Doolittle and Diana
WHEN I WAS growing up, my mother used to say to us that we should never feel there was anyone out there in the world who was better than us. In other words, that we should never feel inferior to anyone else, regardless of their status in life. She’d sip from her cup of tea in the evening after we’d eaten and tell us, ‘There’s nobody in the world who’s better than another person. Everyone was born as clean as the other, so there’s no difference between any of us.’
Through Daniel I have met all kinds of people – the rich, the famous and ordinary folk like myself. And I have always remembered my mother’s words. As a result, I’ve been neither nervous nor excited about any other person.
When Daniel got his own TV show in Ireland at the end of the 1980s, many international stars were among his guests. But it wasn’t just Daniel who got the opportunity to meet them – I was always brought backstage and introduced to them too.
As fans of Daniel know, he loves the American country legend Loretta Lynn. So imagine his excitement when he was told that Loretta had agreed to come to Ireland to appear on his show.
Never mind what my mother used to say about nobody being better than you, Daniel was a nervous wreck when Loretta arrived in Dublin to perform with him. Although he doesn’t normally get flustered, even when the world is collapsing all around him, he was acting like a turkey at Christmas before meeting Loretta.
Loretta was a lovely woman, though. She probably spotted that Daniel was nervous, but she was so funny and kind and without any airs or graces that he soon settled down. The pair of them then sang ‘How Great Thou Art’. It was really lovely. Later, I was taken to the dressing room at the TV show and Daniel brought me in to meet Loretta. She was a very striking-looking woman in the flesh. She had piercing blue eyes and Cherokee cheekbones. She was really warm and friendly. I had made a batch of pancakes especially for her, and when I gave them to her she was so thankful. ‘Oh, you are such a sweetheart,’ she said, giving me a hug.
Loretta had had a very hard time herself during her early days, as I discovered when I’d gone to see The Coalminer’s Daughter, which was a very good and honest film about her life. I discovered how she came from a really poor background, just like myself, in a place called Butchers Hollow, Kentucky. She had been married at 13 and a mother at 14, and by the age of 18 she’d given birth to four of her six children. By the time she reached 30, Loretta was a grandmother, as well as one of the biggest stars of country music. I really admired how she had turned her life around from such a tough start, and how she had battled through everything that life threw at her to achieve great success while remaining a very grounded person.
Loretta’s husband, Doolittle, came to Ireland with her for Daniel’s show. And I’ll tell you, I wasn’t too impressed with him after watching the film. He’d been a bit of a jack-the-lad who’d been carousing with other women behind her back.
Someone pointed out Doolittle to me in a backstage area, and suddenly I was reminded of the film and the story of their life started running through my head like a show reel. I remembered that Doolittle didn’t even have a ring to give the young Loretta on their wedding day. As I looked him up and down that day and caught his eye, I couldn’t think of any redeeming feature about the man – he wasn’t even handsome.
I eventually sidled up to Doolittle and gave him a piece of my mind. ‘You were a right boyo!’ I said. ‘Hadn’t you the cheek to marry that nice girl and no ring with you!’ Well, he couldn’t get away from me fast enough. Daniel was mortified when he heard what I’d said to Doolittle. He and Loretta had been engrossed in conversation at the time.
Many years later, that incident caused Daniel great concern when he learned that he was going to receive an award from Prince Charles.
On the morning of New Year’s Eve 2001, we woke up to newspaper and radio reports that Daniel had been awarded an honorary MBE by the Queen of England. Apparently a large number of his fans had written to Queen Elizabeth telling her about Daniel’s charity work, particularly his involvement in a Romanian charity that had been helping to improve the quality of life for the poor unfortunates of an orphanage in a town called Siret. One of our neighbours, Eileen Oglesby, had been working in the orphanage, and she had told Daniel about the inhumane conditions those young people were forced to endure in that terrible place. They were sleeping 30 to a room, both boys and girls, in a run-down building. It was a house of horrors.
During his time in power, the dictator Nicolae Ceauçescu had ordered that every family in Romania should have five children. But parents couldn’t afford to support families of five, so they dumped the children in those orphanages. Daniel decided to record a single called ‘Give a Little Love’ and donate all the profits to this charity. Before releasing the single, however, he went out to Romania to make a video for the song. He had no thoughts of becoming involved in the charity at that time, but he told me later that once he arrived there and saw at first hand the shocking conditions that those unfortunate human beings were living in, he knew that he couldn’t walk away from them. The stories he told about what he witnessed on that first visit to the orphanage sent shivers down my spine. Daniel says he’ll never forget the awful stench that greeted him as he entered the building, and the pitiful sight of young people who had been locked away and forgotten by the world. Many of them, he said, had suffered terrible disabilities from being confined; their heads were shaved, and they spent their time rocking back and forth. They had nothing to stimulate them and no one to show them love. He said that many of them went to him and hugged him. They didn’t know Daniel, but they would hug anybody who showed them any kind of warmth and attention.
‘Give a Little Love’ was released in April 1998 and was a great success in the charts, both in Ireland and in Britain. Daniel went on to use the stage and his fame to draw people’s attention to the suffering of those people, and through his shows he encouraged fans to support the work of the charity by making donations. A collection was organized at each of his concerts.
In the years since then, wonderful things have been happening in Siret. The charity is now involved in farming and has built homes to give the people of the orphanage the opportunity to have a normal life.
It’s not that Daniel did any of this for some sort of recognition. It’s just something that came into his life by chance. But it was taken into account by the Queen when she awarded him an MBE. Daniel was delighted when he heard the news because he felt that getting an MBE would mean so much to his English fans. That their Queen was recognizing Daniel was the greatest honour they could have given him. And the fact that it was coming from his fans as well as the Queen made it an award for Daniel himself to treasure.
Some time later, Daniel received an invitation to the British Ambassador’s residence in Dublin, where the MBE was to be presented to him by Prince Charles. Daniel was allowed to take some guests, and that’s how I found myself in the company of His Royal Highness, the Prince of Wales.
Before the special occasion, however, Daniel warned me to be on my best behaviour. He didn’t want a repeat of the Doolittle incident. You see, Daniel knew that I worshipped Princess Diana. For some reason I became a fan, not something I normally do. But, like so many other people, I took a real shine to her. I even kept a scrapbook of stories about her. I saw something special in her, saintly even. She used her status and fame to support the underprivileged, the downtrodden and all kinds of worthy causes. She was good to people of every race and religion. I saw her visiting children who were suffering from AIDS and all kinds of illnesses, and she would lift them up in her arms. I could see that she was a genuinely caring person. And I thought she was the most beautiful girl in the world. Nobody else came close.
Naturally, I was upset for Diana when her marriage fell apart. Her wedding had seemed like a fairy tale. This was a real live Prince and Princess who looked so much in love. But all wasn’t as it seemed, and the fairy tale didn’t last. That saddened me. And then, of course, there was Diana’s tragic death in Paris. I cried for a day when I heard the shocking news. My daughter Margaret phoned me from London that morning to tell me. I was devastated and my heart went out to Diana’s two boys. Some time later I wrote to the boys, and I received a reply thanking me for my letter.
I was aware that Daniel was worried about me meeting Prince Charles. He was delighted that I was allowed to accompany him to the big occasion and happy that I was still alive to witness it. But knowing my devotion to Diana and remembering how I had chastised Doolittle, he was on tenterhooks in case I’d have a go at Charles about his relationship with Camilla. He warned me not to saying anything that might offend the Prince. I heard later that he’d said to Margaret, ‘She’s liable to say anything, you know.’
The first thing I noticed about Prince Charles was his beaming smile. Next I noticed that he’s not as tall as he looks on the television. I’d always thought he was very tall, but he’s much smaller than I imagined. He was very dapper in his smart suit, very charming and easy to like. I could see that, despite being a member of the royal family, he had a common touch. He moved slowly through the room joking with people as they greeted him. He seemed to be a very easy person to be around. As he was getting nearer and nearer to me, I’m sure the family members with me were becoming more and more anxious. Finally, Prince Charles was standing before me and I heard Daniel saying, ‘This is my mother.’
‘How lovely to meet you,’ the Prince said.
I smiled and replied, ‘How is your granny?’ At that time there had been reports that the Queen Mother wasn’t very well.
‘She’s marvellous, marvellous … doing very well,’ the Prince replied.
‘I’m delighted to hear that,’ I said.
Prince Charles thanked me. And then he kissed my hand before moving on to meet the other MBE recipients in the room.
I was charmed. And I’m sure that my son, Daniel O’Donnell MBE, was relieved.
On the journey by car to Donegal that night, my mind wandered back to my young days on Owey. Suddenly I was a child running barefoot along the stony paths to check on the cows. It was a world away from royalty and the grandeur of the embassy building where I’d just spent the evening with Prince Charles!