The Secret Life of Ken Wharfe: Diana's Bodyguard Who Actually Talked

Ken Wharfe, a Metropolitan Police officer from southeast London, served as Diana's personal protection officer from 1987 to 1993. Unlike palace-formed staff who kept silent, he published "Diana: Closely Guarded Secret" in 2002, drawing on six years of daily proximity in cars, hospitals, gyms, and foreign visits. His account confirmed that the private Diana matched the public one: her warmth and drive toward suffering were genuine, not strategic. The palace condemned the book as a breach of trust without disputing its facts. Wharfe also raised a lasting professional question about the reduced protection arrangements that preceded her death in Paris.