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The Day Diana Died
Offers a moment-by-moment account of the final day in the life of Diana, Princess of Wales, tracing the activities, movements, and emotions of everyone involved in the tragedy
380 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1998
1110 people are currently reading
1699 people want to read
About the author
Christopher Andersen
56 books214 followersLibrarian’s note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
Christopher Peter Andersen is an American journalist and the author of 32 books, including many bestsellers. A graduate of the University of California at Berkeley, Andersen joined the staff of Time Magazine as a contributing editor in 1969. From 1974 to 1986 Andersen was senior editor of Time Incorporated's People Magazine. He has also written for a wide range of publications, including The New York Times, The New York Daily News, Life, and Vanity Fair.
While his early nonfiction books veered from psychology (The Name Game) to true crime (The Serpent's Tooth) to art collecting ('The Best of Everything', with former Sotheby's chairman John Marion), he is best known for his controversial biographies. Between 1991 and 2011, he published 14 New York Times bestselling biographies. Andersen wrote Mick: The Wild Life and Mad Genius of Jagger to mark the 50th anniversary of the Rolling Stones in July 2012. The book quickly became Andersen's 15th New York Times bestseller.
Christopher Peter Andersen is an American journalist and the author of 32 books, including many bestsellers. A graduate of the University of California at Berkeley, Andersen joined the staff of Time Magazine as a contributing editor in 1969. From 1974 to 1986 Andersen was senior editor of Time Incorporated's People Magazine. He has also written for a wide range of publications, including The New York Times, The New York Daily News, Life, and Vanity Fair.
While his early nonfiction books veered from psychology (The Name Game) to true crime (The Serpent's Tooth) to art collecting ('The Best of Everything', with former Sotheby's chairman John Marion), he is best known for his controversial biographies. Between 1991 and 2011, he published 14 New York Times bestselling biographies. Andersen wrote Mick: The Wild Life and Mad Genius of Jagger to mark the 50th anniversary of the Rolling Stones in July 2012. The book quickly became Andersen's 15th New York Times bestseller.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 234 reviews
December 1, 2017
Good read! well written with excellent information (paperback!)
August 30, 2024
“August 31, 1997. No wars ended or began that day. Nor did any natural disasters strike. There were no earth-shaking discoveries made, nor records shattered, no feats accomplished. Yet it was a day that both stunned and united the world like few others in history. It was the day Diana died.”
How can it possibly be 27 years ago that Princess Diana died?!
Four things that surprised me:
💜 The most fashionable woman in history in the most stylish city in the world, lay in her coffin wearing a borrowed dress.
💜 Her toe tag/patient name on her chart was simply Patricia so as not to alert anyone. Patricia, because she died on St. Patricia’s Day. This patron saint of Naples was born into a noble family, escaped a royal marriage, shared her wealth with the poor and died young. See any resemblances?
💜 Rosary beads from Mother Teresa were placed in the casket and then Mother Teresa died of a heart attack on the eve of Diana’s funeral.
💜 Diana had agreed to a role in Kevin Costner’s The Bodyguard sequel and the final touches were being put on the script the day she died.
I’m British and my grandparents helped me start my royal scrapbook. I kept all the newspaper articles over the years and have a shelf on my bookcase for Royal magazines. I'm a royal watcher. I’ll never forget the exact moment when I heard the shattering news of her death.
How can it possibly be 27 years ago that Princess Diana died?!
Four things that surprised me:
💜 The most fashionable woman in history in the most stylish city in the world, lay in her coffin wearing a borrowed dress.
💜 Her toe tag/patient name on her chart was simply Patricia so as not to alert anyone. Patricia, because she died on St. Patricia’s Day. This patron saint of Naples was born into a noble family, escaped a royal marriage, shared her wealth with the poor and died young. See any resemblances?
💜 Rosary beads from Mother Teresa were placed in the casket and then Mother Teresa died of a heart attack on the eve of Diana’s funeral.
💜 Diana had agreed to a role in Kevin Costner’s The Bodyguard sequel and the final touches were being put on the script the day she died.
I’m British and my grandparents helped me start my royal scrapbook. I kept all the newspaper articles over the years and have a shelf on my bookcase for Royal magazines. I'm a royal watcher. I’ll never forget the exact moment when I heard the shattering news of her death.
September 2, 2012
Got some new information reading this account of the end of Diana's life. Put to rest the idea that she might have married Dodi. I had no idea their driver was abusing drugs and alcohol. On the whole, this tragedy could have been so easily prevented. Still cannot quite believe she's dead. True, she wasn't perfect, but I loved Diana for her humanism, beauty, style and even her flaws all the same.
May 27, 2025
This is a short book that covers the few days preceding and those after Princess Diana's death. The author was unbiased in his telling of the events although he didn't pull any punches where punches were appropriate. I think we all realize that many unverified facts and "myths" have surrounded this tragic event but the author avoids them as much as possible.
A sad book about a troubled life which ended so horribly. It was a 3.5 rating from me.
A sad book about a troubled life which ended so horribly. It was a 3.5 rating from me.
February 26, 2008
While it is an entertaining book, I am skeptical of its accuracy.
August 22, 2017
I still remember the day the news came on and announced that Diana had died from a car crash. It was late at night and I remember repeating over and over to my mom, "It's a joke. It's just a hoax."
Princess Diana was a very iconic woman. Strong and gracious. The world wept because she truly was and always will be The People's Princess.
Princess Diana was a very iconic woman. Strong and gracious. The world wept because she truly was and always will be The People's Princess.
September 7, 2017
I always been intrigued with Princess Diana. Often I researched countless of articles that painted a portrait of who she was like as a person or viewed clips about her in the media. Apart of it was because I am a history bluff,but the other part was that I was fascinated by her luxurious life.
While this book had memorable moments,I felt it could have been much better. It seemed to me the author assumed alot about who she was,not necessarily knowing the facts,if that makes sense. Granted no one can describe how someone was like intricately without some bias,I still felt this book was only scratched the surface level.
Nevertheless,it was average,the photos went well with the story,but it definitely wasn't the best book I read regarding Princess Diana. In fact,I thought reading excerpts about her life did her more justice.
While this book had memorable moments,I felt it could have been much better. It seemed to me the author assumed alot about who she was,not necessarily knowing the facts,if that makes sense. Granted no one can describe how someone was like intricately without some bias,I still felt this book was only scratched the surface level.
Nevertheless,it was average,the photos went well with the story,but it definitely wasn't the best book I read regarding Princess Diana. In fact,I thought reading excerpts about her life did her more justice.
July 18, 2008
I was so, so sorry I read this. This book is chock full of lurid detail and poignant, pitiful, heart-wrenching descriptions. The worst part is the immediate aftermath of the crash. I do understand that her injury (aorta ripped from chest wall) would probably have been fatal even if she had been urgently rushed to a Level I trauma center within minutes. Or even if an operating room had been available on the spot. I know this. Yet it took them HOW long to get her to a hospital less than a mile away? Between forty-five and ninety minutes? I just picture the French EMTs standing around, Gauloises hanging from their lips, discussing politics and shrugging from time to time, while doctors "stabilized her at the scene". What kind of half-assed medical response is that? Yes, that's how they do it in NYC, Detroit, L.A., Miami, cities that wrote the book on trauma care. I don't think so. She would have had a better chance in any medium-sized American city with a good hospital. Anyway, plenty of blame and stupidity to go around. A bodyguard that won't make his charges buckle up. It could have saved her, and he's the only one that lived. A driver going too fast, God only knows why. And a billionaire's son and a Princess dead like dogs in the street. If you're a Diana fan (and I sort of was), this is a disturbing, sad, infuriating read. What a completely tragic, useless death.
September 3, 2017
Revelatory about the day and Britain's future
This book not only cleared up much mystery for me surrounding Diana's passing but about Prince Charles and his complicated, broken soul.
This book not only cleared up much mystery for me surrounding Diana's passing but about Prince Charles and his complicated, broken soul.
April 23, 2013
If I'm being completely honest, this is a book I never intended to read. Never. Mostly because I guessed - rightfully, as it turned out - that it would break my heart. Despite the fact that my current mood (as in, for the past three weeks) has been to read, voraciously, anything about the late Princess of Wales on which I can get my hands, my instinct for self-preservation told me to pass over this book when I saw it on the royal(s) shelf at the library. But then, another book in my queue to read, Diana's Boys by the same author, included an excerpt from this one, suggesting this as the prequel, and I knew I wouldn't be able to avoid it.
And I guess, if I'm still being honest, I am glad to have read it. Even if I broke down crying on both the bus and the PATH train. Because she was exquisite, and Christopher Andersen has an equally exquisite way with words. And he has such an extraordinarily delicate way of dealing with his colourful cast of characters, and a wonderfully sensitive way of placing those August days in some sort of comprehensible context (historical, temporal, and emotional).
Like this, at the beginning of chapter 5:
Riots broke out in West Belfast after the British Government announced its decision to invite the IRA's political wing, Sinn Fein, to take part in peace talks. A fundraising scandal swirled around Vice-President Al Gore, threatening his political aspirations for the year 2000. It was revealed that novelist Salman Rushdie, in hiding after Iran's Ayatollah Khomeini put a $1.6 million price on his head, had married for the third time in a secret ceremony on Long Island. At least ninety-eight people were massacred by Islamic insurgents in Algeria, and U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright embarked on a trip to the Middle East in hopes of pulling the peace talks between Palestinians and Israelis "back from the abyss."
As they awakened around 8:45 that morning, Diana and Dodi had no way of knowing that because of them, people would have a hard time remembering that anything else happened that day.
Or this, the final passage in the book:
August 31, 1997. No wars ended or began that day. Nor did any natural disasters strike. There were no earth-shaking discoveries made, no records shattered, no feats accomplished. Yet it was a day that both stunned and united the world like few others in history. It was the day Diana died.
I, personally, do not remember that day. Or any from that summer. Yes, to be fair, I was all of five-and-a-half years old. But my mom remembers it - I know because I asked her - as my dad taking my sister and me outside to play so that she could remain indoors, watching the news unfold. I have racked and racked my brain, trying to have some memory of the day Diana died, or of the days in which she had been alive, but all that comes to mind is the first time my mother mentioned the late Princess to me (we were driving in the car and "Candle in the Wind" came on the radio, and she told me about the way Sir Elton John changed the lyrics to fit England's Rose at her funeral).
So I am grateful, in a bizarre, inexplicable way, for this book and for having read it, because it brought it to me in vivid, sometimes lurid but always respectful, detail. And I think I awarded it five stars because I've realised that she lived a five-star life. So far be it for me to give any book about that life anything less than that.
I am now the veteran of three biographies of Diana in as many weeks - and each time, she has come to life, flourished in magnificent and almost too-bright colours, and been killed before my eyes. So I think I comprehend, finally, the magnitude of her loss. And for that, I think I love this book.
(Even if I am getting kind of annoyed at the short end of the stick that poor Prince Harry has been getting in all of these books. Also I'm surprised at my own indignation on his behalf.)
And I guess, if I'm still being honest, I am glad to have read it. Even if I broke down crying on both the bus and the PATH train. Because she was exquisite, and Christopher Andersen has an equally exquisite way with words. And he has such an extraordinarily delicate way of dealing with his colourful cast of characters, and a wonderfully sensitive way of placing those August days in some sort of comprehensible context (historical, temporal, and emotional).
Like this, at the beginning of chapter 5:
Riots broke out in West Belfast after the British Government announced its decision to invite the IRA's political wing, Sinn Fein, to take part in peace talks. A fundraising scandal swirled around Vice-President Al Gore, threatening his political aspirations for the year 2000. It was revealed that novelist Salman Rushdie, in hiding after Iran's Ayatollah Khomeini put a $1.6 million price on his head, had married for the third time in a secret ceremony on Long Island. At least ninety-eight people were massacred by Islamic insurgents in Algeria, and U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright embarked on a trip to the Middle East in hopes of pulling the peace talks between Palestinians and Israelis "back from the abyss."
As they awakened around 8:45 that morning, Diana and Dodi had no way of knowing that because of them, people would have a hard time remembering that anything else happened that day.
Or this, the final passage in the book:
August 31, 1997. No wars ended or began that day. Nor did any natural disasters strike. There were no earth-shaking discoveries made, no records shattered, no feats accomplished. Yet it was a day that both stunned and united the world like few others in history. It was the day Diana died.
I, personally, do not remember that day. Or any from that summer. Yes, to be fair, I was all of five-and-a-half years old. But my mom remembers it - I know because I asked her - as my dad taking my sister and me outside to play so that she could remain indoors, watching the news unfold. I have racked and racked my brain, trying to have some memory of the day Diana died, or of the days in which she had been alive, but all that comes to mind is the first time my mother mentioned the late Princess to me (we were driving in the car and "Candle in the Wind" came on the radio, and she told me about the way Sir Elton John changed the lyrics to fit England's Rose at her funeral).
So I am grateful, in a bizarre, inexplicable way, for this book and for having read it, because it brought it to me in vivid, sometimes lurid but always respectful, detail. And I think I awarded it five stars because I've realised that she lived a five-star life. So far be it for me to give any book about that life anything less than that.
I am now the veteran of three biographies of Diana in as many weeks - and each time, she has come to life, flourished in magnificent and almost too-bright colours, and been killed before my eyes. So I think I comprehend, finally, the magnitude of her loss. And for that, I think I love this book.
(Even if I am getting kind of annoyed at the short end of the stick that poor Prince Harry has been getting in all of these books. Also I'm surprised at my own indignation on his behalf.)
May 3, 2023
Someone paid Christopher Andersen to try to convince us that Diana’s death was truly an “accident.” ‘‘Twas no accident, my friends. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, it’s a massive cover up involving the British royal family, MI6, and possibly the British and French government.
I’d recommend this if, like me, you’re super into the details of Diana’s final days and the suspicious circumstances surrounding her death. He brings the facts. I just think the facts are fabricated by people with lots of money and power. Hopefully I’m not on some kind of watch list after posting this review 😳🤞🏼
I’d recommend this if, like me, you’re super into the details of Diana’s final days and the suspicious circumstances surrounding her death. He brings the facts. I just think the facts are fabricated by people with lots of money and power. Hopefully I’m not on some kind of watch list after posting this review 😳🤞🏼
September 30, 2018
I got this book for free and it's worth as much as I paid for it. All the way through it smacked of someone just collating and putting together the tabloid reports of the day and sensationalising them with his own opinions. How on earth does the author know that the Queen didn't hug either boys when she, Philip and Charles met with them in PRIVATE? Was he the 6th party in the room? No! How does he know that Charles stood in his whatever coloured pyjamas in shock? How does he know that Charles came back from a long walk on the moors, eyes red from crying having realised that he loved her all along? Was he inside his bedroom? Inside his head? No! The only parts of the book that seemed to try and establish fact was conversations Diana had with close friends regarding whether or not she would marry Dodi. From those conversations, I assume Diana was happy in the new relationship with him but was far from about to jump into another marriage, especially with someone who posed so many problems for the monarchy and the effect of such a marriage on William's future especially. Nor did I care for the repeated description of Diana being naked under a sheet whilst lying in the morgue. Why include and repeat this? Fact yes, but aren't all bodies? Again, just seemed more tacky sensationalism to me. Lastly, the credibility of the book and the author is completely undermined by terrible proof reading! So many incorrect words such as "I was called a bar" instead of "I was called a liar"! "I never saw her free. Her free was in profile" instead of her "face"! At least a dozen occurrences of such obvious and laughable mistakes. Further supports my feeling this publication was rushed (perhaps to coincide with an anniversary). Makes the author and the publishers look complete fools. Especially in what I expect they wanted to be considered a serious tome (or should I say ("tomb")"!! It was an easy, fast read, but I repeat nothing new and smacks totally of a journalistic sensationalism. This book has actively persuaded me to avoid anything else written by this author!
August 25, 2011
Alright, I admit, this is one of those little pieces of literary genius that you slip between your incredibly intelligent literary choices (okay, who are we kidding...just less sensational literary choices) and hope you don't get "the eyebrow". You know the eyebrow. It's the momentary raising of the librarian's eyebrow while glancing at you as if to say "Really, lady?" You run out of the library and of course you use the book drop to check it back in instead of standing at the counter.
ANYWAY, back to the book. I, friends, am addicted to royalty and I'll read anything about them. (As evidenced by my reading list...yes, the shame. The shame.) This book was a solid, not bad. The tragic story of Diana's death and the conspiracies that will always follow it are fascinating to me. I did thought I'd share this one interesting tid bit, the black dress she was wearing in her coffin on her way back to London from Paris were a loaner from the French PM's wife. She obviously could not be dressed in the clothes she was wearing in the accident and all of her possessions at the Ritz Paris had already been packed up and sent back to London by the Al Fayed family. Interesting, indeed....
ANYWAY, back to the book. I, friends, am addicted to royalty and I'll read anything about them. (As evidenced by my reading list...yes, the shame. The shame.) This book was a solid, not bad. The tragic story of Diana's death and the conspiracies that will always follow it are fascinating to me. I did thought I'd share this one interesting tid bit, the black dress she was wearing in her coffin on her way back to London from Paris were a loaner from the French PM's wife. She obviously could not be dressed in the clothes she was wearing in the accident and all of her possessions at the Ritz Paris had already been packed up and sent back to London by the Al Fayed family. Interesting, indeed....
September 2, 2017
Was the editor of the kindle version high on drugs or was it done via software? So many mistakes.
February 16, 2021
This was much more than just the day she died. It gives a bit of her history and her marriage to Charles. She loved her sons more than anything and wanted to give them the ability to have fun in addition to the duties of being a royal. The book certainly doesn't show the queen in a good light.
May 19, 2020
Excellent read, very emotional, touching and sad
December 3, 2017
Nope, No, no, no, nope. This is a rarity-- a DID NOT FINISH book. At about 65%, I gave up. I was looking for an examination into the questionable death of Diana. Silly me for thinking that a book TITLED 'THE DAY DIANA DIED' might actually provide that! The first 5% of the book speaks about the night of her death, mostly from the POV of the head nurse at the hospital where she died in Paris, then the book quickly turns to tabloid type smut, mostly discussing the numerous men that the author believed her to have slept with, and why. A complete waste of my time, and a besmirching of her memory. AVOID THIS ONE. FALSE ADVERTISING!! --Jen from Quebec :0)
May 17, 2018
Going in to this, I only knew 2 things: Princess Diana was considered "the people's Princess," and she died in a car crash. I didn't know how tumultuous her marriage was with Charles (resulting in an eating disorder among other problems) or that the Queen demanded that Princess Diana's name never be mentioned in her presence.
There were a lot of facts in here that kind of blew my mind, but every time I would mention a new revelation to my mom (who followed the details of Princess Diana probably the same as most people did who were old enough to remember her while she was alive), she would tell me that these were things she already knew. So as far as information goes, this offers quite a bit for someone like me who knew next to nothing about the subject matter. But for someone who already has a general knowledge of Princess Diana, this probably wouldn't offer any new astounding information.
There were a lot of facts in here that kind of blew my mind, but every time I would mention a new revelation to my mom (who followed the details of Princess Diana probably the same as most people did who were old enough to remember her while she was alive), she would tell me that these were things she already knew. So as far as information goes, this offers quite a bit for someone like me who knew next to nothing about the subject matter. But for someone who already has a general knowledge of Princess Diana, this probably wouldn't offer any new astounding information.
May 16, 2018
For anyone who knows nothing of Dianas life and death this is probably a reasonable book. It gives a brief history of her life and a detailed account of her death. In saying that I would be reluctant to say that everything in this book is the true story. The overall feeling I came away with at the end of this book was how heartless the Queen was toward William and Harry. How inept the French emergency service was and how insane the paparazzi is in the lengths they will go to to get a picture.
Read
February 10, 2020I bought the hardcover the day this came out and reading it again after all these years still brings the awful week back again . I do not think I will ever be over her death and she is so missed. The way this book takes you through each minute of that horrible day will make the tears flow .
January 14, 2024
Hard to rate a non fiction book about someone's death
It's well researched and laid out, and very graphic
Also, the depictions of the Royal Family shows which side of this dispute the author falls on
It's well researched and laid out, and very graphic
Also, the depictions of the Royal Family shows which side of this dispute the author falls on
September 10, 2017
Poignant
Excellent read - surprisingly kind to Charles and the loss he felt. Diana was unique and left way too soon.
Excellent read - surprisingly kind to Charles and the loss he felt. Diana was unique and left way too soon.
July 6, 2018
Each and everyone of us will have our own thoughts on what happened on that tragic day. A conspiracy or an unfortunate accident? But at the end of the day what has been proved is that a drunken drugged up driver and no seat belts was a recipe for disaster!
December 9, 2020
I loved and grew up with all things Diana in the 80s. Well written, unbiased book about a life taken too early. May she rest in peace. Excellent read.
December 31, 2020
4.2/5, better than expected. I had no understanding of who Diana was or what happened to her before reading this book. The monarch lifestyle is quite outdated and sad.
February 20, 2023
It’s so sad. I was at work at the Blue Water Restaurant when I got the news Diana had died and I remember watching the funeral with my own mother and seeing William and Harry walking behind her coffin. They lost their beloved mummy and that is what gets me every time.
January 24, 2021
If you wish to know the details of Diana’s extraordinary life and tragic death, then this is the book for you.
April 30, 2014
What an amazing look at the real life of a otherwise private group of people.. I was quite touched to see at least at the end of her life Charles fought for her right to be treated with the respect she deserved.I do believe he loved her and held her in great respect, for being the mother and person she was, and I dont doubt if he would have been allowed to marry Camilla back then he would have.. I dont think he ever intended to hurt Diana I believe that was all his mothers doing...I was SOO angry at the way the Queen acted, she acted like someone owned her something.. Give me a break, you shunned and treated this women like nothing but a "womb" for your heirs and then you get upset when she no longer will tolerate it and breaks away to build her own life. It was sickening to me that after you find out the mother of grandchildren has died tragically all you worry about are the "royal jewels"... Wow I sure hope you dont get treated as coldy as you treated her when you leave this earth
December 19, 2018
How accurate is this?
This book gives good insight into the last years of Diana's life, including those last minutes. It also seeks to honor her contributions and spark. However, in places, it contradicts other accounts I've read and heard, including how willingly William walked behind the cortege. I'm fond of William, but no one could blame him or Harry for bending under the stress and grief. There is no need to rewrite history to make him appear stronger. We like him either way. It makes me wonder whether "artistic license" was taken elsewhere in the book, and that's disappointing. Also, the many typos, particularly in words starting with the letter f, were annoying but predictable. Even the Microsoft word find and replace function could have fixed them. Not ready for prime time.
This book gives good insight into the last years of Diana's life, including those last minutes. It also seeks to honor her contributions and spark. However, in places, it contradicts other accounts I've read and heard, including how willingly William walked behind the cortege. I'm fond of William, but no one could blame him or Harry for bending under the stress and grief. There is no need to rewrite history to make him appear stronger. We like him either way. It makes me wonder whether "artistic license" was taken elsewhere in the book, and that's disappointing. Also, the many typos, particularly in words starting with the letter f, were annoying but predictable. Even the Microsoft word find and replace function could have fixed them. Not ready for prime time.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 234 reviews