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CNN Saturday Morning News

Interview With Chuck Baker

Aired August 31, 2002 - 07:38   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

CATHERINE CALLAWAY, CNN ANCHOR: The world fell in love with Princess Diana. Her compassion and her ability to connect with the everyday person. And on this day, five years after her death, we're speaking to Chuck Baker, he's the author of "Flowers for Princess Diana," which takes a look at her life and includes many never-before published photographs. He's joining us this morning from Las Vegas. Thanks for being with us.
CHUCK BAKER, AUTHOR: Thank you very much, glad to be here.

CALLAWAY: Now, Chuck, let me get this straight. This is also a book by Ian Jackman, is that right?

BAKER: That's correct. Ian lives in London; he was a close friend of Princess Diana. Several years ago on a visit to England, my wife and I got to meet Ian and indirectly through him we came to meet Diana on several occasions. So when she died, Ian and I got together and wrote the book. But, all the photographs are photos that Ian took over many years.

CALLAWAY: You know, I want to be clear about Ian. When you say a friend. I read most of the book last night. Now, Ian was basically a royal watcher, wasn't he? I mean, he would read in the paper where she was and he would show up at these events behind the velvet rope with flowers, sometimes candy and they sort of struck up conversations, occasionally. She began to recognize him. Among the crowd. Is this right?

BAKER: You've hit it right on the head. I think, initially, you know, as you said, he would read and find out where she was gong to appear because they published that in the British papers. But, after several years of this, he just got to know -- he got to know her, he got to know the people around her and people at the palace, and he could just phone up or he could just talk to the Princess and she'd say well, tomorrow I'll be here, or next week I'll be there. And, they truly did become friends. He didn't -- he wasn't just a hanger on so to speak.

CALLAWAY: Right, its a little bit surprising to me that they became friends. I look at these and some of these photographs in here are quite close up, they're all -- almost all taken at events or as she was leaving places and meeting people in the crowd. And he came across to me, at first, as just another member of the paparazzi. But you disagree with that.

BAKER: Right, well, he was not -- he is not a paparazzi or a journalist. His -- he just admired Diana.

CALLAWAY: Big fan.

BAKER: As I do, he was a big fan. And, you know, as I'm sure you've read the -- Ian and I are very much behind one of Diana's causes and one of the things that she supported was the banning of land mines.

CALLAWAY: And I know you were injured by a grenade, right?

BAKER: I was injured by a grenade in Vietnam; it was a different weapon but the same end result. And, so, we are actually donating part of our profits from the sale of the book to various non-profit groups that support the banning of land mines. And that's one of the things about Ian and Diana is that he admired, he appreciated, her compassion and her love of children and certainly that was something that I admired about Diana as well as a journalist and as a fan of Diana. So...

(CROSSTALK)

CALLAWAY: You mentioned that you met her. Tell us about that meeting.

BAKER: Well, I've met her on a couple of occasions. If I can relate a story or two. When I -- the first time I met her, we were at a charity event at a theater in London, supporting one of her causes. When the show was over, we were in the lobby and Diana came out and just began talking with people in the lobby. And, she walked -- she approached me, actually, and began speaking to me. And I just nodded my head and then she asked me a question and I -- as I answered the question, I noticed that she flinched, just for half a second, she blinked her eyes. And, I continued to talk; I was trying to think well, what just happened here. And then I realized what it was that when she walked up to me, she assumed I was a British subject, like most of the others.

CALLAWAY: You were a stinking American!

BAKER: When I spoke American, you know, she -- it just threw her for a second. But she recovered immediately and just started -- you know -- she just continued the conversation. And, she was great that way, she was good in any situation, she could meet presidents and prime ministers and she could meet people in the theatre and she was just...

(CROSSTALK)

CALLAWAY: I know you write some of the comebacks that she had when funny things happened. Were fun to read. You know, the one thing that was somewhat sad about some of the -- his memories of meeting her -- Ian's memories -- were just how she had -- she was changing, how he could sense stress from her. As she was -- as the years went on, as she was going through the different dramas in her life. BAKER: That's correct, and you know they never really spoke openly about a lot of her personal life. But, he could sense that and he could tell when she was sad and he could tell by some of the things she said or just by the way she rolled her eyes. They just -- they understood each other's body language there after -- I mean, he had this relationship wit her for many years. And, so, they really did develop a friendship. But, and, even more than that, you know, I think the toughest part of the book to write, for me, was Ian's description and discussion about the funeral. I mean, he -- again, he developed a friendship with the royal family, invited him to the funeral after her death, and that was very sad.

CALLAWAY: In the book, Flowers for Princes Diana -- named that because he often showed up wherever she was, flowers in tow. Right?

BAKER: It was -- it actually -- you're right, it -- actually it had two meanings. Initially, yes, he used to -- after he came to know her, after the first year or two, he virtually brought her flowers every time they met. But in addition to that, of course, when she died, all of the outpouring of the flowers and -- at Buckingham Palace. So really the title is kind of bookends at the beginning and at the end -- flowers helped to define their relationship.

CALLAWAY: Well, Chuck Baker, thank you very much for being with us. Flowers for Princess Diana by Ian Jackman and Chuck Baker. Thanks for staying with us this morning.

BAKER: Thanks for having me.

CALLAWAY: All right, bye-bye. We'll be back in a minute with much more.

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