The bishop and the princess

Saturday, 11th January 2003

Damian Thompson believes that The Rt Revd Richard Chartres has some questions to answer

More significantly, the bishop's testimony also surprised the solicitors representing the executors, Lawrence Graham. According to Martyn Gowar, a partner in the firm, the decision to vary (i.e., overrule) the letter of wishes from the Princess was contained in the court order appointing Chartres an executor just before Christmas 1997. Moreover, Gowar says that he wrote a letter to the bishop in January 1998 explaining that the Princess's wishes were legally unenforceable and had been set aside; he still has the letter on file. So how does Gowar explain the bishop's assertion - with its curious qualification 'according to my best recollection' - that he never saw the letter of wishes? 'I think it's probably the case that he didn't remember,' he says.

We must discount the possibility that the bishop is lying. That leaves two possibilities. Either the bishop did not read the court order and the letter from Gowar; or he did, but forgot them. There should be an easy way of clearing up the matter: talk to the bishop.

A journalist friend of mine put through eight calls to his office; none was returned and a letter was ignored, so he decided to buttonhole him at a service in St Paul's Cathedral. Knowing a short cut to the Dean's aisle, where Chartres was standing, he caught up with him and asked why his court testimony was at variance with that of the solicitors. The bishop muttered an excuse, and headed for the vestry. My friend's voice rose; he demanded to know. Chartres climbed the vestry steps, turned round and declared: 'That's behind us now. I'm not going to say any more.'

So speaks the third most senior bishop in the Church of England; but the journalist in him must know that he has some explaining to do.