“This in-depth analysis of the princess’s rise and fall distinguishes itself with its restraint, psychological insight and abundant insider knowledge” (Publishers Weekly). “Seward, editor of Majesty magazine and an esteemed royalty watcher, presents an understanding dual portrait of the present British sovereign and the glamorous but troubled woman who, until her violent and untimely death, … her violent and untimely death, was the wife of the heir to the throne. The author naturally looks into the lives of the queen and the late princess of Wales before they came into close contact with one another, but the primary focus of the book is the nature of the relationship between the two women as mother-in-law and daughter-in-law. Seward displays no rancor toward anyone involved in this complicated story, but neither does she whitewash what happened or attempt to downplay anyone’s involvement in the headline-grabbing events . . . Amid a sea of salacious books about Diana and the royal family, this one is most credible.” —Booklist
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I sure found out more about their private lives than I really wanted to know.
This book seems to try to give both sides of the story. What I didn’t like was that it was filled with lots of spelling errors.
The title sounds sassy, but this otherwise more serious and compelling read provides a seemingly solid perspective, drawing on facts, about the myriad family members’ emotional entanglements and baggage brought into the drama that was the marriage of Charles and Diana. The author provides a point of view that is predominantly the view from the House of Windsor, allowing the reader to learn surprising information about the queen and how she stood behind Diana when most everyone else was fed up with her behaviors. The reader can also acquire some British English vocabulary in this read.
Excellent.
Good retrospective on the Diana saga. I’m a fan of the Queen and even moreso after reading this.
I loved Diana and wondered about her and the Queen Elizabeth relationship
Provided many little known facts (I hope) about Princess Diana and Queen Elizabeth II.
Both had their flaws, as we all do.
Surprised to learn the Queen tried in so many ways to ease Diana’s adjustment into the royal family. Perhaps the Queen avoided many issues with the whole family hoping they would just go away.
Diana was in many ways impossible to please. It is hard to be sympathetic with someone who seems to have it all, but she seemed to have mental issues not helped by therapy. Truly a tragic character who left us much too young.
I’m generally not a big fan of biographies. I feel the author must have a bias just by being human. This book to me felt balanced. There are no real bad people in this narrative. It’s written taking into account how the imperfections and struggles of people impacted a family living in a goldfish bowl.
The spelling and grammar errors will drive you crazy and the substance is nothing new and not well told. Save your money!
Completely biased against Diana. Not a balanced portrayal of these two important women. There is no way this reporter was privy to the conversations that she recounts here, nor could they be accurate: they’re rumor/hearsay/completely exaggerated. What a waste of time and money.
Interesting and surprising. There has been so much written about Diana that much of this rings true. She led a troubled life and most likely would not have been a happy person however her life turned out. Charles did her no good but the Queen seems to have really tried to help her.
Basically a rehash of what has previously been published, but put in a cohesive format. I was very surprised at the number of misspelled words and grammatical errors, especially from such a well known journalist.
It showed another side of what happened in the lives of Princess Diana and Prince Charles before marrying and after that I had not known before. . .It brought balance to my understanding of the Royal House of Windsors!
I have never read such a poorly edited book in my life. There were more spelling mistakes on a single page than most books have in their entirety.
It seemed like a very objective and informative recounting of a complicated story. Most people have taken strong sides for or against Diana, and most books have been written with a slant. I found this one quite balanced, and came away with a better understanding of both women and the difficulties they faced.
I read this book with great interest and was surprised by the facts. Not to spoil it, but I saw Diana, Princess of Wales, in a completely different light and didn’t realize how troubled she truly was. Prince Charles wasn’t an innocent, but he adhered to the British rule of “stiff upper lip”. In the news, we only heard or read Diana’s side. This book will open your eyes to what happened behind the closed doors of the Monarchy. If you’re interested in the royal family this book will give you some real insight as to what really goes on.
The author provided very interesting and little known details about the relationship between the Queen and Princess Diana. There was also a focus on the way both Diana and Charles were raised that might have influenced their behaviors as adults. I learned a lot of interesting details about the Monarchy.
The poor editing of the book was a distraction with misspelling and missing words.
I am a Royal watcher. I was interested in another viewpoint of Diana’s part of the marital problems between her and Charles.
Poorly written and poorly edited, at least it was only.99!
The parallel is interesting, but it seems to jump around.