Diana in Private: The Princess Nobody Knows [Mass Market Paperback]

Lady Colin Campbell (Author), Colin Campbell (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1992

An inside look at Princess Diana provides a detailed account of her private life, from her birth, to her 1979 wedding to Prince Charles, to the problems that have troubled her marriage.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Aristocratic palace insider Lady Campbell's tell-all was an eight-week PW bestseller in cloth. Photos.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 340 pages
• Publisher: St. Martin's Press (October 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312950519
• ISBN-13: 978-0312950514
• Product Dimensions: 6.6 x 4.1 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 2.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,185,894 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #87 in Books > Biographies & Memoirs > Leaders & Notable People > Royalty > Princess Diana

More About the Author

Lady Colin Campbell is a highly successful and prolific author of several books, including London and New York Times bestsellers, and has been a prominent and often controversial figure in royal and social circles for many years. She perhaps is best known for her international bestselling book Diana in Private, 1992, and her subsequent extended and revelatory biography of the Princess of Wales, The Real Diana published in 2004. She has written books on the Royal Family, been a long term columnist and appeared numerous times on TV and Radio as an experienced Royal Insider and expert on the British aristocracy. In 1997 she published her autobiography, A Life Worth Living, which was serialised in The Daily Mail. Born in St Andrew, Jamaica, she was educated there and in New York, where she lived for seven years. She is connected to British royalty through common ancestors and marriage. She has two sons and lives in London.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Diana in Private, September 23, 2000

By 

"deekenned" (Phoenix, Arizona United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Diana in Private: The Princess Nobody Knows (Mass Market Paperback)

Where was Lady Colin Campbell, under the bed? Why is it that this "book" only gained notoriety after Diana's death? It was written in 1992! Diana wasn't perfect, she didn't claim to be. She herself admitted to having committed very human sins. Was this right! Of course not, but does Lady Colin Campbell live in a glass house?

Diana was not raised royal. The stiff upper lip, don't let anyone see you hurting, I'm a royal therefore I will be miserable in silence was missing. I don't see it as such a great loss. I feel incredibly sad for Charles. His royal upbringing not only made him feel lousy but it denied him the tools to nurture an attractive, frightened, YOUNG woman. Diana entered the royal family with the maturity of a 19 year old. Perhaps Lady Colin Campbell had already attained her incredible insight, wisdom and compassion at 19 but most humans still have some maturing to do. To feel alone and desperately need positive support is a human characteristic. When Charles married Diana he vowed to love, cherish and comfort. By far the elder of the pair Charles needed a few lessons on the meaning of the vows he was taking. Diana was not a saint in any sense of the word but she reached out to people and gave of herself despite her own unhappiness. Right or wrong many, many people love her for her humanitarian qualities. Lady Colin Campbell, what have you done for people recently?

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Whaddya Want For (Under) A Buck?, December 1, 2002

By 

Yinzer Grrl - See all my reviews

This review is from: Diana in Private: The Princess Nobody Knows (Hardcover)

This book, while not always pleasant, gives yet another dimension to the story of Charles and Diana. Before her death, Diana was perceived as a saint, and Charles, the devil. This book presents them as what they actually were: HUMAN.

Despite the book's title, this is NOT an "all Diana" book. There's quite a bit of text on Charles and the Royal Famliy.

The photo section is a strange mixture of what seems to be photos left over from old shoots (odd angles, the back of Di's head, or her face in shadow) as if the author could only afford second-rate photos. It's a very strange selection of (photo) subjects also. I wasn't sure why the author felt it was important to publish pictures of women Charles dated in the 70s.

I'll read everything about the royals I can get my hands on so even while I didn't totally agree with everything in this book, I did enjoy reading it. If you're a Di-aholic, you'll probably enjoy it too (especially for the price I just saw it listed for on Amazon!)

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars I liked it...., August 17, 2001

By 

D. Rizzo (United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Diana in Private: The Princess Nobody Knows (Mass Market Paperback)

I read most royalty books I can get my hands on and I like this one. Why? It's not sensationalized, it's frank. The author is a peripheral part of the circles of people of whom she speaks. She is fairly even handed, without "poor princessing" as much as most other Diana books do... and she has marked compassion for the dubiously-perceived Prince of Wales. Maybe she doesn't get everything right -- who can say for sure? -- but I have the feeling she is much RIGHTER than wrong in this chronicle of Diana, and I think we readers owe it to Charles and to Diana herself to attempt to see them in a balanced perspective.

This book was published in 1992 at the time of the Waleses de facto separation (they separated formally in December of that year) and five years previous to the former late princess's death in a car crash in Paris (August, 1997).