any years ago I was introduced to Princess Margaret and Lord Snowdon on a beach in Barbados. With soaking wet hair and feeling rather foolish in my bikini, I curtsied to the Princess and then agreed to water-ski with her husband behind a boat powerful enough to pull both of us out of the water together. I was impressed that he was married to the Princess, but had no idea then of the Lothario he was.    I find it somewhat disturbing that now Snowdon has reached the grand old age of 78 he has agreed to co-operate on a biography detailing his many love affairs. Perhaps it is down to the brilliance of the author, Anne de Courcy, who persuaded him and his friends to talk, or perhaps he just wanted to share the intimate details and is flattered by all the attention. Whatever the reason, it is hard to believe he wanted his life ripped apart in public, especially as he is still on friendly terms with his former sister-in-law, the Queen.    The public’s fascination with and desire to ‘own’ famous people – especially members of the royal family, whom they consider fair game – is fraught with danger. How can anyone conduct a successful relationship while stalked by paparazzi, as proved by Diana and Fergie? If indeed the Queen is worried about Kate Middleton then she has every reason to be. Not the fact that she doesn’t have a job, but how the poor girl is going to cope if she eventually does marry Prince William.    Will Kate manage once in the eye of the storm or will she feel she is being ‘raped’ by photographers, as Diana once did. We will have to wait and see, but I think the lower a profile she keeps the better.    And what about poor Zara Phillips, who has been forced to pull out of next month’s Beijing Olympics after her horse Toytown was injured in training? She suffered a similar blow in 2004 while preparing for Athens, but that’s how things are in the equestrian world. A huge disappointment for her, and the heartache will be no less because she is the Queen’s granddaughter.    Prince Andrew has finally managed to pull off an excellent deal by selling his Sunninghill Park home for an alleged £15 million. The house had been on the market for five years without a buyer until a wealthy Kazakhstani stepped in with the offer. The Duke of York, who receives a parliamentary annuity of £249,000 per year, repaid by the Queen from her private funds, has paid three official visits to the oil- and gas-rich former Soviet republic in his capacity as Special Representative for International Trade and Investment.    Andrew is criticised because the work he does in approaching foreign companies and investors to encourage UK deals is hard to quantify, but by all accounts he is assiduous in his role. His official trips to Kazakhstan had nothing to do with the sale of his former home.    I should like to thank all of you who have taken the trouble to respond to our readers’ survey, and to remind anyone who has yet to do so that time is now running out!