Sarah shares royal secrets

As Sarah Goodall stepped off the train at Shrewsbury she couldn't contain the memories. Her school days at Shrewsbury Girls High, her trips to the county town from childhood homes at Beckbury and Glazeley, near Bridgnorth, and those daring teenage trips to meet the boys from Wrekin College.

But this was certainly a different Sarah Goodall making her first return home since the publication of her racy tell-all new book The Palace Diaries.

Life has changed considerably for this 42-year-old since those carefree days, when she loved to ride across the Wrekin, and dramatically so in the last 18 months.

She hit the headlines in explosive fashion as she announced she was to reveal intimate details of her 12 years working for Prince Charles as a Lady Clerk in a book.

The eagerly-awaited publication, dubbed the Royal Bridget Jones - has now hit the shelves detailing Sarah's fairytale career, her relationship with the prince, her opinions on Diana, who she branded the bossette, and her eventual dismissal which she claims to have been the work of a jealous Camilla Parker-Bowles.

The titillating account of a singleton behind the palace gates has turned her world upside down, with the whirlwind of surrounding publicity showing no sign of coming to a halt.

Sarah is at pains to point out she has no regrets about throwing herself into such a harsh spotlight even though it has caused her some considerable heartache.

Her trip to Shropshire this week was tinged with sadness for more reasons than one. Her beloved mother Ursula, whom Sarah has dedicated the book to, died of cancer in January 1998.

Pulling into the station in Shrewsbury she remembered the many visits home to see her mother at the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital during her battle with the devastating disease.

The book and the stir it has caused has put a significant strain on her relationship with her Shropshire father, James Goodall, who still lives at Chetton near Bridgnorth.

"He has different views to the book than I have," said Sarah who admitted that she had also been told that the reaction to her decision to tell-all had not been welcomed by all of those she was close to in Shropshire.

"I think there is an impression that it is tacky but I hope that if they read it they may change their minds.

"I am hoping that the situation with my father is a temporary one and we can resolve it."

It is clear that Sarah, who was born in Shifnal and spent her early years at Beckbury, feels intense affection for Shropshire. The family moved to the Old Rectory at Glazeley in her later teens and her older brother Simon still lives at West Felton, near Oswestry.

It was during a weekend visit home to Shropshire that she heard of the death of Princess Diana and raced back to London to help organise the funeral with the rest of the Prince's staff. She describes in the book how she was in bed when her mother tapped on her bedroom door to tell her about the tragedy in Paris.

"I still cannot get a grip of her death so how her two sons Prince William and Prince Harry can cope with it I don't know," said Sarah as she admits that her own mother was her inspiration.

"My mother was the one who encouraged me in everything I did and nurtured my sense of creativity and individuality. She was also delighted and extremely supportive when I first got the job at the Palace with the prince and I would talk to her often about how I was getting on."

While never quite crossing the line into friendship, the relationship between Miss Goodall and her boss was warm - sometimes "flirtatious", she says - and she was frequently invited to dine with him and watch films in his private cinema.

He also regularly quizzed her on her roller-coaster love life and she watched closely as he suffered through the breakdown of his marriage to Diana.

"I don't think he could believe that I wasn't married," claims Sarah, who adds that she thinks the prince did and still does crave the details of the normality of the life lived by those around him.

"I will admit I had a crush on him. He is a warm, sensitive and caring person. But he would be amazed by my love life. I remember at one point bringing two different men to two different events within the space of two days and he thought it very amusing to ask me about it."

But, she claims, the relationship irrevocably changed when Camilla came on the scene and accused her of being "over familiar". In 2000, she was finally sacked and asked to leave with orders given that she should not be allowed to return.

Sarah's determination that Camilla was responsible for her demise has only deepened with time - "I don't believe she has any endearing qualities" was how she described the Duchess of Cornwall.

Although her opinion has softened in that she accepts that she did play her own part in her dismissal and Camilla "does make Prince Charles happy." Back then I don't think I really believed it was her but I do now - totally. She saw me as a threat who had to go," said Sarah.

"It was devastating being asked to leave like that but I had been subjected to so much scrutiny in the previous year that I had given up on trying and it was something of a relief because it was no longer a fun place to work. I wasn't really making the effort anymore. But if it had not been for Camilla I firmly believe I would still be working at the Palace."

Her bitterness at her eventual demise does go some way to explaining why Sarah laid bare her life inside the trusted royal circle five years after she was cast aside.

"I was having dinner with some friends shortly before Prince Charles and Camilla got married. One of them was a journalist and his eyes lit up when I said I had worked at the palace and believed Camilla played a part in my downfall. I was interviewed a few days later and paid handsomely for it. Many may say I betrayed the prince but I was in no position to turn down such an offer - in fact I was barely solvent."

And it seems Sarah is hoping the new book - penned with journalist and friend Nicholas Monson - will lead to some lucrative future offers. "I would like a career in television and although I wouldn't want to follow Paul Burrell to the Australian jungle, I wouldn't mind doing Celebrity Big Brother. And I would like to do a kind of party gossip column."

Hollywood and Channel Four are also rumoured to be interested in signing the rights of the book for a film or television series.

Sarah, currently dating former Shrewsbury School pupil William Beasley, also said she adored Celebrity Love Island.

"I would really like to settle down and have a family. I know if there was one good thing to come out of this book, as far as my father is concerned, is that if I got a mortgage and bought some property."

Although as a single girl - officially - now enjoying a new life on the celebrity party scene, Sarah admits that while her roots are firmly established in Shropshire, London remains her home - at least for now.

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