Customer Reviews

Diana

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This is the first proper biography of Diana, Princess of Wales, as opposed to memoirs by former employees (Jephson, Wharfe, Burrell) or more or less ax-grinding efforts by journalists (Morton, Seward, Junor). Bradford, an experienced biographer, has produced a sound and workmanlike book, and without sacrificing balance or accuracy or contending that the late princess was a flawless biped makes the best pro-Diana case to date.
After reading Bradford it is hard to deny that the Royal Family and their courtiers, the British Establishment, and especially the Prince of Wales entered into this marriage in deeply bad faith, and covertly slandered Diana when it turned sour. Clarence House trotted out Princes William and Harry to denounce Jephson, Wharfe and Burrell as traducers of their mother's memory; it would be interesting to hear their spin on Bradford's far more (justly) damning portrayal of their father.

Naturally this book relies more on oral interviews than archival research, and (with the occasional and unavoidable exception "Private information") Bradford plays fair with the reader in revealing her sources. She singles out Burrell for skepticism, perhaps reasonably, but otherwise appears to take a very trusting attitude to equally debatable sources (showing indulgence to Jephson, Wharfe, and - surprisingly - James Hewitt). I would like to believe that this favoritism was on their merits and not due to the fact that (judging from the notes) Jephson, Wharfe and Hewitt agreed to be interviewed by Bradford and Burrell didn't.
One Bob Woodward is enough.

My first reading of this book revealed two errors. Nicholas Soames, one of Diana's least savory detractors, is said to be Sir Winston Churchill's great-grandson; he was his grandson. Bill and Hillary Clinton are listed as attending Diana's funeral; the Senator attended but not the President. Neither of these is a hanging offense, but both should have been corrected in the editing process, and one wonders what other, less obvious errors are present. This is too good a book to be disfigured by such petty mistakes.

Overall, I enjoyed this book very much and found it an extremely well researched and thoughtful biography of the late Princess of Wales. Diana's life is chronicled from her life as the youngest daughter in an influential, aristocratic British family to her untimely death in Paris in 1997. Diana indeed was from a notable family and of which she was rightly proud. The ill fated union of her parents is described as well as the impact of their turbulent divorce on their young children, especially Diana. Diana was said to be very much influenced by her paternal grandmother whose charitable works and compassion were passed on to her granddaughter (Diana's paternal grandmother looked remarkably like Diana as well--one of the portraits shown in the illustrations demonstrates this--it is a rather striking resemblance).

The center of the book is Diana's relationship with the Prince of Wales, their courtship, engagement, marriage, separation and divorce. The author maintains that Charles loved her; however, oddly enough she doesn't talk about Charles saying he never loved Diana to his biographer Dimbleby in 1994. My opinion is that he didn't love her and was attracted to her. Nobody in love would have allowed another woman to interfere in the relationship with his wife (my opinion). Another thing I would question is that the author maintains that though Diana said Charles rarely got in touch with her when she was on her pre engagement announcement trip with her mother and stepfather to Australia; oddly enough Bradford doesn't refer to Frances Shand Kydd's authorized biography where Frances witnessed Charles' neglect first hand. I am surprised Ms. Bradford didn't use Frances Shand Kydd's biography as a source.

Bradford doesn't spare Camilla Parker Bowles as some of Diana's less sympathetic chroniclers have (e.g. Seward and Junor). Bradford does emphasize how Mrs. Parker Bowles' hold on the Prince of Wales eroded the Wales' marriage. She chronicles how Mrs. Parker Bowles did go to the media with "her side" of the story--which does refute the "discreet" Camilla spin. And reading up to events leading up to the wedding it seemed that everyone but 19 going on 20 Lady Diana knew about Camilla's influence but didn't warn her. Bradford mentions for instance how Princess Margaret wondered if Camilla would give up the Prince after his marriage.

The Princess of Wales close relationship with her boys is perhaps one of the most touching parts of the book. Diana is depicted as an excellent, caring mother who wanted the best for her sons.

Diana's personal relationships are covered as well. The author maintains that Hewitt and Diana loved each other and Diana was deeply let down by Hewitt's telling all to the press and via his cooperation with Anna Pasternak who wrote Princess in Love. The author agrees with Burrell's recent account that the real love of Diana was not Dodi Fayed but Hasnet Khan.

The author does emphasize Diana's great role in charitable work and that she was always interested in this from her days as a schoolgirl to her death in 1997.

The author uses interviews, Diana's own words from the Morton tapes and Settelen interviews and other books written and articles written about the late Princess. The illustrations are excellent.

Reading this book was both positive and negative. Positive because Bradford shows just how special Diana was and negative because I felt said that she is no longer with us today.

Though I disagree with some things that are said, overall this is a wonderful book. I recommend this along with Anne Edwards' Ever After and Diana: Story of a Princess and the books by Jephson, Wharfe, and Burrell.

This may be the best, most comprehensive book on Diana yet. I've read many biographies about the late Princess and this is the first to project a balanced portrait. There's plenty of blame to go around in the failed marriage of the Prince and Princess - his selfishness, her neediness, and of course the Camilla problem.
The sections on her early childhood give an insight into her damaged psyche. It may be the first book to fully discuss the Oliver Hoare affair and those dreadful prank phone calls.
I agree with other reviewers that there are a few errors - including the assertion that Prince William fractured his skull by being hit with a golf ball - I believe it was a golf club.
All in all I'm very pleased with this book and I highly recommend it to anyone interested in Diana's life.

To be honest, I wasn't looking forward to reading this book. I thought it might be a too-glowing portrait, "poor beautiful doomed Diana that everyone had it in for", but to my great surprise and pleasure, this biography is insightful; it's sympathetic without being too overly favorable toward Diana's faults (her dark side is explored in detail). Best of all, it's spot-on as regards the characters of all the people who surrounded Diana: Prince Charles; her parents, sisters, brother; Sarah Ferguson, Paul Burrell, et al. A very full, rich portrait, very enjoyable reading (despite some odd turns of phrase that the editor should have caught)...This biography of Diana, and the one by Sally Bedell-Smith, are THE ones to read for a full portrait of the late Princess of Wales. Well done!

Finally a book that paints an honest picture of Diana. It doesn't make her a saint or a sinner but a needy woman who married too young to a very needy man who didn't love her. It details why she acted as she did and why she became involved in her various worthwhile activities. She was so misunderstood by the RF because she was so very different from them and they didn't know how to control her. You can certainly understand why she acted as she did in her personal life.
The book is well written and very easy read.

As a Diana-phile, I had a good read. This book is well researched (although some credibility is strained with tags like "according to a relative" rather than identifying the speaker) and even the minituae of her life never ceases to intrigue me. But did any sort of professional edit this thing? Paragraphs 37-lines long...sometimes more than a page? With plenty of places to transition into a new one?

Not an easy read for that reason. But otherwise, Diana's fans shouldn't be disapppointed.

I received this as a Christmas present from a co-worker who knew I was a Diana fan. The book is a very truthful look at Diana - her growing up years, meeting Prince Charles, the engagement, marriage, her growing up years in the marriage, her pettiness & Charles' pettiness, her various loves --- the book not only interviewed people who knew her well, it also uses information obtained from the other author's books involving Princess Diana. I'm a die hard fan and still am even after reading the book - but I can now see how much energy was wasted on revenge, schemes, etc. between Diana, Charles, other men Diana was involved with. I know what it's like to be in a marriage where the love no longer exists -- but I don't know if the love was ever there concerning Charles with Diana. His energy, mind, and focus were not on Diana. She went from being the naive girl to the mature woman - and she realized more and more how she had been used by not only the Royal family but by those people who surround and support the Royal family (some even members of her own family). Everyone seemed to gain something from the union ---- more than Diana ever could. Once she fulfilled the goal of an heir - the relationship's importance lost its glow in Charles' case. It's a read in reality but didn't make me love her any less. I do recommend the book to Diana fans. She was human, she felt the same feeling all women feel, she loved her boys, she loved people, she did her damnedest to achieve her best in the world, she attempted to put a spot light on those much less fortunate then herself and made sure her boys were aware of those realities too. I greatly admire her efforts, her beauty, her love of life, and her love of her children. I will never forget her.

Bradford sounds like a fan of the Princess. She gives Diana the benefit of the doubt at every juncture. In a way, this makes for a pleasant and poignant read. Diana is portrayed as misunderstood and misused by "the establishment," the press, her family and most of her lovers. The only ones who didn't let her down were us (her public) and Hasnat Khan, the Pakistani surgeon who loved her dearly but couldn't/wouldn't marry her. Diana's more destructive impulses are portrayed as being the flip side of her strength. The thing of it is, though, very little of this information is new and much of it is hard to believe. Diana did bring much of her heartache onto herself. As Tina Brown's superior book exhibits, Diana's real story -- objectively told -- is just as compelling and heartbreaking as this more rose-colored version.

I enjoyed this book, especially the detailed information about Diana's history and ancestors. Her family is very impressive on both sides, but also had their many problems. It is easy to see why the royals thought she would make a good match for Charles. This book covers Diana's life from beginning to end, and now almost twelve years after her death we have all heard her story several times, but I liked Sarah Bradford from the interviews I had seen and I like her writing style. I believe she is fair in her portrayal of Diana, telling her strengths and weaknesses. It is like reading a history book about Diana, and I appreciated all the photos, some that I had not seen before.

While it is clear that Sarah Bradford is respectful of Princess Diana, and even supportive, it is also clear that Ms. Bradford has taken great pains to be as objective as possible in writing the biography of this iconic woman.

In this interesting, honest tome, Bradford explores the things that happened in Diana's childhood that may have contributed to her adult behavior, and explains why fairly mundane occurrences might have been looked back upon as more negative than they truly were. Perhaps if Diana had gotten the opportunity to live another ten or twenty years, she might have grown into her own skin a bit more, and been able to look back on the sad moments of her life with less bitterness and more objectivity.

Diana's good works are duly noted here, as well as her devotion to her duties and her two beloved sons. Also documented are her childish tantrums, her occasional selfishness (an incident toward the end of her life when she takes advantage of the family member of a dying friend in order to try to catch up with a boyfriend is particularly damning), and her tendency to cut friends and family out of her life without so much as a backward glance.

Princess Diana was no saint. She did wonderful things, and she did things were not so lovely. I suspect that it was her very "human-ness" that caused her to be beloved by millions. Sarah Bradford ably captures the various dichotomies that continue to make The People's Princess so fascinating.