Children ‘Glue’ for Marriage : Princess Di Uneasy With Royal Clan, Ex-Valet Says

Princess Diana is afraid of the queen, doesn’t get along with Princess Anne, adores Prince Andrew, is the complete opposite of Charles and has a marriage held together by the children, a former royal valet said today.

Stephen Barry, valet for 12 years to Prince Charles, said in an interview in Woman magazine that Diana does not fit in with all members of the royal family.

“Diana is fairly scared of the queen,” he said, and she and Charles’ sister, Anne, “don’t get on at all well.”

But she is friendly with Queen Elizabeth’s sister, Princess Margaret, and “adores” Prince Andrew, Charles’ younger brother, Barry said.

He said Charles, 35, and Diana, 23, are “as different as chalk and cheese,” and that the couple’s two children, William and Harry, “are the glue that keeps this marriage together.”

Barry, who retired from his post while the princess was expecting her first child, said, “Prince Charles adores the children and the couple are never in conflict over their offsprings’ upbringing.”

He described Princess Diana as “very determined” and said everything changed when she came into Charles’ life.

Charles found it difficult to adjust to marriage and “went through a very unhappy time” during his wife’s first pregnancy, Barry said. “He had guilt complexes about leaving her behind and enjoying himself,” he said.

Barry has written two books about the royal family, neither of which has been published in Britain.

A Buckingham Palace spokesman had no comment on the magazine story except to say that Barry, like all employees in the royal household, had signed “an undertaking of confidence” binding royal servants not to make indiscreet disclosures.