Dinsdag 17 juni 2003
BESTE VRIENDEN EN COLLEGA'S
Ik ontving een telefoontje uit Madrid. Het bezoek gaat door aan Alcalá de Henares. Op dit moment ben ik niet van plan om iets te kopen. Ik heb wel contact opgenomen met verkooporganisatie Wal-Mart. Bij een 'bepaalde aankoop' denk ik aan de aankoop van de voetballers Frank de Boer en Phillip Cocu door en voor de Arnhemse voetbalclub. Hierover nieuws in het Telegraafartikel De Boer en Cocu praten over toekomst bij Barça Dit is echter een zaak voor de spelers zelf en ik zie ze graag spelen in het PRINSES DIANA STADION. Lijkt mij leuk voor Phillip om naar de basis terug te gaan. De heer P.A.W. Thiel van Knijff & Partners heeft daarbij altijd wel een goed idee. Lijkt mij. Ik nodig mijn Manager Benelux van harte uit het vertaalbureau Cervantes Translation Services op te zetten als werkmaatschappij van de holding en mijn boek te vertalen in het Frans. Eventueel te laten vertalen in het Spaans. Voorts lijkt het mij belangrijk dat mijn berichtgeving dagelijks wordt vertaald voor het grote publiek. BAR NUMBER ONE heeft een nieuwe Britse medewerkster met de Nederlandse vlag op haar wang en het opschrift MADE IN ENGLAND. Dit past exact in het kader van het thema HOW TO BUILD THE BRIDGE. Mijn aandacht gaat vandaag dus uit naar KROONPRINS WILLIAM.
OPEN LETTER TO H.R.H. PRINCE WILLIAM
DEAR WILLIAM,
Next Saturday You will become 21 years. Therefore I read the following story in the DAILY EXPRESS of last Saturday: WILLIAM AT 21 STARTING TODAY. I am very grateful to Mr. Holden for this article. I still remember him from the BBC Broadcasting with the title Behind the Palace Walls. It was in September 1996, when your mother visited me for the first time in Nijmegen. He said: "Princess Diana does not want Her Husband to be King. She wants Her Son to be King". I also recognize the name of Mr. Andrew Neil. On the day that Your Mother had received my first letter on the 8th of October 1996 he stated before BBC1: "He or she who laughs last, laughs longest". Unfortunately it has become a 'he', living in the south of Spain at the time.
As from that moment I considered the problem of Your Parents as a personal responsibility to solve. Therefore I went to see and speak to your bodyguard Sergeant David Sharp at ETON COLLEGE on the 23d of April 1997, although your headmaster had sent me the following letter:
I was not afraid and went nevertheless. Because a very sincere problem had to be solved. I may presume that you have read My Letters to Your Mother already. I delivered the manuscript of that book to all parties concerned around Christmas 1997 as you can read in my report of that visit directed to my best Colleague. It is largely in Dutch however. But - as I also wrote to your mother - YOU'LL FIND YOUR FRIENDS IN THE NETHERLANDS. On last Wednesday, the 4th of June I sent the following message to Joti Bryant of Trafford Publishing in Canada: "Subject: LETTERS TO DIANA, PRINCESS OF WALES. Dear Joti, I received the message that you moved to Cheshire in the United Kingdom and are setting up an installation for Trafford Publishing. That is great news. That way my book can be printed, distributed and sold in the United Kingdom. I would advise you to start the selling in the gift shops of BUCKINGHAM PALACE, Kensington Palace, HAMPTON COURT PALACE in London, WINDSOR CASTLE, BLENHEIM PALACE, Althorp House and Holyrood Castle in Edinburgh (Scotland). In those palaces almost everyone knows 'The Story'. Starting with Her Royal Majesty the Queen Herself. Perhaps Prince Williams 21st birthday next 21st of June will be an excellent occasion to start the selling. So I think you can start the operation now. If Oprah Winfrey wants me in her programme I will be prepared to accept her invitation. Once she also had Princess 'Fergie' in her programme at the time that I had advised Diana to break off the contact with her for a while after the letter of 13th November 1996 (attached).
At this moment I find myself in Nijmegen in the Netherlands. Next Monday I will go back to Spain. There I have got a new emailadress. I will return to the Netherlands on the 28th of August: The seventh anniversary of my first engagement after my divorce. I wish you a lot of success in the United Kingdom. Cheers! John L. Van der Heyden KINGDOM OF THE NETHERLANDS." I received the following reply: "Hello John, How lovely to hear from you again. Thank you for your good wishes. We would be very pleased to see your books being sold in the various booksstores connected to the British palaces. However, our service does not actually include physically approaching bookstores on behalf of our authors. This is a role that is undertaken either by the author him or herself, or through a hired distributor. There certainly are other self publishing services available, that do include additional marketing services, (although I am not aware of any that actually visit shops on authors' behalf) - but please be aware that the cost is many times higher than the fees we charge at Trafford. Our service is designed to be highly affordable and a method that gets books in print quickly. If you are serious about getting your book into these illustrious establishments, I suggest that you contact the buyers directly and use your special powers of persuasion to stock the book, perhaps on a trial basis. This may take a bit of research, to discover who the buyer is for each shop, and where they are located - as in some cases they may be part of a large chain and the buying done by one central office. I certainly agree - to have a book like yours in the shop to coincide with the celebration of Prince William's birthday this month, would be very timely. Do you have a stock of books to send any shops, in case they do decide to go ahead and order? Please remember that it will take a little time to print new orders and get them shipped over to the UK. For any promotional campaign such as this, it is very good idea to give yourself lots of lead time, in order to have the books available before the specific date, should the orders materialize. Have you already approached Oprah Winfrey about appearing on her show? That would be wonderful! Please do let me know if you are successful. Thank you again for your note, and I wish you every success in creating sales, and getting the kind of exposure that you envisage for the book. All the best, Joti. Joti Bryant Senior Publishing Consultant, Trafford Publishing UK, Crewe, England "
I may presume someone of the Royal Household can take over this duty. Mr Holden perhaps (John or Anthony). Regarding the subject I noticed that You decided to invite the Families of Your Father and Your Mother at WINDSOR CASTLE next Saturday. That is a very wise decision. I trust in your sense of responsibility regarding my book and the letter that I delivered on your behalf at Balmoral Castle on the 28th of December 1999.
I dedicated my book in the first place to Your Uncle Charles, because He defended 'our quixotic quest' as you can read in my letters to him and your Aunt Lady Sarah MacCorquodale. The new Spencer on the Throne of England will be You, William. I end this letter with a poem of Rudyard Kipling, that I found in Henley-on-Thames on the 24th of April 1997.
IF
IF you can keep
your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance to their doubting too,
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated, don't give way to hating
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise:
If you can dream - and not make dreams your master;
If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim,
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two imposters just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knives to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools:
If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on!"
If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with Kings - nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,
Yours is the
Earth and everything that's in it
And - Which is more - you'll be a Man, my son!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY
WILLIAM!
'UNCLE JOHN'
