This coming Friday marks ten years since the tragic death of the Princess of Wales, yet the massive interest in the former royal endures. By way of tribute to Diana, the broadcast journalist Nicholas Owen has writtien a book about her life. He talks to Women's Editor Sarah Foster.

"MY phone rang at around 1.30 in the morning London time and I knew it had to be bad news. On the other end of the line, an ITN colleague told me what was known then: Diana and Dodi had been in a car crash in Paris and Dodi was dead. Diana was known to be injured but it was not clear how seriously.

"Like millions of other people I could not believe what I was hearing. I hurried into work and it was only after we went on the air that word came through that Princess Diana, the woman who so many hoped would have made such a wonderful Queen had circumstances been different, had died."

In this powerful account the broadcast journalist Nicholas Owen recalls the night - August 31, 1997 - when news first broke of Diana's death. Then royal correspondent for ITN, a post he held until 2000, it was his job to go on air and tell the public what had happened. He won't forget that fateful night, or the tumultuous week that followed, and says it was by far the biggest thing he's faced in his career.

"It was a stunning, stunning blow," says Nicholas. "In television news, we spent a lot of time rehearsing particularly for the death of the Queen Mother and I used to say 'isn't it a good idea to start rehearsing the deaths of other members of the royal family?' but I never for a moment thought we would have to apply it to the death of the Princess of Wales. It was the biggest story I've ever been involved in, but also the saddest."

As people heard of what had passed there was an outpouring of grief to an extent not seen before. It seemed the nation was united in its sense of devastation and all Nicholas could do was ride the wave of its reaction. "On the evening of Diana's death I went to Kensington Palace, having been on air all day long, and we had no idea of the number of people and the degree of emotion we would find there - it took us by surprise," he remembers. "It was a story that was happening all around you and you couldn't predict what was going to happen next.

"I made no secret of the fact that I thought it was very sad and I still think that - I think we've lost a great deal with the demise of Diana, Princess of Wales - but it was a journalistic job that had to be done. It wasn't a time to get swept up in anything - it was a time to keep a cool head and keep very balanced in our reporting, which we were."

All this was very far removed from his encounters with the princess. Nicholas still remembers his first sight of her while working in Newcastle and says he understood from that the huge extent of her appeal. "In 1981 I joined the BBC in the North-East and that's where I started my broadcasting career, and I remember the princess came to Newcastle," he says. "I can remember very clearly the amazing reaction of the crowds to her. I don't think I was ever really drawn into the adulation but I was very aware that the princess had a magical effect on people. She was something really special and you could tell that in the way people responded to her."

Although he didn't know her well - despite his job as royal correspondent, Nicholas was kept firmly at arm's length - he often found himself reporting on Diana and her exploits. He once had lunch with the princess and says he found her very pleasant. "It was a lunch at ITN and my editor said 'she will be fascinated by you because you're on television and she's fascinated by people on television'," says Nicholas. "I arrived late because I was working and I walked into this room and there were all these people - mostly men - gathered round bewitched and I thought 'this is extraordinary. The most famous person in the world is here to have lunch with us'.

"She teased me about being a railway enthusiast - she rolled those big eyes at me - but people do that all the time. She was extremely wary of people, particularly media people by that time, but she was friendly. Time in her company was quite enjoyable."

We are accustomed to Diana being called 'the People's Princess' and often hear that her appeal lay in her down-to-earth approach, but why does Nicholas feel she rose to reach the status of an icon? He says a potent combination took her straight to people's hearts. "I think the thing about the princess was that she embodied so many things that people could admire," he says. "She was young and beautiful, she was the Princess of Wales, but she clearly had these vulnerabilities that many of us have and I think these human characteristics drew people to her even more. People felt they knew her so they could feel sympathy for her."

Though it is seven years since he reported on the royals Nicholas says people still associate him with broadcasts on Diana. It is a fact that he accepts that they will evermore be linked. "People still come and talk to me about it. They say 'we remember Diana' and I can't get away from that," says Nicholas.

When he reflects on how the princess has lived on in all our minds, Nicholas is not surprised by her endurance. He feels she'll never be forgotten; that she truly left her mark. "I think there will always be a place for Diana in all our minds and all our hearts," he says. "She is a great figure in history and questions about her death will probably always be asked.

"I think the royal family as a whole have learned lessons from the time of Diana. Let's hope we all have. Let's hope we've all learned to treat public figures more kindly and to treat each other a touch more kindly. If that's a legacy of Diana, it's not a bad one."

Diana, The People's Princess by Nicholas Owen (Carlton, £20)

Diana: A Service of Thanksgiving is on BBC1 and ITV1 on Friday from 11am.