PENSIONER Les Cowden's first meeting with an ''impish'' young Princess Diana has been included in a new book about the princess.

Mr Cowden, who celebrated his 90th birthday last week, met Diana when she was just five years old when he was working for her father.

The story of his encounter with the young princess is featured in The Day I Met Diana, a series of anecdotes about the first time members of the public met her.

"When Princess Diana was five and lived at Park House on the Sandringham estate, I used to do a spot of secretarial work for her father Lord Althorp,'' said Mr Cowden, from Wordsworth Way, Alsager.

"One evening there was a heck of a noise - it was Diana stomping down the stone-flagged entrance hall in her mother's metal-tipped heeled stiletto shoes.

"She marched into the library cum office, and was immediately ordered out by her father.

"Diana's impish nature was apparent, even at that early age, for she immediately reopened the door, peeped cheekily around, then hurried back to the drawing room, making more noise than ever!

"The editor of the new book said it was nice to have a story about Diana when she was young, the only one that was submitted for inclusion.''

The Day I Met Diana is published by Long Barn Books.

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