A Prince and His Princess Arrive: Charles and Di

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Diana has made her presence felt belowstairs as well as above. Among the staff, she is known as "the Boss." Since her arrival at Kensington Palace, some 40 employees, including dozens of Charles' personal staff, have left. Some of these departures were due to natural attrition; others were nudged by the lady of the house. Palace observers suggest that she was intent on - eliminating servants and staff who were any of the following: stuffy, bossy, too familiar or gay. For generations, many of the palace staff have been known as confirmed bachelors, a euphemism for homosexual men. "She just doesn't want them around her family," says James Whitaker of the Mirror, who has long been Diana's fawning tabloid Boswell.

Some of the staff have left of their own volition. Alan Fisher was hired as a palace butler after having served in that capacity for Bing Crosby. "They are wonderful people," says Fisher, who left in 1984, "but incredibly boring." Stephen Barry, Charles' valet of twelve years, left to write what was billed as a tell-all book about his years with the prince. The book, Royal Service, disproved the adage that no man is a hero to his valet by depicting Charles as a cross between Douglas Fairbanks Jr. and Bertrand Russell.

The most significant departures were those of Oliver Everett, Diana's private secretary, who left in 1983, and Edward Adeane, Charles' longtime private secretary, who departed six months ago. Everett, a polo-playing pal of the prince's and Diana's cicerone for two years, grew frustrated by what he thought of as Diana's capriciousness and asked to be shifted. Adeane, a barrister by profession, had been Charles' private secretary for six years. He saw his role as guiding the prince toward kingship. The reasons for his leaving are unclear. Some say that Adeane was annoyed by the incessant foofaraw made over Diana, while Diana felt that Adeane was too straitlaced. The post was empty for six months. In September it was announced that Sir John Riddell, director of the bank Credit Suisse First Boston, would fill it.

Diana's relations with her in-laws are said to be mixed. She maintains that she and Princess Anne (though they are as different as grape and grain) have "always hit it off very well." But palace pundits suggested that Anne's decision to go galloping through the Gloucestershire countryside chasing rabbits while Prince Henry was being baptized at Windsor expressed her aloofness from Charles and Diana, as well as pique that she had not been chosen the child's godmother. (There were six godparents, headed by Charles' brother Prince Andrew.) Diana's relationship with her mother-in-law is amiable but not close. "A bit like the Queen and the Prime Minister," says one source. "A healthy respect, but no great affection." The Queen, who is the staunchest, most vigilant protector of the monarchy, is nonetheless well pleased by Diana's invigoration of the crown.