THE departure of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle from the royal family tore the public image of the monarchy apart with rumours of sibling rifts and bullying claims rife.
Many have wondered what his late mother would make of it and while no one will ever really know one man has a pretty good idea.
worked as a bodyguard for the late Princess of Wales and her family for a total of 13 years becoming well acquainted with both Diana and her youngest son.
The best-selling author believes that, while the princess famously , she would have discouraged his departure from it.
“One thing's for certain Diana would have understood perhaps why the Sussexes would want a different life,”; Wharfe says.
“Diana herself had often talked about a different way of life but didn't (go through with it) because of her loyalty to the and the country.
“I think she would have told and to give royal life a chance and that he was being a bit premature.”;
He adds: “I think he would have listened and if that had been the case they could well have been a different outcome to this.”;
Before joining the royal family as a protection officer, Wharfe worked for the as a cadet rising to the rank of inspector before joining SO14.
In 1986 Wharfe joined royalty protection where he was appointed to take care of two young brothers in , and his first day was certainly a memorable one.
Speaking as part of , Flying Eze’s YouTube series featuring ordinary people with extraordinary experiences, Wharfe says: “I was rather nervous as I drove to in Norfolk to meet Diana.
“I was shown into an elaborate room by a very attentive butler and there was a four-year-old attempting to play a piano badly and Harry, two, de-stamenising a vase of royal lilies.
“Diana said ‘I don't envy you Ken, looking after my children they can be a bloody nuisance’ at which point William shuffled around on this spiraling stool and said ‘I'm not a bloody nuisance’ while Harry fell off this table breaking the vase as he went.
“It was completely the opposite to what I had expected and meeting the Princess of Wales was actually like seeing a friend.”;
Wharfe was hired and immediately began acting as security for the young princes, who referred to him as ‘Uncle Ken.’
Wharfe says it was immediately apparent how reluctant both Harry and William were to be in the spotlight.
He explains: “I remember my first job with William at , his first school.
“Diana was telling him when we get to the school there are going to be lots of photographers and that she didn’t want him ‘mucking about.’
“William responded, ‘I don't like tographers’.
“Diana told him that he was going to get this for the rest of his life anyway and he’d better behave and just learn to live with it, it was quite shrewd advice really.”;
Wharfe spent the next six months in the neighbouring classroom to William’s with the young prince regularly greeted by up to 70 photographers.
But according to the security expert, the Prince of Wales eventually took revenge on the paps.
Working for the royal family saw Wharfe accompany them wherever they went including luxury holiday destinations.
And in January 1989, he followed Diana and her two boys to where the boys got their own back on the press.
“The island manager returned with the supplies including some catapults for the kids,”; Wharfe remembers.
“I tried to discourage him but William overhead.”;
According to Wharfe the prince regaled plans of firing water balloons at the press who were assembling at Biras Creek of the island in the hope to snap a photo of Di.
“Diana was quite adamant she didn’t want to do any press,”; Wharfe explains.
“But once William had told his mother about the possibility of firing these water-filled balloons at the press it suddenly excited Diana in such a way that she came to me and said ‘Ken I think it (the photo call) is a very good idea'.”;
The press were given just 15 minutes to photograph the family, with strict instructions not to come ashore.
“The late James Whittaker was peering through his binnochulas and complaining that he couldn’t see William,”; Wharfe remembers.
“Diana started laughing and then suddenly from this cliff top there's the shout of fire and William, Harry and his cousins launched a balloon into the press pack.
“One remarkably hit Whittaker on the chest and he stood up with a smile on his face and shouted ‘I've just been flayed by the future king of England.’”;
Wharfe, who took over as Diana’s body guard in 1987 after her former’s health forced him to retire, says that it was his very first trip with the princess that sticks out in his mind.
He had travelled with the then Prince and Princess of Wales and their children to the Marivan Palace in Mallorca to stay with the Spanish monarchy.
“The Prince of Wales and the children had gone off from the king's boat the Fortuna and Diana called me and asked me to come and see her,”; Wharfe remembers.
“She asked me if I knew about Mrs Parker Bowles and I told her I was aware of the situation but I said I think that's really what I need to know.
“But she told me she wanted me to be aware of it from her perspective so I was fully aware of the circumstances of what her marriage was and make my job easier.
“She went into some detail about her relationship at that time with James Hewitt. I told her she didn’t need to explain to me anymore than she had done.
“After all I was there in a protection capacity rather than a moral advisor.
“The one thing about that meeting was that I really began to understand this woman and so it was that from here on in the next seven years I had a very open relationship in that sense albeit professional where I understood who this woman was.”;
Wharfe says that while her personal life might have been extremely complicated, Diana’s loyalty to her duty was unwavering.
He explains: “Diana did an amazing job as the Princess of Wales.
“No one could question Diana's loyalty, it was absolutely solid irrespective of the unhappiness that she'd experienced in her own life.
“Her role was to represent firstly the Queen and the government at the same time and from my experience I don't think that she ever fought it on that.”;
Wharfe’s professional relationship with the late princess came to an end in 1993 when he stepped down as her royal protection officer, a year after the Prince and Princess of Wales announced their separation.
But he found himself in the princess’ company one last time before her fateful trip to Paris in 1997.
He says: “I left in October 1993 for reasons that were personal but ultimately I could see that Diana's life was going in a totally different direction than I imagined.
“Two or three weeks after my departure her private secretary telephoned and told me she wanted to see me at Kensington Palace.
“We had a very informal tea and biscuits and we reminisced on the good times but she also apologised for the ‘horrible year.’
“She told me she hadn’t wanted to make my job difficult and I told her she needn’t worry about it.”;
Diana then asked her bodyguard if he had any advice for her and Wharfe believes that had she taken it her life could have been very different.
“I said ‘I don't know what you're about to do but I would urge you not to abandon Scotland Yard security’,”; he recalls.
“I acknowledged that on occasions they had been invasive but we kept her alive and kept her sense of humour where it should be and she listened.
“But weeks later, at the end of December 1993 she abandoned her security in its entirety.”;
And less than four years later the Princess of Wales was killed in the fatal crash in Paris.
Diana, Egyptian film producer Dodi Fayed, 42, and Ritz security chief Henri Paul, who was driving, were killed in the car crash.
The sole survivor of the crash was Dodi's bodyguard, Trevor Rees-Jones.
Paul had been drinking before getting behind the wheel and was driving at a high speed when the car smashed into the 13th pillar of the Pont de l'Alma underpass.
Ultimately Wharfe believes that the inadequate security is what led to Diana’s untimely death on 31st August 1997.
“This was a road traffic accident that could and should have been avoided,”; he says.
“It was an accident because the security lacked the professionalism and experience of Scotland Yard.
“It was a tragedy, they were inexperienced and they weren't in complete control.
“They allowed a man who was nearly four times over the drink drive limit to drive that car in which case an accident was inevitable.
“The only person that survived that accident was the bodyguard Rees-Jones who was able to affix his seat belt.
“If only it had told Diana and Dodi to affix theirs then perhaps they may well have survived as well.”;
