after their official separation in 1992 prince charles and princess diana both admitted to
having extramarital relationships and interviews in season four of the crown charles and diana's
marital strain becomes an open secret within the royal family when speaking to queen elizabeth ii
olivia coleman princess anne aaron doherty lists diana's alleged affairs including one with her
bodyguard alex why don't you do that because she's great fun though the crown only devotes
a throwaway sentence to diana's relationship with her bodyguard barry manicke it was a much bigger
deal in her life unlike diana's well-documented affair with major james hewitt though questions
remain about the nature of her bond with manicke this much is for sure the duo was definitely close
in private tapes recorded with diana's voice coach peter settling and released after her death diana
described her relationship with an unnamed bodyguard whom she called the greatest love
she ever had diana said she was deeply in love with this man and would have been quite happy to
give all this up and to just go off and live with him and he kept saying he thought it was a good
idea too though diana never mentions mana key by name in the tapes the biographical details align
there's not enough to definitely say yes it is not enough to definitely say no it isn't my first
impression she said she met him at 24 the age she was when mana key was assigned to be her bodyguard
and that he died in a motorbike accident just as manichae did in 1987. this is what to know about
the great love that the crown never shows barry manicke was assigned to be diana's bodyguard in
and lasting 1985 to the nation and if i may say you both look very much in love oh yes absolutely
whatever in love means it was 1985 and princess die needed a new bodyguard as
her chief inspector graham smith was leaving his post in the diana chronicles tina brown
describes the qualities considered during the search what kind of man do you cast a
guard a beautiful and unhappy young princess someone very strong very sane and very married
someone who could steer her out of trouble enter sergeant barry manicke former police dog handler
who had been working at the royalty and diplomatic protection group since nineteen eighty three
in april nineteen eighty five thirty seven year old mana key was assigned to watch over diana
according to the diana chronicles manicke came into diana's life at a time when she was feeling
vulnerable the mother of two was still trying to live within the chafing confines of her marriage
but increasingly unwilling to give up on her need for love brown wrote like diana manicki
was married to a reflexologist named susan and had two children both teenage girls brown
described manikey as a cocky eastender with kind eyes and later is dark and handsome in a blokey
way with a nice helping of spontaneous warmth biographer sally bedell smith wrote in diana in
search of herself that manikey had a jocular personality and put diana instantly at ease
they grew close after a cringe-worthy fishing accident at balmoral castle diana and manicke
knew each other prior to his assignation as her ppo however their relationship deepened during
a fishing expedition in balmoral in 1985 the scottish retreat where the royal family summers
annually can't go ahead it'll be a disaster for everyone her majesty is unavailable at the moment
as she globally watched her husband at his favorite occupation a salmon hook
from a careless cast became embedded in her eyelid personal protection was radioed to take diana back
to the house to receive medical attention it was manicki who drove the car mana key not her husband
who consoled her brown wrote according to brown manicki continued to support diana emotionally
including ahead of speaking events she kept saying she couldn't go ahead with it and
just collapsed in my arms i hugged her and stopped her crying what would you have done
maniki recalled to housekeeper wendy berry for brown's book in the tapes released after
her death diana described her attachment to her security officer well well well
i was only happy when he was around i was like a little girl in front of him the whole time
she said manikee was fired for becoming too close to the princess much ado has been made over the
nature of diana and manicke's bond clearly they were close but did their connection ever deepen
into a full-blown affair diana never confirmed that a relationship with mana key became physical
in the interview and ken warf manicke's successor is diana's bodyguard said that's because it never
did diana did not have a sexual relationship with manicke i think manaki was a shoulder to
cry on and i think that all of us both male and female working with the princess were
all potential shoulders to cry on that was her style war said in the documentary diana in her
own words however in his book love and war diana's ex-lover james hewitt wrote that diana confirmed
she and manicke were lovers brown also wrote that she believed the two had a physical affair
certainly though manicke outright broke protocol of maintaining distance from his principle
ken warf manicke's successor wrote that manicke had tea with diana in her private drawing room
which was unheard of the two were also overheard flirting as brown wrote in her book
in the tapes diana said she played with fire with this relationship but really it was maniky who
played with fire brown wrote that the two were caught in a compromising position in july 1986
soon after manicke was removed from his position as diana's bodyguard it was all found out and they
chucked him out diana said in the tapes nine months later manicke was killed in a motorbike
accident on may 22nd 1987 manicki then 39 was struck by a 17 year old inexperienced driver
while he was riding a motorcycle diana heard the news while she was arriving to the con
film festival and was devastated the telephone conversation allegedly involving the princess of
wales is reported to have been taped on new year's eve six days after these pictures were taken at
sandringham in 1989. this was the biggest blow of my life diana said of his death in the tapes
i just sat there all day going through this huge high-profile visit to khan thousands of press
just devastated because you know i wasn't supposed to mind as much as i did if you know what i mean
diana never lost the suspicion that mana key was deliberately killed due to their relationship
telling voice coach peter settling she thought he was bumped off
warf disputed diana's claims of course i don't think he was killed there was no reason for him
to be killed war said in diana in her own words he died tragically in a road traffic accident
just like diana i think every strong woman in history has had to walk down a similar path
and i think it's the strength that causes the confusion and the fear why is she strong where
does she get it from where is she taking it where is she going to use it why do the public still
support her when i say public you're going into an engagement and there's a great many people there
you