Diana

by Sarah Bradford

From The New York Times bestselling author of America’s Queen—the definitive biography of Diana, Princess of Wales

Diana, Princess of Wales, is nothing less than an icon, remembered in death as vividly as she appeared in life. Yet throughout her brief life, Diana was plagued by rumor, innuendo, and scandal. With exclusive access to those closest to Diana, Sarah Bradford now casts aside the gossip and lies and takes us to the very heart of the royal family to separate the myth from the truth of the Diana years.

Diana follows the old-fashioned courtship that saw her captivate the Prince of Wales; the transformation of an unworldly teenager into an emotionally demanding, but adoring, wife and mother; the damage caused by the ever-present specter of Camilla Parker Bowles; and the eventual collapse of a doomed marriage once hailed as the ultimate fairy tale. Bradford examines Diana’s lovers and her relationships with her staff, friends, and family, as well as her children, husband, and the royal family. She also charts Diana’s profound commitment to her charities and her rare connection to and empathy with all those she met; the struggle to find an identity after the separation from Charles; and the final, complicated year as a single woman.

With the authority missing from all previous accounts, as well as remarkable new sources and firsthand accounts, acclaimed royal biographer Sarah Bradford delivers a complex and explosive study of one of the most popular figures of the twentieth century.

Genres: Biography, Nonfiction, History, Biography Memoir, Royalty, British Literature, Memoir

464 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2006

About the author

Educated at St. Mary’s Convent, Shaftesbury Dorset, where she won a State Scholarship and at Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford, where she won a College Scholarship in History, Sarah Bradford is an historian and biographer who has travelled extensively, living in the West Indies, Portugal and Italy. She speaks four languages which have been invaluable in her research for her various books, particularly The Englishman’s Wine, the Story of Port (the first book on the subject written by a woman), Portugal and Madeira. She worked in the Manuscript Department of Christie’s London, travelling for the Department and valuing manuscripts from the fifteenth to twentieth centuries, an experience which enabled her to write Cesare Borgia (used by the BBC as the source of their series ‘The Borgias’, for which she wrote the novelisation of the scripts) and, most recently, Lucrezia Borgia

Reviews

[Gabrielle (Reading Rampage) · Rating 4 out of 5]

1997 and 1998 were very rough years: my parents divorced in the spring of 97 and my beloved grandfather passed away in January 98. Through all this, I also remember all the headlines about Princess Diana’s death. I was thirteen, and while a lot of the implications of her death eluded me at the time, one thing was glaringly obvious: this was not what was supposed to happen to princesses. A lifetime of exposure to pop culture had told me princesses marry princes, make little princes and princesses of their own, and then live happily ever after. The prince is not supposed to cheat on them with horsey-faced randos and then the princesses are certainly not supposed to die in car crashes when they are in the prime of their lives. Her death was clear evidence that pop culture had lied to me. That was all a lot of stuff for my poor adolescent brain to process. If people could divorce and die, how the hell was I supposed to know that things would be OK? You know, normal teenage existentialist angst.

I admit I then stopped thinking about Diana for many years; until I watched the amazing movie “The Queen”, and while I did not become a royal watcher, I started to think about the royal family as something morbidly fascinating: these people’s lives are very, very weird, and anyone who expect them to be normal and well-adjusted is delusional. I became intrigued by their stories the way one gets interested in goofy social experiments. You know: put people in a box, give them so much wealth and privilege, but give them a rigid code by which they must live which takes no account of what life is like outside the box, and monitor their stress levels. Of course, as soon as Netflix released “The Crown”, I was hooked. After the last season, I watched a documentary specifically about Diana, which finally led me to this book. I picked it because Sarah Bradford is interviewed in “The Story of Diana”, and reviews of the book seem to agree that this is as balanced a biography of the infamous princess as one is likely to find. Good enough for me!

And indeed, I appreciate that Bradford took care to present multiple accounts of certain events, to try and see which anecdotes were exaggerated or dramatized and which were reported in a more grounded fashion. But the bottom line remains the same, hysterics or not: two emotionally immature people raised in psychologically damaging households had a marriage that was doomed from the very start. Sprinkle an excess of publicity about it and no privacy whatsoever, and you get the perfect storm that was Diana’s life.

Bradford works hard to untangle Diana’s own account of her life and all the testimonials from friends, relatives and staff, and offers readers the portrait of a vulnerable, romantic and painfully uninformed young woman who was forced to transition from girl into woman without much support from anyone, in great solitude. And as soon as she found something she was good at, her husband’s jealousy and resentment escalated the tensions that had existed in their shared life from the very beginning. As we all know, she eventually managed to escape the royal life, but paid for her freedom very dearly.

I was chagrined really, to read about these two people being so horribly unhappy, and making a bad situation worse by behaving childishly. But thanks to the balanced research informing this book, I also felt both compassion and irritation towards Diana and Charles. If this book is to be believed, “The Crown” did not hit very far off the mark in it’s representation of their marriage, so its a mix of sad and cringey. I was astonished to learn that Diana was basically left to her own devices so soon after her wedding, with no clear idea of her role, what she should be doing or what her position meant – which considering the amount of staff and courtiers running around Buckingham, seems like a strange oversight… Surely, someone could have briefed her. And it is pretty heart-breaking to think that regardless of what he did or said, she still carried a candle for Charles even after their divorce.

It is wild for me to think that I am now the same age she was when she died. Sure, she had many bad sides, from her dramatic imagination to her pettiness, but she walked a rather rocky road, and after reading this book, I believe she tried to walk it as best and as gracefully as she knew how. A good biography, engagingly written and well-balanced; very recommended if you are curious about Diana’s life. I docked a star because I got the feeling that the author expects the readers to already know who people like Aleister Campbell are, which is not necessarily the case, and a few footnotes might have made some references easier to navigate.

[*TUDOR^QUEEN* · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have the heavy, original hardcover of this book from back in 2006. It has a beautiful black and white picture of Princess Diana on the cover. I read this when it first came out 15 years ago, but this is a high quality book by a veteran royal biographer, so was well worthy of a re-read. I prefer reading my books on kindle now, and picked this up on a kindle sale recently. It has a different cover now, but I recognized the author and realized this was a repackaging. I struggled whether to rate this a 4 or 5. This is an excellent biography by a seasoned royal author written after Princess Diana died. It is not lacking in anything and I would highly recommend this as a thorough biography of The People's Princess. My rating was tempered against the fact that I read another biography of Diana recently that had more of a fresh take and so enjoyed it just a bit more.

[menna hafez · Rating 5 out of 5]

when diana died i was 6 years but i still remember her funeral very well and the rumors that the press published it about her life, when i read this book i find that 60% of my information about Lady DI is wrong, but i want to thank sarah for this amazing book who clearly appear diana as we not know, what a poor and miserable life she lived since she was kid then married a man not loving her then the royal duties and finally from the press whom involved in her private life, in fact this book tasked spiritual because i am a big big fan of diana
Rest In Peace my beautiful princess, i will always love you

[Ekaterina K · Rating 4 out of 5]

Being drawn, like so many others, to the story of the unforgettable Lady Diana, I was favourably surprised by how balanced and well-researched this book is and how carefully it treats its subject, avoiding any scandalous notes. Modest as my background in history may be, I appreciate such an approach a lot in biographies, just as I strongly dislike tabloid-style writings regardless of whether the author is an admirer or a staunch critic of the person he/she writes about. One immediately sees that Ms Bradford has meticulously researched the facts of the Princess’ life and the opinions about these facts stemming from different camps, which in their own turn have been tested for bias. As a result, the reader gets a truly multi-faceted picture of Lady Diana’s life and personality which, and I believe this to be evidence of the author’s utmost professionalism, fills the reader with sympathy for all participants of its central drama: the collapse of the marriage to Prince of Wales. One realizes that it was a tragedy for both of them, and not brought about single-handedly by either.

Sadly, Lady Diana’s life, as portrayed here, and especially after the break-up of her marriage, often reminded me of a passage from Eric Berne’s “Games People Play” where he stated that many people seem to have secret demons inside that can spring forth unexpectedly and make them shatter their otherwise happy and well-established lives out of the blue. In real life, too, I witnessed exceptionally talented people who would have been notably more successful and would have achieved so much more, if they did not ruin their relations with those around them for no clear reason undermining their own position. This seems to have been the case with Lady Diana a lot, and her notorious 1995 BBC Panorama interview, the build-up to which and its aftermath described in the book in great detail, is arguably the most unfortunate example of this. With the separation with Prince Charles already a few years behind, and the dust slowly settling, she was under no pressure to give this interview that dealt a blow to her sons and was the final straw in her relationship with the Royal family, such that even her closest associates were critical of this step. And yet it seems Lady Diana was not able to control this destructive inclination, which made me feel very sad for her, a person of so many great gifts and most stunning beauty.

To sum up, Ms Bradford accomplishes a great detailed portrayal of Diana Spencer in her book, a living human being, neither an idol nor a monster nor a wannabe, and upon reading it one certainly understands her life journey better. I can certainly recommend it to anyone interested in Lady Diana or the British Royal family.

[Lorraine · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was glued to this book. Diana by Sarah Bradford is a thorough biography of a woman I highly admired. She married so young, less than a month after her 20th birthday, with dreams of a happy marriage which was never to be. Charles' mistress, Camilla Parker-Bowles, and now his present wife was a specter that was forever present in Diana's marriage. Diana suffered because of this terribly, but she gave birth to two grand children who loved her immensely than and now also as she loved them. Diana had a special gift that made people feel worthy when everyone around them was telling them they were worthless or just plain bad people These people, for example, were Aids patients who at the time were mostly gay men. Diana showed the world that it was perfectly fine to shake these patients hands, give them a hug, and just talk with them, and she illustrated that AIDS was not passed on by this. Diana was devoted to her charities and her dance as well as her sons. She was a truly fine human being who died way too young. I think that Sarah Bradford wrote a fine biography of Diana, Princess of Wales as she was known after her divorce from Charles.

[Jamie Dacyczyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'll be honest...I only picked this up because the audiobook was narrated by the late great Katherine Kellgren. I don't have a particular interest in the royal family, and the Princess Diana fever was a little before my time (or when I was too young to really tune in). I haven't even made it far enough into "The Crown" yet to get a dramatized TV version of her life. The extent of what I knew about her was that she was adored by everyone, she was killed in a car crash while being chased by paparazzi, she's the mother of the Princes William and Harry, and there was something scandelous involving a woman named Camilla. Also, one time a weird lady saw me in a store and gasped, "For a second I thought you were Princess Di!" while gesturing to my short haircut....which makes no sense because I don't look anything like Diana, and also she'd been dead for like two decades at that point.

So...yeah, this book was very informative to me since I knew practically nothing. Since I don't really know anything outside of this book, I have no idea how accurate it is or whether the protrayal of Diana is biased in any way. It HAS made me think I should go back and get caught up on "The Crown" at last.

[Mari Biella · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thirteen years after her untimely death, Diana, Princess of Wales still polarises opinions. Was she a beautiful, innocent humanitarian driven to her death by hostile forces beyond her control? Or was she a manipulative deceiver, using the media to her advantage and thus, unwittingly, unleashing the monster that would eventually destroy her? Almost everyone has their own view on this vexed question but, as Sarah Bradford attempts to demonstrate in this admirably balanced biography, the truth probably lies somewhere between the two extremes.

Bradford has gone to great lengths, I suspect, to get a fair overview of her subject. She's consulted Diana's friends and supporters, and she's also sought the views of those who were less impressed by her. She examines every period of Diana's life, from her troubled childhood to her all-too-brief days as a carefree girl-about-town, her horribly ill-judged marriage, her divorce, and her last months as a single lady. On the way we learn about a complicated woman who could certainly be manipulative, untruthful, inconsiderate and temperamental - but also a woman possessed of a genuine compassion and humanity, someone who people almost could not help but love.

And yet... somehow, after reading this, I feel like I understand Diana less than ever. It's a feature of many personalities, of course, that the more closely they are scrutinised the less clear they become, but I suppose I was hoping to somehow arrive at a sharper picture of the Princess. It's true that Bradford displays an almost encyclopaedic knowledge of the actual events in Diana's life, but the personality underlying those events always remains somewhat mysterious. Perhaps, indeed, that's why Diana is an icon: she keeps us guessing.

My own opinion, after reading this? A sometimes difficult woman who was ultimately more sinned against than sinning. A guess, of course - I don't know for sure. We probably never will. However, if you want to try to uncover the truth for yourself, this book would be a good place to start.

[Priscilla · Rating 4 out of 5]

Prince Charles and Princess Diana were exhibits A and B in any discussion about how parents can so screw up a child (cold mother/bully for a father--him; mother abandonment/weak, permissive father--her) that it will never be an emotionally stable adult; and when these two people get married, it should be no surprise that unhappiness and divorce is a given. She was so needy, demanding, manipulative, and vengeful that she gives High Maintenance Princess a whole new meaning. He had no idea what to do with her. However, they were also exhibits C and D in how much the world will forgive when you are absolutely gorgeous, and how much it won't forgive when you aren't and you just happen to love somebody else, who isn't nearly as gorgeous. She used her fame and position to shine a light on AIDS, land mines, and a number of other very worthy causes, but she required so much love and adulation that only the whole world could satisfy the need, and those causes were a way to get it in spades. Even then she wasn't happy; and no doubt, if Charles had adored her and only wanted to make her happy, she still wouldn't have been. The whole world and everything in it was never going to be enough for her.

[Mariana · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm not much into reading "contemporary" biographies but because my theme, as probably some of you have noticed, is royalty, this was something I had to read. Diana, Princess of Wales is such a figure shrouded in mysticism, at least for me, that reading this book clarified many doubts I had.

I liked that Sarah Bradford didn't fawn over Diana but showed the "true" woman behind the public persona, not only the kind, People's Princess figure but also the victim, the passionate, the jealous, the petty, the beautiful, the fragile woman as people around knew her. I also liked how my suspicions about Charles were apparently true and that men have always being the Worst.

[Megan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was 1 year old when Diana died, so my exposure to her, her life, and what she did was pretty non-existent until season 4 of the "The Crown" aired and then my interest was piqued.

I didn't actually seek out this book - rather I stumbled upon it in the biography section of my library. I haven't read too many biographies but I'd read half of one about Queen Elizabeth II a few years ago (never finished it because the loan ended & life got busy) but I remembered enjoying it.

Similarly, this book did not disappoint. It covers Diana's entire life: from who her parent's were all the way through her funeral. The glossy pictures sprinkled throughout bring the words to life and remind you how recent in history this was. Diana died in August 1997 - this year is only the 24th anniversary of her death - she would have just turned 60 this month.

One aspect I really appreciated was how Sarah Bradford did her best to show all sides of the situations and events and did not shy away from mentioning Diana's flaws, along with her incredible down-to-earth character and genuine compassion toward other people. She did the same with the Queen, the royal family, Charles, etc. She showed both sides of the coin and explained why the Establishment did things or didn't do things. Even though many of these individual's actions towards Diana could be condemned as unfeeling, Bradford explains how or why they may have acted as they did - this doesn't excuse the actions, but it does help you as the reader understand the more than one side of the situation and maybe appreciate why an individual did make or did not make a particular decision. When relationships fail, like in the part of Diana and Charles, both parties are at least partially responsible. Did Charles have major issues and feel pressured to marry Diana while being in love with a different woman he couldn't have? I think the answer is a big YES, but Diana had her own difficult ways of coping with difficult situations that certainly didn't alleviate her marital issues. These details bring the whole story into focus and provide a well-rounded account of Diana's life.

Sometime in the future I'm curious to read "Diana: Her True Story" by Andrew Morton, which Bradford mentioned frequently as she reached the later years of Diana's life. It was also very interested seeing how the divorce of Diana's parents impacted her childhood and early adulthood and how she carried that trauma with her - that's something "The Crown" didn't have time to touch on unfortunately.

Conclusion: If you also love "The Crown" and are looking for a good resource to expand your knowledge, definitely recommend this one. Also, don't let the page count scare you off. Because of the Index, the actual text is only 388 pages spread across 22 chapters, so it doesn't bog down too much in any one part.

[Silvia ❄️ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ho iniziato a leggere questo libro non perché non conoscessi la storia di Diana (chi non la conosce?), ma perché volevo approfondire di più alcuni aspetti della sua breve, ma intensa, vita. Sarah Bradford è uno dei biografi ufficiali della Famiglia Reale e ha avuto accesso ad informazioni e interviste esclusive, oltre ad aver attinto dal famosissimo libro di Andrew Morton. Ne è scaturito un ritratto di una principessa alla continua ricerca di affetto e le giuste attenzioni, che non ha mai ricevuto durante l’infanzia o durante il suo disastroso matrimonio con il principe Carlo. Ho trovato interessanti le digressioni e le brevi, ma concise, biografie che l’autrice fa dei personaggi più importanti che hanno fatto parte della vita di Diana, fino ad arrivare al momento in cui si sono conosciuti e come sono entrati a farne parte. È sicuramente una biografia completa ed esaustiva, che racconta di tutti i lati di Diana, il lato che mostrava al pubblico e il lato della sua vita privata. Sicuramente leggerò anche il libro esclusivo di Andrew Morton, ma questo della Bradford è ottimo per chi si vuole approcciare e chi vuole capire meglio cosa passasse nella testa della principessa reale più chiacchierata del XX secolo.

[Camzilla · Rating 1 out of 5]

I am very sorry to give a book a bad review, especially one that I started reading with such high hopes, but this book got very annoying very fast. I suppose it has to do with the fact that Diana remains a controversial figure still very much in the public consciousness, but I found this book to be an extremely biased account of her life. The amount of times I had to read about how lovely, graceful, sympathetic, charming, and kind she was made me feel like Diana was someone who could do no wrong. Doing that over and over is the quickest way to make your reader actually DISLIKE the subject more than anything. Diana, it seems, could do no wrong and even when she DID, it was because of her loveless marriage, lonely life, etc. Her suffering, which should have lowered her to the level of the humans she seemed to care so much about, only serves (in Bradford's hands) to elevate her to a godlike state through her perseverence. It all gets to be too much by chapter 10 (where I stopped) and I found myself flipping to the very end just to see how she wraps things up. All in all a very disappointing read.

[Urmila · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a readable, meticulously researched, and from what I can tell, fairly evenhanded account that examines the role of the royal family, the Spencers, the press, the public, and Diana herself in the tragic soap opera of her tragically curtailed life. At its core, it’s a story of how ordinary, flawed, vulnerable humans, when placed in a position of immense public scrutiny and expectations, pay a much higher price for their mistakes than the rest of us.

With several decades’ distance, the story feels almost surreal, especially the descriptions of Diana’s almost goddesslike charisma that not only ensnared everyone she met, but reached through the camera to the wider world. I can’t think of any celebrity today who has the same truly global pull. It’s also incredibly clear in retrospect how much influence Diana had in modernizing the British monarchy when you see how her sons chose to carry out their private and public lives.

[Melissa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Reading other reviews on this site, there seem to be a lot of "This book is biased against Diana!" and "This book is too pro-Diana!" comments, which to me confirms my thought that Sarah Bradford's biography is a pretty evenhanded and fair portrayal of the late Princess of Wales. Bradford didn't shy away from either the good things about Diana, like her innate compassion and ability to connect with all kinds of people, or the bad things, like her manipulative nature and the insecurity and neediness which led her to make some extremely poor decisions.

The recent engagement of Prince William and Kate Middleton got me interested in the British royal family again, so I picked up this book. I didn't learn much I didn't already know, but it was a well-written overview of Diana's strange, lonely, and ultimately tragic life.

[Christopher · Rating 4 out of 5]

A solid and evenhanded biography of a very complicated subject. Sarah Bradford is an excellent royal biographer well suited to tackle the late Princess of Wales. By the end, the reader will have a full look at a cast of characters that, in the end, all look tragic.

[tbrzoned · Rating 5 out of 5]

31st August is the death anniversary of Lady Diana Spencer, Her Royal Highness Princess of Wales 🕊️

My August readings ended with Sarah Bradford’s Diana which is a captivating and comprehensive biography that peels back the many layers of one of the most iconic figures of the 20th century—Diana, Princess of Wales. As a writer known for her meticulous research and vivid storytelling, Bradford crafts a portrait of Diana that is both intimate and expansive, delving into her life from her aristocratic childhood to her tragic death and beyond, exploring the myths and truths that have shaped our understanding of this extraordinary woman.

For anyone looking to understand the real Diana, beyond the fairy-tale wedding and the tragic ending, Bradford’s biography is an essential read.

Bradford navigates the duality of Diana’s life with remarkable deftness, capturing both her public persona as the “People’s Princess” and the private struggles that marked her existence. She offers an unflinching account of Diana’s battle with bulimia, her deep insecurities, and her complex, often fraught marriage to Prince Charles. Bradford does not shy away from highlighting the darker aspects of Diana’s story—her bouts of depression, her sometimes erratic behavior, and her strained relationships with the royal family.

However, Bradford’s portrayal is never sensationalized; instead, it feels honest and compassionate. She recognizes Diana’s human flaws while still celebrating her strengths—the compassion, the charisma, the undeniable charm, and the empathy that made her beloved by millions.

Bradford captures the very essence of Diana’s appeal: she was both a princess and a deeply relatable figure, a woman whose struggles with mental health, love, and public scrutiny resonated with many.

What sets Bradford’s Diana apart from many other biographies is her commitment to detail and accuracy. Drawing on an impressive array of sources—including interviews with people who knew Diana personally, letters, diaries, and press accounts—Bradford manages to construct a narrative that feels remarkably balanced.

[Kevin Doherty · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thoroughly enjoyable ‘warts and all’ and very well-researched re-telling of her beautiful and at times pained life. An always inner struggle to break free into a meaningful and more self-validating new life that as we all know, was only to bloom for a short time; remaining now as an enduring and eclipsing legacy. SB is not afraid to write about Diana’s complexity and sometimes contradictory nature which makes the princess all the more relatable, relevant and human, some nearly 24 yrs after her premature death.

[Eva Davison · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very revealing .

I found this book extremely revealing. Many facts about Diana's life that explain her appearance to the outside world. I have quite changed my opinion of her and several members of the Royal family.

[Lily D · Rating 2 out of 5]

Diana is a biography of the late Princess of Wales detailing her life from the beginning to the very end. Written by Sarah Bradford, the book is different from Morton’s book because it includes many details from both Princess Diana and then-Prince Charles and their friends, giving a more holistic view of how both parties were viewed throughout their courtship, marriage, and eventual separation and divorce.

I found this book oddly written. It’s mostly in chronological order although not entirely. Sometimes Bradford interrupts current events with ones that will take place in the future. I know the purpose of this was to explain some personality traits of Diana or give insight into her relationships, but I found it distracting and confusing when certain people would pass away only to be documented in events described later in the book. It would take me a good minute to realize, “Ah, that event that was heavily written about earlier hadn’t taken place yet.” It’s distracting and made the timeline of Diana’s life more muddled than it needed to be.

I thought this was much more detailed than Morton’s book and appreciated the many quotes that were given by the Princess, her husband, and their friends. Morton’s book was obviously more biased given his connection to the Princess of Wales and the way the book was written, but there is great value in reading his book as opposed to Bradford’s biography of Diana.

As I read more of Bradford’s biography, I began to question much of Bradford’s writing. She would constantly talk down about the Princess and her friends, clearly referring to them as childish or unintelligent whereas Charles always seemed like a man trapped in unfortunate circumstances and made some unfortunate mistakes. She constantly undermines Diana or overplays Diana’s actions, making even the smallest things manipulative or planned out. Why is Diana acting friendly to paparazzi and reporters in the early days of her courtship with Prince Charles? Clearly, she had planned it all out at the beginning and was eager for a photo op. Never mind that she was only nineteen when she got married to Charles who was over a decade older than her and had much more experience than her when dealing with reporters and the media. Sure, Charles had an unpleasant childhood but he was born and raised expecting to deal with many of the problems he faced whereas Diana had come into the family without a clue of what being Princess of Wales really entailed and she was a teenager. Can you really blame her?

Bradford also attributes many of Diana’s accomplishments and charity events as motivated by attracting lovers. The way she writes of Diana is antagonistic and misogynistic, always talking about how the so-and-so event Diana held was because the Princess wanted to attract the attention of her new surgeon suitor or her director boyfriend. It became tiresome to read and Bradford’s bias against Diana put a damper on reading the biography.

Not a very fun read and a dreary conclusion at the end. I’m sure there are probably better biographies about the Princess of Wales elsewhere.

[Judy · Rating 3 out of 5]

My Granddaughter asked me to recommend a book about Princess Diana to her. I hadn't read any of the many that have been published; so thought I'd read this one. First, this book is very detailed and references many of the other books about Diana. So in that sense, I guess it is a good synopsis to read. However, that makes the book quite tedious to read--way more information on the extended Royal family for me.

The sad part of Diana's saga is that the world observed all the details. Diana was very young and immature when she fell in love with Charles. And she was emotionally troubled because of her parent's divorce. She and her siblings did not have parental supervision and she, at least, felt deserted and alone. Even though many other people face such a situation, they don't have to live in the glare of publicity. I have some sympathy for Charles, because he couldn't marry the one he truly loved, Camilla Parker Bowles. In reading this book I got a view of Charles I hadn't had. (I've always thought it was sad the Queen didn't step down and give Charles some purpose to his life. But after reading, "Elizabeth the Queen: The Life of a Modern Monarch" I think I understand why she has remained on the throne. Incidentally, I do recommend the book above for a picture of Queen Elizabeth.) Needless to say, Charles was used to living his life as he wanted to, and was not ready even at the age of thirty-three for what marriage required of him.

The Royal family didn't help Diana with the transition to being a public figure. She moved into the palace after the announcement of their engagement, but they had not prepared a place for or appointed a staff for her. So she was isolated from friends in such an enormous place with really nothing to do. (She had been working as a nanny prior to the engagement.) What emerged to me was a picture of a troubled young woman who could not cope with the spotlight and Charles "ignoring" her. It's anyone's guess, but I suspect that Charles continued his affair with Camilla fairly soon after the wedding. Diana was difficult to get along with and suffered with bulimia. But I do think Diana was a good mother--she spent much time with the two boys. And over and over people who were interviewed in the book said that she was compassionate and connected with the common public. That was what endeared her to the English and the world. It's so sad that she died so young and in such a tragic way.

[Tanya T · Rating 3 out of 5]

From the moment she appeared in American gossip magazines I was fascinated by this woman. I was only 10 yrs old when I begged my Mom to let me stay up extra late to watch the royal wedding events on tv. I was obsessed with her and as a young girl I wanted to be just like her. Fast forward to 1997 I can still remember where I was and what I was doing when I heard the news about her death. It's still hard to believe she is gone and it will be 20 years now this August ( 2017). I had read all the gossip about their troubled marriage, I had thought of Charles as an uncaring, cheating jerk of a man and thought Diana could do no wrong. Now that I am older,wiser and read many books on the subject of the Royal family I have a different outlook. This book doesn't try to take sides. It gives the good and bad details of both Charles and Diana. It was doomed from the start. Charles was older, more serious and a bit of a loner. He grew up in a stuffy,formal and emotionally cold environment. I don't think he had a lot of confidence in himself or even knew how to be affectionate as he didn't grow up that way. He was under a lot of pressure to marry and produce heirs to the thrown. He was already in love with a woman who would have never been considered a candidate for a future Queen as she was already married and had a sexually ambitious past. Diana was vulnerable,young and naive. She had visions of having the fairytale that she read about in her favorite romance novels. Her parent's broken marriage and her mother leaving her to be raised by her Father really seemed to disturb her and affect her relationships with men for the rest of her life. She had flaws, insecurities and sometimes unhealthy coping skills. As beautiful and adored as she was by the public she really was a lonely woman. She was capable of tantrums,possessiveness and sometimes calculated revenge. That makes her human. I think we all have our ways of coping with the ups and downs of life, only Diana ( and Charles) had to deal with all that in the fishbowl of the public eye. I no longer think of Charles as the villain of their story, you could see the genuine grief on his face the day of Diana's funeral. I still adore her, flaws and all. The Queen of Our Hearts.

[Nikki · Rating 3 out of 5]

First, this is the first book I have read on Diana. I was only 17 when she died, and at that point, the only side of her I was aware of, if I was aware of her at all, was the glamorous humanitarian who splashed over just about every magazine out there on a regular basis. Reading about this other side of her, the behind the scenes tantrums, the scheming, manipulating, sometimes immature and maybe even emotionally stunted reactions or decisions she would make, left a lot to be desired. And one of the most disturbing things to me was the author's repeated reference to her lack of intelligence, at least that is how it came across to me, even though I don't think she meant to quite come off that way, but that is how I read it and couldn't get "Diana is stupid" out of my head, which I don't think she was. Overall, I would say this book did not leave a very favorable impression on me concerning Diana or the Royal Family in general. This is not to say that I do not believe that she had an incredible impact on many people and brought a lot of awareness to very crucial humanitarian issues, such as AIDS and landmines, but I definitely did not get the 100% pro Diana here that many other reviewers seemed to get. The author absolutely did present a two faced character in Diana. One being the glamorous, sophisticated, compassionate people person we saw in public and the other a very flawed human being struggling to survive in a antiquated, archaic, family and institution. So an interesting read for me and I may have to find another book or two just to compare and to be able to come to a better conclusion of who Diana was.

[Larissa Church · Rating 3 out of 5]

How can a book have both so much information, yet not enough? While I learned a great deal about Diana, the Royal Family, what happened behind the scenes, and many other random factoids (such as Prince Charles not liking black cars), I felt the author left out quite a bit. In the end I feel as though I still need to read another book to understand everything.

I found Bradford's way of referring to events as "infamous" or "notorious" annoying, such as the Camilla or Squidgygate tales, which Bradford would sort of mention in an offhand way and not give much information about. I found myself googling several things to help fill in the gaps. This was the first biography I have read about Diana or any royal for that matter, and I felt the author assumed every reader would be familiar with all the details and specifics of her life, the royals, and the general state of the world at the time.

Bradford also has a terrible habit of not writing chronologically, so it made the book difficult to follow at times. It was also really annoying when all of a sudden she would say things like, "Diana was in the middle of a fling with Dodi Fayed" and it would be the first time he had been mentioned. She did this on more than one occasion, and seemed under the impression when she would mention someone in an offhand way the reader would know who they were and why they were important. It was frustrating.

[Graceann · Rating 5 out of 5]

Please see my detailed review at Amazon Graceann's "Diana" Review"

Please click that the review was helpful to you at Amazon so that my rating continues to climb!

Sarah Bradford is quickly becoming one of my favorite biographers. First, I read her book on Queen Elizabeth which, even with the Queen's cooperation, was remarkably objective. Now comes "Diana" which, while clearly supportive of the Princess, is quite honest about her faults. Honest, objective and clear-eyed, all while remaining readable and interesting. Well done.

[Emily Grace · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bradford skips around a bit, focusing too much on some elements of Diana's life and death while bypassing others and she never seems to be able to reconcile her understanding of Diana with what was actually true and what she wants to present to her readers, but I enjoyed it for what it was. Ultimately, Diana led a fascinating enormously inspirational life and met with a tragic demise, so it reads well regardless of Bradford's treatment of it and sometimes enhanced by it.

[LOL_BOOKS]

MEME, I'VE JUST FINISHED READING THAT DIANA BIOGRAPHY YOU MENTIONED THE OTHER DAY AND I KIND OF WANT MOAR. IT MADE IT SOUND LIKE THE BRITISH MONARCHY IS COMPLETELY CRAZYSAUCE, EXCEPT FOR MAYBE PRINCESS MARGARET. ALSO I HAD NO IDEA THAT EVEN THE QUEEN THOUGHT CHARLES WAS A POOP.

[Andrea · Rating 3 out of 5]

After numerous books and documentaries about Princess Diana, it's easy to think that you know everything about her. This book includes several revelations about Diana, including a secret taped interview with a servant admitting to being abused in the royal household.

[julianne · Rating 2 out of 5]

Non biased and informative.

[Lynda Kelly · Rating 3 out of 5]

There were parts of this I'd not known about and some photos I actually hadn't seen before, which was nice. She located some lovely shots, one I couldn't find on Google of her in the sea which is just lovely. BUT there is sooooooo much repetition after repetition !! The same passages over and over again. Like the author reached a part referring to one incident in particular, read a host of articles about it and copied the lot across, whether they said the same thing or not. That I found pretty annoying.
I'd realised I have a Royal birthday cos' the Queen Mother's was the same day, August 4th, but I never knew till I read this that Prince William was Christened on the same date. As a matter of interest, our new Duchess of Sussex's birthday is also that day......
It was touching to read how Diana danced with people in wheelchairs from the front, whereas most people would steer from behind. Something thoughtful not many would think to do. Also to learn how seriously she took her "job" in that she always boned up areas or languages and was always punctual. Plus, SHE could sing the Welsh national anthem whereas Charles had never had the courtesy to learn it. That made an impact on me. In comparison, he comes across as an arrogant, boorish, rude bloke, just like his father, really. We got to read a lot about him in this volume, which was expected to some extent, but on the other hand, I wasn't really that interested in his life story, too.
This wasn't without errors. Mostly regarding the usage of hyphens......Riddles-worth, dormi-tories, mean-while,Knights-bridge, Mount-batten, then spaces-- Dimble by, them selves, usnow, in famous. Then odd words were missing in sentences like to or with and instance written instead of insistence and Kashoggi and not Khashoggi. The odd sentence made no sense to me at all-"Nor did she seek to meet Heads of State as of right" or "....she had a worldwide public not only for her beauty and charm." Could've been checked better.
I loved the quote from Diana herself, "I come from an English family." If anything, she brought a more blue-blooded lineage into the family, for which they should be bloody grateful if you ask me !!

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/e8/06/...

[Amanda]

I think I started reading it when Will & Kate got married (seriously -- that was 2011). It took me so long to make it through--it's a huge book--but in the end, I decided to go ahead and move on with 1/4 of the book left.

It's exhaustively detailed. Bradford included a lot of names and secondary details around every single event or incident. Since I'm not from the UK, I had no idea who any of those people were. The details often ventured off-topic -- a good excuse to toss in some famous person into the story. The quotes were woven into the overall narrative in such a way that it was difficult to know who was speaking. Almost all quotes are firsthand accounts from staff or friends who may or may not be credible.

These allegations make both Charles and Diana look bad, maybe unnecessarily. Bradford definitely takes Diana's side, but still paints her as manipulative, self-absorbed, a crybaby, husband-stealer and an emotional wreck. Charles is portrayed as selfish, cruel, spiteful and a bad father. I'm curious to know his side of things. Nothing good was said about him at all. Diana's side is told with compassion and with some effort at impartiality. She is shown as a caring mother with a warm heart for the hurting and as someone in touch with the people.

Reading this completely tarnished my view of both Charles and Diana with "he said, she said" allegations. I'm sure Bradford tried to be credible, as some accusations and rumors are discredited in the book, yet there is still a lot that can never be proven. So why have it in the book at all? I don't think this sort of thing serves any purpose other than to destroy the reputations of those who knew Diana, as well as her own. It may tell Diana's story of survival in the royal family, but not without ruining any chance of the reader having much sympathy for her. I do, because I'm like Diana in some ways and felt that she was often misunderstood. I wanted to defend her a few times while reading the book.

It was just such a long and drawn out train wreck, which was the sad reality for the couple. Still, I couldn't force myself to even read through to the end. There was just too much fluff muddying up the essential timeline.

Next time I think I'll read something less sensational.