From the age of 16, she trained as a reporter on the country's largest newspaper, the New Zealand Herald. As she rose through the ranks to feature writing, royal visits became her "beat". The young reporter curtseyed to most of the Windsor family. By the time Prince Charles made his final bachelor tours, Susan was already a popular columnist. On assignment in London for The Wedding, she encountered Lady Diana Spencer. Meeting the teenage royal fiancée, Susan realized: "for the first time, here was a member of the Royal Family who seemed just like the rest of us. Days later, in St Paul's Cathedral I saw her become a princess."

Diana fever gripped the world and Susan remained in the Buckingham Palace press corps for eight years. During that time, she wrote a book and hundreds of magazine articles about Diana and her growth into the world's most powerful celebrity. As the Waleses became ambassadors for Britain, the writer traveled the world in Diana's footsteps and developed a real compassion for the young superstar.

Susan with Queen Elizabeth II

Canadian songstress Anne Murray gets her copy of "Diana, Memory of a Rose"

Romance at last lured the scribe to the USA, where she married Sacramento bandleader/pilot John Skinner. In California, Susan studied music and became a professional singer. The royal link was resumed after Princess Diana died. London publishers begged the author to repaint the colorful Diana years in a second book, "Diana, an English Rose". Susan's third book, "Diana, Memory of a Rose", shares an insider's view of the Diana Years and Diana's greatest achievement: the raising of her children and her mission to bring love to peoples' lives.

Susan Maxwell Skinner has presented entertaining talks on Diana all over America.

Susan presenting first book off the press to Pavarotti Diana's longtime friend.