Letters to Diana, Princess of Wales

About the Book

In April of 1992 John L. Van der Heyden registered a trademark for courses, trainings and education at the Benelux Trade Registrar in The Hague with the name Instituto Cervantes and founded the Foundation Cervantes Benelux. Four years later, on the 31st of July he invited the Crown Princes of The Netherlands, Belgium, Luxemburg and Spain to become the government of the foundation. The next day -- the first of August -- Van der Heyden went to England and lighted a candle at Canterbury Cathedral. From that time it became clear to him that Princess Diana was also interested in his project. How things developed from that time is explained in Letters to Diana, Princess of Wales. The story ends with the fatal kidnapping in Paris, exactly four weeks before Diana and Van der Heyden's proposed wedding day in The Netherlands.

About the Author

John L. Van der Heyden was born in Nijmegen in The Netherlands, shortly after the Second World War. After having finished his secondary education and the teacher's training college he became a teacher of primary education and studied Spanish Language and Literature. From 1979 until 1987 he was a company director of a well-known language institute in The Netherlands. In February 1986 he decided during Expolangues in Paris to start a new company with the basic idea to create a better understanding between Dutch-, English-, and Spanish-speaking people. Therefore he took a course in general management at the Management Institute of the Dutch Employers' Organization 'de Baak' in Noordwijk where he also was a member of the Board until summer 1991. As from that time he planned the new company 'Instituto Cervantes' and advised the Secretaries of State of the Dutch Government in several letters. Therefore the Dutch Government was called 'Purple' because of the house colour of the Instituto Cervantes Benelux. This was also expressed in a British newspaper in the final line of a limerick in the summer of 1997 with the text 'And now their faces are Purple as Heather'. After Princess Diana's awful death in Paris he retired in Spain but still hopes that his Dream will come true by the publishing of this book.