Bestselling royal biographer Lady Colin Campbell has weighed in on Manx culture and what she calls the island’s ’unique’ relationship with the Crown.

Also known as Lady C, she became known as a celebrity personality after her appearance on the reality television show I’m a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!.

She has penned controversial biographies on Princess Diana, including one credited for predicting her divorce from Prince Charles.

Lady Campbell told the Manx Independent: ’I think the island has a very interesting relationship with the Crown, and with Britain.

’Because of course you’re part of the Crown, but not a colony.

’I think the Crown is to an extent the glue that holds the all of this [the Commonwealth] together.

She continued: ’I was very impressed when I visited the island, not only by the genuine civility of all of the people I came across.

’I think you have retained all of the positive aspects of British civilisation and managed to avoid many of the negative aspects of modern culture - the abrasiveness, the chip on the shoulder, the victimhood.

’I never ran across any of these really rather destructive attitudes that are prevalent in Britain and even in America.

’It’s almost as if you’re small enough to preserve your identity and not allow it to be corrupted by fashionable destructiveness’.

welcoming

She spoke of the Manx as being ’very welcoming, very dignified, adding that ’the Manx people I think have a great sense of self - that came across to me loud and clear.’

She said: 'They’re very aware of how distinct they are, but in a very positive way.

'And that may be the key to why they have not been corrupted by the more destructive trends that have seeped into British culture.

’And you’re a very prosperous nation as well, so it’s almost as if you reject anything that’s going to be destructive or detrimentally affect your lifestyle and the Manx culture.

’I’ve seen parallels on Grand Cayman as well [a British Territory where she has spent time].

So I think it could be that when you’re small and you have pride in your past, and pride in what you are, then you’re not prepared to allow your identity to be distorted in a way that bigger nations might be’.

She last visited a few years ago to work as an ’etiquette expert’ on a reality show on the TLC channel called ’Suddenly Royal’, about an American man who claimed to be the King of Man [before later abdicating his self-styled reign].

Lady Campbell said that though the Maryland resident was ’definitely’ descended from the Kings of Man, the show was primarily entertainment which also served to educate the world about Manx history.

Lady’s Campbell’s job on this show was to teach the ’down to earth’ American how to act in a regal manner in order to win over the Manx people.

Speaking about her time here, she said: ’I thought the whole place was beautiful, I loved the harbour of Douglas.’

She also found the TT ’pretty impressive’, and described the scenery as far more topographically interesting than Grand Cayman, without ’all that unnecessary sunshine that you get in the West Indies’.

Most recently she was asked by the Isle of Man Post Office to contribute the issue text to their release of stamps commemorating the life of Queen Elizabeth II, saying she felt ’pleased and privileged’ about this.

Asked if she had any plans about returning to the island once the world returns to normality she said: ’If I’m asked, I would certainly come!’

’It is so peaceful there - it’s just a sense of harmoniousness and peaceability’