{"id":25396,"date":"2022-11-09T09:00:11","date_gmt":"2022-11-09T08:00:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.radiotimes.com\/?p=1730503"},"modified":"2022-11-09T09:57:56","modified_gmt":"2022-11-09T08:57:56","slug":"who-is-james-colthurst-and-who-plays-him-in-the-crown","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/rss_feed\/who-is-james-colthurst-and-who-plays-him-in-the-crown\/","title":{"rendered":"Who is James Colthurst and who plays him in The Crown?"},"content":{"rendered":"

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By Abby Robinson\n \t\t<\/p>

Published: Wednesday, 09 November 2022 at 12:00 am<\/p>

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In The Crown season 5<\/a>, Diana\u2019s inner circle is small, with the Princess of Wales largely cutting a lonely figure.<\/p>\n

But there are a handful of individuals that she confides in long before her eye-opening interviews with Andrew Morton and Martin Bashir \u2013 one of who is James Colthurst.<\/p>\n

After meeting Diana in 1979, he became her confidante. But what was their relationship like and who plays him in The Crown\u2019s latest instalment?<\/p>\n

Who was James Colthurst?<\/strong><\/h2>\n
James Colthurst was born in Cork, Ireland and comes from privileged stock. His brother is Sir Charles St John Colthurst, Baronet, the owner of Blarney Castle.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n
He attended Eton college before going on to study medicine and becoming a radiologist. He completed his training at St James\u2019s University Hospital in London.<\/span><\/p>\n
It was his medical background which led to his first meeting with Diana, according to a 2021 article in\u00a0 The Telegraph<\/a>.<\/p>\n
17-year-old Diana met Colthurst on a ski holiday in Val Claret back in 1979, shortly before her marriage to Charles in 1981. She was working as a nanny at the time.<\/span><\/p>\n
\u201cShe knew several of the friends I was with, and they brought her back to our apartment when she twisted her ankle, telling her I would look at it,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n
Colthurst described her as \u201cgood fun, bright and mischievous\u201d and said \u201cit was hard not to hit it off with Diana straight away\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n
In ITV documentary Diana, Colthurst recalled a prank he pulled on her, sticking L plates on her car and tying a string of tin cans underneath. She responded by chucking eggs and flour at his car.<\/p>
It was Colthurst who introduced Diana to Morton, who wrote Diana: Her True Story \u2013 In Her Own Words. <\/span>According to Vanity Fair<\/a>, the doctor invited the Princess to attend St Thomas\u2019s in 1986. Morton was present on the day, alongside other press, and he formed a friendship with Colthurst, the pair meeting regularly to play squash.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe never talked about Diana,\u201d said Morton. \u201cHe is a polymath with a lot of great ideas. He is fascinating company.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n
It was Colthurst who delivered the tapes containing Diana\u2019s innermost thoughts to Morton.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe tape visits were lunch,\u201d he told 60 Minutes. \u201cI\u2019d cycle in, the recorder was in the briefcase \u2013 nothing surprising there \u2013 I\u2019d go in and we\u2019d normally sit down and have a few questions [from Morton] before lunch. <\/span>After lunch and during coffee I\u2019d clip the microphone on again and she\u2019d finish them off.<\/span><\/p>\n
\u201cShe was enormously enthusiastic to have her story out there, she knew exactly what she was doing.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n
In Channel 4 documentary Diana: In Her Own Words, Colthurst also said the royal feared she would \u201close\u201d her children if she didn\u2019t publicly defend herself.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n
According to Colthurst, Diana was concerned that her friend would be \u201cdeliberately knocked off\u201d his bike by those looking to prevent the publication of Morton\u2019s book.<\/span><\/p>\n
\u201cShe voiced this fear several times to me,\u201d he said. \u201cIt might sound like paranoia, but I don\u2019t think she was paranoid.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n
When his mother Lady Colthurst was asked about his involvement in the writing of Morton\u2019s book, she said (via The Times<\/a>): \u201cAll we have learnt about the situation we have read in the papers.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n
Her mother-in-law Janet also echoed that: \u201cWe know absolutely nothing about this business, so there is nothing to say.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n
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