The Real Diana

I'm not sure what I was expecting, but this wasn't it! For the many years I have been following the British royal family, I was completely ignorant of so many things, more often than not believing what was printed in the newspapers and in magazines. I began my fascination with British royalty at age 10, in the early 1970's, when I saw "The Six Wives of Henry VIII" on Masterpiece Theatre, and have never looked back. As a young and impressionable college student, I lapped up everything in the papers in 1980-81 when Lady Diana Spencer arrived on the world landscape as a possible match for Prince Charles, and rose very early on July 29th (my own birthday), 1981, to see live the "wedding of the century." My feelings that day would have been completely different had I known what was going on with these people as individuals and in their families. As a young person, I was completely caught up in the "fairy tale" of it all, not even thinking clearly about these folks as human beings with problems, failings, sorrow and angst, just like the rest of us. When things LOOK good, we want to believe they ARE good. Charles and Diana looked to the world like a handsome, dashing, contented groom and a young, beautiful, slightly nervous bride, when what they actually were were a man not really wanting to get married but sincerely trying to make the best of it, and a terrified 19-year-old girl with grave doubts about whether she should go on or call the whole thing off. After reading this book, I have concluded that they were two people believing they were "doing the right thing" for their own separate reasons and not considering the huge ramifications of this course of action, for themselves and for their families. Indeed, there were so many different motivations at play here that it proved impossible to sort them, and live them, out.

My impression as I read through the first 2/3 of this book was that there was TMI (too much information) and that it was unrelentingly unflattering to the Princess of Wales. Sides of her personality are revealed here that a reader may find hard to believe or even shocking. Luckily we find that these traits were not organic but almost surely caused by being raised in a grievously dysfunctional family, in spite of the great wealth and privilege the Spencers enjoyed. The latter part of the book describes for us the great efforts Diana made in trying to heal from the resulting emotional illness and to restore her broken relations with Prince Charles and the rest of the royal family and those who served them. She did much wonderful humanitarian work and was a loving mother to her sons. There are many contradictions here, but I think we learn that this is a natural part of the human condition, certainly for those who have grown up without the love, safety, and acceptance they need.

The descriptions of the background of wealth and privilege here are staggering. At first, it's almost difficult to believe anyone could be unhappy in such circumstances, as they are so far beyond what most of us know, but quickly we understand what it's like to be a bird in a guilded cage. One can only guess what would have happened if Diana and Dodi had lived; I would hope they could find happiness with each other and appreciation of their unbelievable material gifts. It looks like they were looking forward to working together on some fantastic projects to benefit some of those truly in need.

Lastly, I would like to say "Yay!!!" for Prince Charles. For many years he was falsely painted as a cold, callous, indifferent husband and father, but according to this author, that couldn't be further from the truth. I pray he has found happiness in his marriage with the Duchess of Cornwall and that he will ascend to the throne prepared and contented when the time comes. I believe he'll be a great king, both modern and classic. I am sure Diana must be watching from heaven with pride in her sons and in the man she married.

Smear campaign

I have read seven books on the People’s Princess from the beginning
to her end in 1997. This is the eighth one. Of all the books I can truly say this is one sided. The others were two
sides. They were down the middle you
could come to your own conclusion.

Colin-Campbell is pushing an agenda to hard. Her book is vicious, vengeful,
gossip, trashy a smear campaign.

This book I take with a grain of salt. It
is what quick dollars are made of. For
that reason I gave it one star. The campaign did not work.