PENNY JUNOR

Kate Middleton has no blue blood coursing through her veins. Her father, Michael, is self-made, and he and his wife have been very successful with their party business, but they are and always will be strictly middle class.

I confess I'm a huge fan of 'Suits.'

I had a very difficult father. I lived in a war zone. My parents were very unhappy, and I lived through my mother's pain. Throughout my childhood, I was constantly trying to protect her from my father.

Kenya has deep resonances for the royals: it was here, after all, that the young Princess Elizabeth heard of the death of her father, George VI. From that moment, she was Queen.

I've got terrible hate mail basically saying I'm vile and evil.

Prince Charles has his foibles, but he is not a crook, not a bully, and not a hypocrite.

I feel that if I'm writing a book, it has to be an honest book: it has to say what I believe to be the truth, so that's kind of warts and all.

When Sir Michael Peat arrived from Buckingham Palace in 2002 to take up the job as Prince Charles's private secretary, he came with a clear agenda. His instructions from the Queen were to sever Charles's relationship with Camilla Parker Bowles because it was a mess and was detracting from his work.

Compared with the rest of the Royal Family, Charles is a thoroughly Renaissance man, moved by beauty, music, and art in a way that largely passes his parents, his siblings, and his sons by.

I wasn't a pushy parent - you have to let children be who they want to be.

Kate Middleton is intelligent, good looking, kind, and fun, and she is remarkably normal.

Becoming pregnant can be difficult at the best of times.

Public disapproval is the price I pay for writing about the royals.

I have watched people around members of the royal family for a long time now, and something very strange happens to them. They turn into sycophants.

My loyalty is to myself, actually. I don't know if it's to my readers.

I have huge sympathy for Prince William. He was born into a deeply unenviable life that most of us would abhor, and what's more, he lost his mother at an early age.

Africa is the one place on earth where Prince Harry can be truly himself. He describes Botswana as his 'second home,' but this magical country is even more than that - it is his haven, his safe harbour.

For much of the final decade of the 20th century, one story regularly dominated the news across much of the developed world. It was the unravelling of the marriage between the heir to the British throne and his beautiful, charismatic princess, Diana.

William's marriage to Kate Middleton showed that social class, which seemed so important when Prince Charles was looking for a bride in the Eighties, is no longer an issue.

At one time, my mother did plan to divorce my father when she found out about an affair he had with a model, the sister of one of my brother's girlfriends.

The fact is, Charles and Diana's marriage was a train smash in many ways, and, as Camilla will one day be Queen, it's important for the public to understand she's not some terrible woman.

Everything in adulthood can be traced back to childhood.

I don't think the monarchy is tawdry in the slightest. I think the monarchy is hugely important for Britain.

Britain has had some very strong and successful queens throughout history, but, since the Act of Succession in 1701, they have only been eligible to take the throne if they had no brothers. If there was a boy in the family, no matter where he came in the order of birth, he leapfrogged his sisters to take the title.

The monarchy needs publicity: they must be seen to be relevant. Unfortunately, they can't just lead quiet lives.