intimate royal letters, gifts and memorabilia. She told this newspaper yesterday how she has marketed items worth three million
pounds, many of them clearly pilfered, and retains a collection worth another three million pounds.

She had, for example, acquired affectionate letters from Princess Diana to Prince William costing 26,500 pounds, and many other highly personal communications between members of the Royal family.

On one occasion, she says, even Princess Diana's nail clippings were offered for sale. Her revelations reveal the level of disloyalty within the staff quarters of the Royal palaces. Equally agonizing for the royals, Ms. Carroll discloses that many other items have not been stolen, but sold to dealers for easy money by family members and friends. Carroll admitted, however, that many items were obtained dishonestly. "It's time the British public knew the truth about what has gone on. People who deal in Royal memorabilia like me have never spoken about the fact we know a lot of these items are stolen because it would not be good for business. But they are stolen."

Carroll's vast collection - plates, busts, dolls, postcards, photographs and puzzles - is housed in a vast warehouse outside her Beverly Hills home. She has long been fascinated with the Royal Family and started collecting memorabilia as a hobby before setting up her company 16 years ago. The trade in Royal items came under scrutiny both during and after the trial of Paul Burrell, who was cleared of plundering Diana’s personal belongings from Kensington Palace. It has since led to the promise of an inquiry into allegations that Michael Fawcett, Prince Charles personal consultant, was discretely allowed to sell unwanted gifts and take some of the proceeds. But the sheer scale of the covert market uncovered by The Mail on Sunday will shock many.

The Los Angeles-based dealer revealed that David Griffin, the Princess head chauffeur, was a main supplier of items- although his were acquired legitimately - and recruited other servants. Items were then sold on by American middleman Autographs by Saunters . Griffin sold a lock of the Princess's hair - which she gave to him in a birthday card - just six months after she died, boasting at the time that it was 100% genuine. Ms. Carroll claims that she alerted Buckingham Palace and police when offered items that were obviously pilfered, but officials , she said , were not interested. Some of the items believed stolen have included a check signed by George VI to the Queen Mother. There were cards from the Queen Mother to Lord Linley and , incredibly, notes sent to family and friends by Prince William and Prince Harry in appreciation for the support shown after their mother's death. Ms. Carroll said, "Buckingham Palace turned a blind eye to it. With everything that has come out of it makes you wonder whether the royals let the pilfering continue because they had other skeletons they were trying to keep in the closet. They did nothing . They just didn't seem to care. As well as the Linley cards, I was offered a check signed by King George VI to Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother, along with a stack of blank checks belonging to the king. The person who took them probably thought no one would miss them. I reported that to the Palace too, but nothing happened.

According to Ms. Carroll, it was Saunters, who offered her the Linley Christmas cards. She said, I was sure they were stolen. I am certain neither the Queen Mother nor David Linley sold them, so they must have been taken. Mr. Saunter told me they came from directly inside the Palace. Unsure of who to contact in England, she called a friend, royal portrait artist Richard Stone. Mr. Stone confirmed to the Mail on Sunday, " I rang Sir Robert Fellows, then the Queen's private secretary , and told him. The Queen's lawyers then called me and I told them Alicia thought she had been offered stolen items. Alicia faxed me illustrations of the items and I passed those on to the lawyers then David Linely called me directly and asked me for all the details of the items, which I gave him. I didn't hear anything after that conversation. Some of the transactions, those involving gifts which have been given directly to a servant or a friend and later sold - are not illegal.

According to Ms Carroll, Princess Diana's cousin, Joanna Tuffnell sent her husband Peter from their home in Wales to Los Angeles with "boxes" of memorabilia which Alicia bought for thousands of dollars. They included the Order of Service for Diana’s funeral and a set of place mats, emblazoned with copies of Prince Charles watercolors given as a gift to Diana's grandmother Ruth, Lady Fermoy. Mrs. Tuffnell, the daughter of Diana's aunt Mary, told the Mail on Sunday: "That was my husband. It was actually quite confidential. I don't think I can say anything. Are you going to use my name? It is all a bit of a shock."

Ms. Carroll says her telephone was ringing off the hook, in the days after Diana died in a Paris car crash. I had servants calling me and offering me her clothing and private pictures. But when I asked for names and phone numbers to verify where the stuff was coming from, they would hang up on me. Even Christmas tags - among them one from The Queen to Prince Philip signed, "With fondest love, Lilibet - were offered for sale.

Ms Carroll said, "There is a network of people inside the Palace on the lookout for cards and gift tags because they are worth thousands to a collector. I think the servants and aides took the attitude that they could systematically steal and nothing would happen. So they did. Often they would respond to adverts in the Times placed by dealers posing as collectors and offering up to one thousand pounds for individual cards and letters. But according to Ms. Carroll, many of the servants are well aware of the main dealers and contact them directly.

I had a few Diana things before she died, but after the car crash, the vultures started circling. The money that was changing hands was scary. I wrote checks totaling 300,000 pounds in the six months after Diana died. I was re-selling to American collectors, for a profit, as soon as I got the items in. One call she received was from a man with an English accent offering to sell Diana's dresses, hats, shoes, blouses and purses as well as a silver cake server and picture frames. She had seen Paul Burrell on the Oprah Winfrey show and wondered if it was him. I thought I recognized the voice but my friends said , "Oh Alicia, it couldn't be." When the Burrell trial started, Alicia called Scotland Yard about her suspicious call. She said "they asked me if I had stolen goods and I told them I wasn't sure what was stolen and what was legitimate." I asked them if they checked Paul Burrell's phone records. The detective rang me back the next morning and said they didn't have the time to check phone records.

Intriguingly, Saunters told The Mail on Sunday that he was contacted six months before by an FBI agent who wanted to quiz him on behalf of British authorities about Burrell. "I didn't know who Burrell was at the time. The name didn't mean anything to me and I don't remember ever talking to him. The FBI seemed satisfied and I didn't hear from them again. I do have other contacts in the Royal household and I'm the main guy for Royal autographs so it is possible he would have known about me. "

Ms. Carroll did much of her business with a London based dealership who sold her a letter from Princess Diana to Wombat, Diana's pet name for William. Some letters from Diana to Wombat were listed as suspected stolen items by the prosecution in the Burrell trial - though these are not the ones Ms. Carroll bought. Ms Carroll said, at the time I was not suspicious. I actually had two Wombat letters. One
I knew the origin of - it was when William was sent a sweater at his first school. He threw the box away and a classmate pulled the note from Diana out of the trash and gave it to his mother. She kept it for 15 years and called me when she was going through a divorce and needed the money, I bought it for 25,500 pounds and sold it to a collector for 32,000 pounds. The note was very sweet and was all about how Diana hoped he was being a good boy at school and she hoped he liked his new classmates. In July 2000 she bought another wombat latter from the London based dealer. She said she paid 26,000 pounds. It was a letter about how Diana was glad William was doing well at school and how Mummy and Daddy missed him.

She added, after Prince Charles's apartments were robbed, I had a call from a man with an Italian accent offering to sell me some cufflinks belonging to Edward VIII. Again, I called the Palace and left a message saying I was being offered what I thought was stolen property but no one returned my call. Then I called Scotland yard. But again, no one rang me back.

Carroll showed the Mail On Sunday a note on palace letterhead which Griffin wrote to Saunters, stressing that the items he had sold were genuine. In it, Griffin promised to tell other servants about Saunters, saying, I have put the word around for you. Ms Carroll described Griffin’s attempt to sell a lock of Diana's hair as disgusting. But added, I know I could have sold that hair to one of my best clients, a famous and wealthy man in NY for 65,000 pounds.

Through her contacts Ms Carroll became aware that even some of Princess Diana's fingernail clippings were being offered for sale.

Last night Griffin admitted selling the lock of hair, which he said Diana had sent him as a joke. He said he teased her saying, it wasn't her natural color. He said, I haven't done anything wrong and when the Palace looked into allegations I was exonerated. He said he received about 11,000 pounds for a collection of Diana cards and the hair. Ms Carroll said it is obvious from the letter that Mr. Griffin was soliciting other servants inside the palace. The Griffin letter ends with the warning, Remember, This letter is for your eyes only!!!!

Carroll has planned to auction off her collection next month and retire. The former actress and model says, I think my collection is worth at least three million pounds but the economy is bad at the moment. I am speaking now because it is time this business was exposed. The Royal family has known people have been stealing stuff for years. I just want to tell the truth about this business because it is a business.

Monday 18 November 2002 05:03pm
ROYAL GOODS FOR SALE Servants passed royal items to collectors
By Tom Rapson And Aidan Mcgurran

BELOW-stairs staff have been selling off royal goods worth millions of pounds, it was claimed yesterday. One US dealer claims she was offered Diana's toenail clippings by one employee. And a royal chauffeur admits netting £11,000 for a lock of the late princess's hair and a batch of private cards written by Diana.

Even fringe members of the Royal Family and friends have made thousands from selling off mementoes and gifts, claims US collector Alicia Carroll. The scale of the sell-offs will stun the Palace, and the inquiry being carried out by Prince Charles's private secretary Sir Michael Peat. Sir Michael's remit includes probing the sale of gifts by staff after it was claimed the Prince of Wales' personal assistant Michael Fawcett was allowed to sell unwanted royal gifts and keep some of the profit.

But according to Beverly Hills dealer Alicia the organized trade goes far deeper than at first thought. She claims some of the memorabilia offered by palace servants was stolen. She said: "It is time the British public knew the truth about what has gone on. People who deal in royal memorabilia have never spoken about the fact we know a lot of these items are stolen because it would not be good for business. But they are stolen."

One fixer who buys royal cast-offs lives 40 miles from Sandringham. He claims he is the main outlet for servants wanting to make cash from unwanted gifts given to them by the royals. Norfolk-based dealer claims he is the biggest go-between in the cash-for-gifts trade. Claiming he was doing nothing wrong - said: "I get quite a few of the staff who get in contact. It is up the road. Anyone on the Sandringham estate who wants to dispose, they usually get in touch with me." He is currently advertising a £95,000 diamond ring given to Diana on her 24th birthday. He is also offering a wrought-iron garden seat with Charles and Diana's initials, given to them as a wedding present, for £12,000. He recently sold for £48,000 Diana's Ford Escort - which used to sport a silver frog bonnet-mascot - given to her by her sister Sarah McCorquodale as an engagement present in 1981. The life-size mascot is now said to sit on his desk. He was not available for comment yesterday.

An ex-Highgrove head gardener is said to have sold 16 items given to him by Prince Charles. The gardener, who worked at Charles's Gloucestershire house between 1985 and 1991, claims he sold the bench and a leather wallet with the Prince of Wales' emblem in an auction job lot for £4,500. He was not available yesterday at his home near Norwich.

Alicia said US collectors pay a fortune for royal memorabilia. She says she has been offered cheques signed by George VI to the Queen Mother, cards from the Queen Mother to Viscount Linley and notes sent from Princes William and Harry to friends thanking them for their support after their mother's death.

Alicia said she informed Buckingham Palace and was contacted by the Queen's solicitors, but no action was taken. The selling of gifts is not illegal.

MPs consider inquiry as servants are accused of looting royal gifts

Jamie Wilson
Monday November 18, 2002
The Guardian

Members of the House of Commons public accounts committee are discussing whether to launch their own inquiry into the royal cash for gifts scandal as more details emerged at the weekend of the alleged trade in artifacts by palace staff. Ian Davidson, a Labour committee member, said it was important to find out if gifts given to the royal family on official trips funded by the taxpayer had been sold off, and the money retained rather than being used to offset the costs of travel. "We would certainly be very concerned about any gifts that may have been sold off from official visits," he said.

The possible inquiry comes after Sir Michael Peat, Prince Charles's private secretary, announced last week he would be holding an internal inquiry into allegations emerging from the collapse of the Paul Burrell theft trial, including claims that senior staff had sold royal gifts for cash. Further allegations of skullduggery among palace servants emerged in the Sunday newspapers. Alicia Carroll, described in the Mail on Sunday as the world's top dealer in royal family artifacts, accused palace servants of systematically pilfering memorabilia worth millions of pounds.

Ms Carroll, whose business is based in California, said she had acquired personal letters from Princess Diana to Prince William, costing £26,500, as well as other communications between members of the royal family. On one occasion, it was claimed, she was even offered Princess Diana's nail clippings. She told the newspaper that as well as sellers approaching her directly, she also dealt with a small, secretive ring of dealers. Ms Carroll claimed to have warned Buckingham Palace about two items she believed were stolen - a collection of letters from the Queen Mother to Lord Linley and a pair of cufflinks belonging to Edward VIII, but the palace had "turned a blind eye". But a dealer at the center of claims in the Sunday Times that he had sold gifts on behalf of palace staff yesterday denied any impropriety in the trade in royal memorabilia.

One British dealer who specializes in selling royal artifacts to Americans, said: "The paper has inferred that everything is done underhand, when it is not." He said a wallet he sold to a Sunday Times reporter for £250, said to have belonged to Prince Charles, had been bought at auction from a former gardener at Highgrove. "[The gardener] never made any secret he was selling a whole load of stuff, in fact there was a big piece in the local paper at the time. It was all open and above board. I am possibly the largest dealer in the UK, and I have never been approached with anything that I thought was untoward. They have made a mountain out of a molehill."

The St James's Palace inquiry is likely to focus on the role of Michael Fawcett, the prince's personal consultant, who is said to have sold off unwanted gifts.

Mr Fawcett, a former valet who has risen through the ranks to become one the most trusted and influential members of the prince's staff, was nicknamed "Fawcett the Fence" in royal circles. He is reported to have kept between 10% and 20% of the proceeds. Prince Charles yesterday won a court order banning the Glasgow-based Sunday Mail from publishing details of a book written by a former royal housekeeper.

Sunday November 17, 07:31 AM
For sale -- Diana's nail clippings

LONDON (Reuters) - Staff of the embattled royals have fueled a trade in memorabilia, offering everything from the late Princess Diana's fingernail clippings to royal letters, according to tabloid newspapers.

The allegations, from a number of sources, marked a new twist to the saga that began with the collapse of the trial of Diana's former butler Paul Burrell earlier this month.

Burrell's newspaper memoirs, which he says he published to clear his name after the aborted trial, have emboldened other royal servants to talk to the press, resulting in a string of seedy stories that have plunged the royal household into crisis.

One of the few people whose fingernail clippings are worth money -- the late Princess Diana. REUTERS/Ian Waldie

Californian collector Alicia Carroll told the Mail on Sunday: "There is a network of people inside the palaces on the lookout for cards and gift tags because they are worth thousands to a collector."

Apart from fingernail clippings, Carroll described a trade in everything from locks of hair to "Wombat letters" -- letters written by Diana to Prince William by his pet name "Wombat". Carroll said after Diana died in a Paris car crash in 1997, her phone was "ringing off the hook" with offers. "The money that was changing hands at the time was scary," she said, adding that she had sold one "Wombat letter" for 32,000 pounds.

"This is not the interview I gave. Had they wanted to do a story about Janet Jenkins, Prince Charles and a 30 year old romance, they should have interviewed Janet Jenkins and HRH Prince Charles. This article was to be about my collection going up for auction, my feelings and sentiments regarding the royals trying to erase Diana from history and their attempts to thrust Camilla Parker Bowles into the limelight. The most significant parts of the letters which talked about the pressures from the press and family on Charles to find a wife as soon as possible and his frustrations with royal duties were never touched on. Alicia Carroll 9/9/2002"

Tuesday 10 September 2002 02:34:52pm

CHARLES' LETTERS TO SECRET GIRLFRIEND Exclusive By Jane Kerr Royal Reporter

LOVE letters from Prince Charles reveal details of the secret five-year affair he started after being dumped by Camilla.

The prince, then 26, met 30-year-old Janet Jenkins in Canada in 1975 and they became lovers the following year. Excited Charles wrote a four-page letter telling Janet he had found an excuse to fly to see her - while his sister, Princess Anne, competed in the Montreal Olympics.

He said: "If you could bear to see me I would have thought your apartment is the quietest place. If we went anywhere out the press would be on to it in a flash and that would be misery.

"It will be something marvelous to look forward to as far as I'm concerned and I can't wait to see you again."

Charles's long-time love Camilla Shand had married Andrew Parker Bowles in 1973.

Janet, originally from Wales, was a receptionist at the British consulate in Montreal. She has claimed they first made love in her apartment while the prince's security guards waited outside.

At the end of 1976, Charles wrote: "It was marvelous to hear your voice again the other day from the Ritz. "I am desperate being unable to see you."

In 1980, he was complaining about how royal protocol restricted their secret trysts while he was on tour: "My new private secretary is horrified by the idea of ladies in hotels during foreign tours so even if you had been in Canada and able to come to Vancouver I dare say I would have had a frightful struggle!"

Charles was a year away from marrying 19-year-old Diana. Janet had just got divorced. He wrote: "I so hope you have recovered from the traumatic business of marriage and divorce - such a short time. Thank goodness you discovered the mistake early enough and didn't start a family. Making a mistake like that is, frankly, something which concerns me enormously."

Twice-divorced Janet, who lives in Toronto and has a teenaged son, has claimed that although the affair ended earlier, she slept with Charles at Highgrove in July 1992. Six of about 15 love letters sent to her by the prince have surfaced through Alicia Carroll, an American collector based in Los Angeles.

Janet said last night: "The letters show him to be a deeply sensitive, compassionate man." But Mrs Carroll said: "He can't say Camilla was the great love of his life when he was writing these kind of letters to Janet not long after they'd broken up."

Daily Mirror London Friday 19 July 2002 11:08:50am

CHARLES LETTER MOANS ABOUT ROYAL DUTIES

EXCLUSIVE By Jane Kerr, Royal Reporter

A LETTER by Prince Charles moaning about his duties on a royal tour is to be auctioned.

Writing to a friend, he complains: "The real problem is keeping up my enthusiasm on each new day because I am beginning to get fed up with the amount of nonsensical rubbish I take all day and every day. "If one more NZ (New Zealand) child asks me what it's like to be prince I shall go demented." He ends: "Will you visit me when they strap me in a white apron and deposit me in some institution?"

The sulky letter, in which he also attacks "kindless" remarks about his tumbles off polo ponies, was sent in 1981, a few months before his wedding to Diana Spencer.

It is one of 112 letters written by Charles, the Queen, Diana and other royals to be sold, probably in New York later this year. A handwritten note from Charles in August 1980, less than a year before his wedding, betrays his closeness to Camilla Parker Bowles. Referring to a vet giving a tranquilizer to a horse, Charles says: "My professional adviser (Camilla!) tells me that it was probably needed before being turned out in the field."

The letters are being sold by American businesswoman Alicia Carroll, who has collected a vast array of royal memorabilia, even slices of Diana's wedding cake. In one letter, the princess spells out her unhappiness, despite being pregnant with her first child, William. She tells a relative: "I don't like complaining, but it's not that great at the moment, probably because there is such a lot going on my way after three months. "Hubby is on a cloud saying how marvelous he is and clever. I spend a lot of time reminding him that I'm the one carrying it. But it doesn't make any difference." But she is much happier after the arrival of Harry. She writes: "William adores his brother. I can't quite believe I am a mother-of-two."

Another glimpse of life at the palace comes on a gift tag from the Queen to her husband. It reads: "To Philip, fondest love, from Lilibet" - the royals' pet name for her.

Ms Carroll bought most of the letters from relatives, friends and staff of the royals. She says some needed the money and promises not to sell the most personal letters. She said: "Some were written by Diana when her marriage was breaking up. People write things in the heat of the moment they don't mean. I'd never do anything to embarrass the royals."

-THE Duchy of Cornwall, the landed estate which provides Prince Charles's income, saw profits rise by 4.7 per cent last year to £7.8 million, despite foot and mouth.

Wednesday, 26 June, 2002, 10:22 GMT 11:22 UK Prince's letters to be auctioned

About 300 Royal items to be auctioned in US this year

A letter written by the Prince of Wales complaining over relentless questioning about life as a royal is to be auctioned. The letter was sent in 1981 when he was on tour of New Zealand. In it he says: ''If one more child asks me what it's like to be a prince I shall go demented.'' The eight-page note, handwritten on Buckingham Palace paper, is one of 300 royal items to be sold at auction in the US later this year. William doted on Harry as a baby, Diana's letter says

The items, including letters from Diana, Princess of Wales after her honeymoon and the birth of Prince Harry, give a rare insight into royal life. Writing to a friend, Charles complains: "The real problem is keeping up my enthusiasm on each new day because I am beginning to get fed up with the amount of nonsensical rubbish I take all day and every day. "If one more NZ child asks me what it's like to be a prince I shall go demented." He finishes the letter: "Will you visit me when they strap me in a white apron and deposit me in some institution?" Another letter by the Prince refers to Camilla Parker Bowles. Penned in August 1980, less than a year before he married Diana, Charles refers to a vet tranquilizing a horse. He says: "My professional adviser (Camilla!) tells me that it was probably needed before being turned out in the field."

Other items in the auction include a note written by Diana after her honeymoon to a former member of staff from her family home who became a friend. She says: "We had a wonderful honeymoon catching up on all that lack of sleep, and just being together made everything so perfect." American businesswoman Alicia Carroll, who is selling the collection, said: "Diana gave so many people gifts, letters and cards. "If she had written you 50 letters, and you needed money for something, it would not be so bad to sell five or 10 of them. "That's how I have been collecting them." Mrs Parker Bowles mentioned in Charles' letter before his wedding

Ms Carroll, who runs a web site called everythingroyal.com, said she had 10,000 royal items and wanted to sell some of them. But some items she has promised to never show. "I have six letters that will never see the light of day, because I would not do anything to offend the Royal Family," she says. "I will probably burn them one day." One of Diana's letters expected to be in the auction was written after the birth of Prince Harry. She tells a friend: "The reaction to his birth has totally overwhelmed us and we can hardly breathe for the mass of flowers that have arrived. "William adores his little brother and spends the entire time pouring an endless supply of hugs and kisses on Harry, and we are hardly allowed near. "I cannot quite believe I am now a mother-of-two."

HELLO MAGAZINE Sunday, July 7, 2002

26 JUNE 2002
A collection of intimate missives written by members of the Royal family, including the late Princess Diana, is to go on sale by auction probably in New York later in the year.

The correspondence, which comprises 112 letters, plus a gift tag from the Queen to her husband, is being sold by American businesswomen Alicia Carroll. Alicia is the owner of a large body of royal memorabilia, which even includes slices of Charles and Diana's wedding cake.

One letter, written three months into the late Princess's first pregnancy, gives an insight into the mother-to-be’s state of mind at the time. “I don't like complaining, but it's not that great at the moment, probably because there's so much going my way at the moment,” she wrote. “Hubby is on a cloud saying how marvelous he is and clever. I spend a lot of time reminding him that I'm the one carrying it. But it doesn't make any difference.”

In an earlier letter written by her husband to a friend to during a 1981 trip to New Zealand just before his nuptials, Charles also revealed that life as a royal is not always a rosy one. “If one more NZ child asks me what it's like to be prince I shall go demented,” he penned. “Will you visit me when they strap me in a white apron and deposit me in some institution?”

Also included in the items offered for sale is a gift tag addressed to Philip with fondest love from Lilibet”, a reference to the British monarchs pet name among members of the royal family.

According to Alicia, other letters of an even more personal nature – including some written by Diana when her marriage to Charles was in difficulty – will not be included in the auction. “People write things in the heat of the moment that they don't mean,” she said. “I’d never do anything to embarrass the royals.”

Among the items to be auctioned off is a gift tag addressed from the Queen to her husband Prince Philip which reads: "fondest love from Lilibet"

One of the letters by Charles, written in 1981, reveals his disenchantment at that time with the constant pressures of his role. “If one more NZ child asks me what it’s like to be prince I shall go demented,” he wrote

FROM PRESS ASSOCIATION:

Hi Alicia,
Thanks for your help and sorry to have kept you up. Here is the story I wrote for the Press Association news wire, which is the UK's national news agency (the British equivalent of Reuters). Please keep me on your mailing list for any further news.

Regards,
Sam.
My email: sam_greenhill@pa.press.net

(Over 2,600 US newspapers ran an article from this press release)

PRINCE'S LETTERS TO BE AUCTIONED
By Sam Greenhill, PA News

A letter by the Prince of Wales moaning that if one more child asks what it is like to be a royal I shall go demented is to be auctioned. The missive was sent in 1981 when the Prince was on a tour of New Zealand. Writing to a friend, Charles complains: The real problem is keeping up my enthusiasm on each new day because I am beginning to get fed up with the amount of nonsensical rubbish I take all day and every day. If one more NZ child asks me what it's like to be a prince I shall go demented. He finishes the letter: Will you visit me when they strap me in a white apron and deposit me in some institution?

The eight-page note, handwritten on Buckingham Palace paper, is one of about 300 royal items to be sold at auction in the US later this year.

Another letter by the Prince refers to Camilla Parker Bowles. Penned in August 1980, less than a year before he married Diana, Charles refers to a vet tranquilizing a horse and says: My professional adviser (Camilla!) tells me that it was probably needed before being turned out in the field.

Other items in the auction include a note written by Diana after her honeymoon. She tells a former member of staff from her family home who became a friend: We had a wonderful honeymoon catching up on all that lack of sleep, and just being together made everything so perfect.

American businesswoman Alicia Carroll, who is selling the collection, said: Diana gave so many people gifts, letters and cards. If she had written you 50 letters, and you needed money for something, it would not be so bad to sell five or 10 of them. That's how I have been collecting them.

Ms Carroll, who runs a web site called everythingroyal.com, said she had 10,000 royal items and wanted to sell some of them. But some items she has promised to never show. I have six letters that will never see the light of day, because I would not do anything to offend the Royal Family. I will probably burn them one day.

One of Diana's letters expected to be in the auction was written after the birth of Prince Harry. She tells a friend: The reaction to his birth has totally overwhelmed us and we can hardly breathe for the mass of flowers that have arrived.William adores his little brother and spends the entire time pouring an endless supply of hugs and kisses on Harry, and we are hardly allowed near. I can't quite believe I am now a mother-of-two.
end

NEW ZEALAND NEWSPAPER AND TV

Prince's letter complains about NZ

An American businesswoman auctioning a letter penned by Prince Charles in which he complains about his experiences in New Zealand says it is not a reflection on the country.

Prince Charles wrote the letter to a friend while in this country in 1981.

In it he says he will go demented if one more New Zealand child asks him what it is like to be a prince. He also complains about endless facetious remarks about his falling off horses during polo matches.

The letter is being sold in New York by an American businesswoman, Alicia Carroll.

She says his remarks were made while the Prince was tired, and could have been written anywhere in the world at that time.

Carroll says it was a very hard time for Prince Charles as neither he nor his new wife Princess Diana were prepared for the global adulation they received.

Published on June 27, 2002 ONE News source from TVNZ, RNZ, Reuters and

YOUNGSTOWN VINDICATOR NEWSPAPER

Online Edition
Youngstown, Ohio
Royal family collection to be auctioned Friday, July 5, 2002
The collection includes some personal letters that will not be sold.

By AMY HOUSLEY VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF WARREN —

A former Warren woman is making news with her collection of royal memorabilia. Alicia Carroll, the former Carol Kirk, will auction off her personal collection. She operates Everything Royal, a business in Los Angeles that specializes in selling those types of items. No date or site have been chosen.

Carroll became interested in the memorabilia more nearly 18 years ago because of the amount of exposure the royal family received. She describes the catalogs of memorabilia she found at that time as "pathetic." After deciding she could do better, she advertised a catalog she hadn't even put together yet. She had an overwhelming response of requests, which launched her into the business.

Carroll made contacts in England and began collecting. With the demand in the United States, she had little trouble selling here. She also built up her personal collection, which includes bracelets that belonged to Princess Diana, a box from the wedding cake of Diana and Prince Charles and personal letters. "I remember the day I got my first letter," Carroll said, reflecting on her early days of collecting. She said that now, "it's time to let someone else enjoy them."

She had hoped to open a museum but the cost was prohibitive. An alternative she also considered was traveling with her collection, but the cost and the demands of traveling prevented it. Continuing business Everything Royal makes about $500,000 each year. The business will continue, even though Carroll will be selling her personal collection, valued in the millions. "Now's the time to do it," Carroll said of her plans for the auction.

Since word of the auction got out, the press response has been overwhelming. She's hoping the added exposure will attract a private buyer for the collection, which she would like to keep together.

One letter generating a lot of interest was written by Charles dated less than a year before he married Diana. In it, he makes a reference to Camilla Parker Bowles, the woman who is blamed for breaking up the royal marriage.

Some of the other letters in the collection include ones written by Diana after her honeymoon and around the time of the births of her sons, Princes William and Harry.

Carroll said she has four letters she will never sell because of the personal nature of the contents. She also plans to keep one of Diana's bracelets and some photos. "It's very hard to part with the things. I wouldn't do anything to offend the royal family,"

Carroll said, crediting them with giving her a livelihood. Along with her trips to England, Carroll said she often returns to the Warren area.

Her parents, Fran and Elsie Mendenhall, live in Bazetta. When it comes to choosing between family and work, Carroll said, "my family comes first."

Cleveland Plain Dealer Sarah Crump 07/10/02

Los Angeles businesswoman Alicia Carroll became big news once the British press got wind that she owned a letter Prince Charles wrote to a friend calling Camilla Parker Bowles "my professional adviser."

The handwritten note the prince sent to a friend in 1981, a few months before his wedding, refers to a Bowles recommendation about a royal polo pony. The note is one of the rare times Charles refers to his relationship with Bowles, who has been rumored to be a longtime love interest.

Carroll, who was known as Carol Kirk growing up in Warren, has gathered thousands of royalty items that she markets on her Web site, www.everythingroyal.com. However, she hopes a collector will buy her entire private collection of 56 letters penned by Charles, Queen Elizabeth II, Diana and other royals, as well as hundreds of keepsakes including a souvenir box that once held a bit of the Queen Mum's 1923 wedding cake.

Want a rare autographed photo of Queen Mary holding baby Elizabeth, the future queen? Carroll's got it. A portion of the rose bouquet a young attendant carried in the wedding of Lady Diana and Prince Charles? Carroll has that, too.

At the top of a serious collector's list would be Diana's letters, written after her honeymoon and the birth of each of her two sons.

But Carroll has four very personal royal letters she vows will never leave her hands. "They are letters that were writ ten in anger. I wouldn't even read them to my mother." Carroll keeps them in her safe for now. Someday, "when I am very, very brave, I will burn them."

To reach this Plain Dealer reporter: scrump@plaind.com, 216-999-5478

Florida Today, Sunday June 30, 2002

People Watch - Royal letters for sale

A letter by Prince Charles complaining that children's questions during a royal tour threatened to drive him "demented" is among a collection of royal letters to be auctioned by an American businesswoman this year.

Los Angeles based Alicia Carroll announced she plans to sell some 300 letters from her royal collection of around 10,000 royal items on her web site.

In Charles 1981 letter, sent to a friend from New Zealand, he states, " The real problem is keeping up my enthusiasm on each new day because I am getting fed up with the amount of nonsensical rubbish I take all day and every day," he writes, "If one more NZ child asks me what it's like to be a prince I shall go demented." The eight page note , hand written on Buckingham paper, concludes, "Will you visit me when they strap me in a white apron and deposit me in some institution?"

Another letter from Charles refers to his longtime companion, Camilla Parker Bowles. Written in August 1980, less than a year before he married Lady Diana Spencer, Charles refers to a vet tranquilizing a horse and says, " My professional advisor (Camilla) tells me that is was probably needed before being turned out in the field."

Carroll's website is www.everythingroyal.com.

The Press Democrat People

Friday, June 28, 2002 Santa Rose, California

Kids ruffle royalty

A letter by Prince Charles complaining that children's questions during a royal tour threatened to drive him "demented" is among a collection of royal letters that Los Angeles business woman Alicia Carroll plans to auction later this year.

" The real problem is keeping up my enthusiasm on each new day because I am beginning to get fed up with the amount of nonsensical rubbish I take all day and every day, " he writes in a 1981 letter to a friend from New Zealand. "If one more NZ child asks me what it's like to be a prince I shall go demented."

The eight page note concludes, "Will you visit me when they strap me in a white apron and deposit me in some institution?"

End

Everything Royal Home Page

Alicia Carroll / royaltyac@aol.com

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