In its first year, 4.5 million copies were sold world-wide, with translations in 23 languages. In O'Mara's office in Clapham, south London, the shelves are lined with different editions. Morton and O'Mara made millions from it.O'Mara, 52, says the secret of his success has been to do royal biographies seriously, with rigorous research and no idle speculation or tittle-tattle. I sat there thinking, `Blimey! Where are we here?' " O'Mara is an old hand at ruffling the Royals. And of the High Court judge who originally put a temporary injunction on the book, he recalls: "He was speaking in hushed tones, saying he was very worried what the Queen might think of all this.

Born in the US, he has lived in Britain for 25 years, but says he cannot get used to British deference to royalty. "Fergie is just a dim girl who happened to marry someone in the Royal Family," he says. He is the publisher who last week forced the Duchess of York into a humiliating climbdown in her legal battle to get a permanent injunction against Dr Allan Starkie's book, Fergie: Her Secret Life. "I Certainly couldn't be called a monarchist. That would raise some really loud guffaws," admits Michael O'Mara.