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Published on October 21, 2007

It was a night the nine SEAWrite Awards winners from Asean member countries will remember for a long time to come.

They, along with patrons of the local literary community and other distinguished guests, were recently given the opportunity to get up close with Her Royal Highness Princess Sirivannavari Nariratana who graciously presided over the 2007 SEAWrite Awards presentation ceremony on behalf of His Royal Highness Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn. The event was held at the Oriental.

It's also a night of intellectual stimulation as everyone was treated not just to the speeches delivered by the nine winners, but by the function's keynote speaker Sarah Bradford, a British historian and the acclaimed biographer of Diana, Princess of Wales. The night seemed to belong to Bradford, whose informative and entertaining speech fascinated the mixed crowd of scholars, diplomats, business people and journalists.

In attendance were ambassadors of Asean-member countries, Dr Tarisa Watanagase, the governor of the Bank of Thailand; Michael Kordys, president of BMW Thailand; Dr Narongchai Akrasanee, chairman of EXIM Bank; Rex Morgan of the Rex Morgan Foundation; and MR Sukhumbhand Paribatra, chairman of the SeaWrite Awards organising committee.

Bradford chose a subject she knew well for her discourse - the late Princess Di.

"As her biographer, I am inundated with requests to talk about her, to explain her extraordinary celebrity and why she is still remembered," she said, going on to paint a portrait of Diana as both a sleek, chic international celerity and a sad mother of two with nowhere to go for her summer holidays.

Bradford believes that she was somewhat of a quasi-saint, a woman of extraordinary empathy who provided youth and a new meaning to the British monarchy through internationally recognised royal duties.

"This was a woman who took on the British royal and social establishment and charmed the world," she insisted.

"Diana's insecurity led her to make major mistakes - mainly over men. In an effort to keep her private life private, she committed one of her biggest errors, dispensing with her official protection and leaving herself open to the hunting paparazzi.

"The bitter battle of the Waleses was fought out in public through the media where Diana had the upper hand.

Diana deployed all the weapons at her disposal, her beauty, her charm and her huge popularity. But her refusal to compromise led to a series of mistakes and in the end, with her divorce, she lost the battle with Charles."

Bradford observed that Diana's most serious and fatal mistake was to walk into the Fayed trap. "In her own eyes she was making a defiant gesture at Charles, Camilla and 'the Establishment' who disapproved of Fayed."

After the speech, Kurt Wachtveitl the big boss of the Oriental was quick to assure the audience that when Prince Charles and Princess Diana came on a state visit in Thailand, they stayed in the Oriental as a happy couple.

"I can assure you that they stayed together in one room," he said.