I am unsure if I have a copy of the Mary/Blues & Soul interview, but do you also remember an interview in the UK around that time, with Diana herself? If I can dig deep, I might even find it.
Am unsure if it was printed in a music paper.....or a national newspaper - which I think is more likely, and could well have been the Daily Mail.
It was titled 'The ghost that came to a press conference' [or similar words], and I believe was accompanied by separate photos of Diana and Florence. May have been at the 'Inn On The Park' - ?
Diana was being interviewed....she was asked about Florence passing away. I feel certain Diana said she answered a phone call, and heard Mary just crying, repeating "she's dead! she's dead!". Mary then told her it was Florence.
The interviewer then asked Diana did she cry...and she said "Yes, I cried.."
I remember reading it and thinking that interview could perhaps have been handled with more sensitivity. It seemed Diana might have become defensive about it, and feeling that the topic of Florence's death had overshadowed the real reason for her being there.
At one point in the same interview, I believe [if only just from memory] she was reported as saying "she's dead, and I'm not...".
And, reading that, I was left thinking "oh, Diana, you're only telling the truth, of course, but you are just not thinking how that remark might be taken..."
So, only just from memory, but it was Diana herself speaking, which was then reported in the press at that time, confirming that Mary had phoned her with the sad news. In that respect, it seems that Diana's account, and Mary's version in that interview with Blues & Soul, both from around the same time, do tally.
So I, too, thought it was odd that Mary later said she had never discussed it with Diana....but maybe she was just meaning 'in any great depth'......
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