To be perfectly honest, I'm having a tough time seeing my computer screen just now because I'm still weeping over the beautiful royal wedding. My emotions caught me by surprise, because for the last few weeks I've been embroiled in royal madness on both sides of the pond.
I've just spent the past three weeks living with my New Yorker husband in Greenwich Village. My chocolate lab, Bailey, had to stay behind on this occasion, which he wasn't too happy about but more of that later.
During my third week, I was hit with a sore throat and high fever so it was the perfect opportunity to kick back and catch up on the build up to the Royal Wedding coverage on TV.
I had a vested interest in the goings on, as for five years I worked as the London correspondent for several American magazine TV shows covering just about every Diana story known to man and even some that weren't, so I was keen to find out what was going on back home in good old England!
I must say, it was all a bit of a shocker, to be honest with you. Forced to fill a weeks worth of air time, every TV anchor and his sidekick was in London, it seemed. I couldn't believe the extent of the coverage.
Anyone tuning in would assume that us Brits live our lives to a permanent soundtrack of violin concertos and that all we do is sit around with giant teapots, sipping tea and eating miniature cakes all day, chitchatting in Cockney rhyming slang!
Seriously, every time the show cut to England and Buckingham Palace, the old strings were faded up and an obligatory red bus would hurtle by at a dangerously high speed at a rather precarious angle just to remind everyone we were in London, England.
When my husband got home from work that night I told him, "We look like a bunch of idiots!" But things were about to get worse.
The following day I felt even worse so I made myself a cup of tea and went back to bed for a while. I don't know whether it was the fact that we Brits were coming across as knuckleheads or my ever-rising fever, because the next thing that happened was most odd. I could have sworn I saw my British neighbor's children pop up on television walking around with books on their heads and learning how to curtsy.
I shoved my glasses on and turned up the volume on the TV remote. Hang on... it was my British neighbor's kids and they were starring in a report about a school in England where they teach young women how to behave like a princess. So, it was official. No Brit living within a five mile radius of the palace was safe!
With my head positively pounding, I decided to give my old friend Jenni Rivett a call. Now Jenni was Princess Diana's personal fitness trainer for seven years and became a very close friend to the princess. She remains to this day one of the most highly respected and sought-after trainers in the world. Another of her former clients is Brit Elizabeth Hurley.
I remember that after Charles and Diana separated Diana was feeling low about spending the time between Christmas and New Year without her boys so Jenni invited her on vacation to Vail with her. Diana mucked in doing the dishes and would have her morning cup of tea on the end of Jenni's bed wrapped in her bathrobe. Jenni was a loyal friend and one of the few who never gave away any secrets either before or after Diana's death.
Anyway, I wanted to tell Jen about the extraordinary amount of coverage the wedding was getting in America and in so doing found out something I had never known before.
We were chatting about how great we thought it was that William had given his mother's amazing sapphire and diamond engagement ring to Kate. "You know its funny to think I wore that ring once," Jenni said casually. Whaaat? No, I didn't know, and yes, obviously I wanted to know the details asap!
'We were at the Harbour Club in Chelsea one day," Jenni explained. "Diana had forgotten to take the ring off before her work out and was finding it annoying when she was lifting weights. She just slipped it off her finger and said, 'Jenni, can you wear this for me?'"
When Jen seemed a little nervous about this responsibility, Diana laughed, "Jen, it's just a ring!" And that is how, for 60 minutes, as Diana pumped iron, Jenni Rivett got to wear what is arguably the most famous ring in the world. And yes, it was a perfect fit!
We were chatting away about this and I asked Jenni whether she saw much of the boys when they were growing up. "Oh, all the time. Diana and I often worked out at Kensington Palace and the boys would join in with us," Jen explained. "I taught them how to lunge and do bicep curls. William was wearing a pair of white cycle shorts one day and he yanked them up high and said, 'Look mum, a wegdy!' Diana sent him out of the room but as soon as the door closed she burst out laughing! They had the most normal and loving relationship."
And that is quite a memory. Prince William, the future King of England, with a wedgie. Now that's a sight not many will get to see, that's for sure! With 8,000 of the world's media currently camping out in London, let's hope he doesn't feel compelled to relive the moment!
As the world speculates as to when William and Kate might have their first child, Jenni reckons William will make a great dad.
"Diana asked me to go to the palace for an unscheduled work out one day and I had to take my baby daughter, Kirsti with me. William and Harry spent the whole hour fighting over who was going to hold her!"
It was great to relive memories and by the end of our conversation my headache and fever had pretty much gone, which was a good thing, because I was flying home the next day. Back to normality, I thought.
However, upon arrival at Heathrow, my daughter and her best friend picked me up with a Union Jack flag flying from the car. "Everyone has one," they explained when I made a comment. In fact, I couldn't believe what I'd flown home to. Bunting lined the streets, flags were flying from every window, and as we pulled up to my house my son opened the door to greet me and Bailey flew out at high speed. Believe it or not, he was wearing a Union Jack collar! I even saw my neighbor's daughters dancing in front of their window, still wearing their tiaras from the shoot.
So, maybe the Americans had got it right after all. Us Brits may be a strange, tea-drinking bunch but we do love our royals!