Diana in Search of Herself: Portrait of a Troubled Princess [ILLUSTRATED] (Paperback)

~ (Author) "In September 1997, when I began my research on Diana, Princess of Wales, I had few preconceived ideas..." (more)
Key Phrases: caring princess, tabloid hacks, former courtier, Prince Charles, Daily Mail, Richard Kay (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

The Diana who was in search of herself was, according to this relatively beefy addition to the writings on the late princess, engaged in a futile exercise. Born after her parents tried three unsuccessful times to produce a male heir--two older sisters and a brother who died within hours of birth preceded Diana Spencer's arrival--she felt unwanted from the start. Her mother's abandonment of the family six years later compounded Diana's feelings of self-worthlessness. At a tender age, the girl who would grow up to be the beloved Princess of Wales had already irrevocably lost her sense of self. The book, which relies heavily on the accounts of anonymous intimates of the late princess, describes her as a deeply conflicted character. A friend is quoted as saying, "Her dark side was that of a wounded trapped animal ... and her bright side was that of a luminous being." The strikingly tall, blond princess who cradled young cancer victims and graciously accepted flowers from admirers, who frolicked on camera with her young sons and flashed her sparkling smile as she exited limousines, was often sulky, depressed, and vengeful in private. "Why?" one might wonder--if volumes hadn't already been written about the awful truth of her life.

Author Sally Bedell Smith revisits the well-trod ground of Charles's continuing love affair with Camilla Parker Bowles, Diana's intimidation by her royal in-laws, and her push-me, pull-me relationship with the voracious paparazzi. In addition, she details Diana's numerous love affairs and her acts of self-mutilation and bizarre behavior, such as the incident in which she tap-danced alone in her room until she wore down the wood parquet. Prince Charles comes off as a sympathetic if somewhat wimpy character, while, as the book progresses, Diana grows into a woman navigating the fine line between neurosis and full-blown psychosis. At the time of her marriage, the princess is quoted as saying she was "so in love with my husband that I couldn't take my eyes off him. I just absolutely thought I was the luckiest girl in the world." Years later, she would recall this same day thus: "The day I walked down the aisle at St. Paul's Cathedral, I felt that my personality was taken away from me, and I was taken over by the royal machine." Her bulimia (even while pregnant with Prince William), paranoia, lying, and flightiness are all confirmed in Smith's tome but they are commingled with testimonials to the late princess's generosity, intuition, genuine warmth, and ability to put anyone at ease. Diana was fine--to wit sane--as long as she was in a safe environment. The bosom of the royal family was not one of those havens. But she wasn't a passive victim--her famous comment about her marriage being overcrowded, involving three people, presumably herself, the prince, and Parker Bowles--wasn't quite true, as she was also having an affair at the time, bringing the number up to four.

All of these excruciating details--including Smith's analysis of how long the Dodi and Diana match would have lasted, had they not been killed that night in Paris--seem to be carefully researched and attributed when the source allows it, and build to the grand crescendo of the book, in which Smith proffers her diagnosis of the princess's mental health. The punchline here is that the tabloid assertions that hounded Diana throughout her lifetime, asserting that she was "loony," "potty," a "basket case," or "barking mad," may have held more than a kernel of truth. But if the princess was as expert a manipulator as the book suggests, no one, it seems, could ever hope to know the whole truth. --Jordana Moskowitz --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Publishers Weekly

Devotees who remember Princess Diana as a beautiful, warm-hearted mother dedicated to good works, whom an adulterous husband and the British Royal family unfairly victimized, will find little comfort in this treatment of her life. Smith relentlessly but convincingly portrays Diana as a woman with severe psychological problems (characterized here as a "borderline personality") who never overcame a serious eating disorder and was unable to sustain relationships. Based on research and interviews with Diana's friends, Smith (Reflected Glory: The Life of Pamela Harriman) carefully presents Diana's childhood as darkened by divorce and neglect, leaving Diana with deep feelings of unworthiness; by the time of her marriage she was, Smith contends, not only a bulimic but also a pathological liar. According to Smith, Prince Charles had completely severed relations with Camilla Parker-Bowles out of determination to make his marriage work, and did not revive his affair with her until the relationship with his wife fell apart. Diana, certain that Charles was still seeing Camilla from the date of their wedding, retaliated with a series of tawdry romances, and also engaged in self-mutilation, binge eating and other erratic behaviors that alienated Charles. Though Smith acknowledges that the princess dearly loved her sons, she also describes occasions when Diana placed emotional demands on them that they were too young to handle. This is a sharply etched and engrossing study of an insecure and emotionally damaged woman coming apart at the seams. Photos not seen by PW. 11-city tour; 20-city TV and radio satellite tour. First serial to People magazine. (Sept.)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 544 pages
• Publisher: Signet (August 8, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0451201086
• ISBN-13: 978-0451201089
• Product Dimensions: 6.6 x 4.2 x 1.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (135 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #321,758 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A sad, compelling portrait of a media superstar, July 4, 2000

By	New World Smurf "new_world_smurf" (Richmond, Virginia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Diana in Search of Herself: Portrait of a Troubled Princess (Hardcover)

The world loves a princess, particularly if that princess is tall, blond, and beautiful, with a shy smile and sweet public manners. Nearly three years after her untimely death, opinions are still sharply divided on Princess Diana, and "Diana In Search Of Herself" will undoubtedly divide them even more. Sally Bedell Smith provides arguably the most balanced view of a woman who seems to have been very unbalanced. Mercurial at best, borderline psychotic at worst, Diana whirled through her superstardom like a child unable to choose which toy to play with next. Smith admirably documents Diana's love/hate affair with the media, the manipulations of her children, particularly Prince William, and her desperate search for the peace she herself seems to have pushed away with both hands. If there was ever a human being who personified the old cliche, "Be careful what you wish for," it was Diana. Diana worshippers loathe this book--their goddess could never have feet of clay--but for the rest of us, it is ultimately a sobering portrait of a woman whose beauty and wealth could not save her from herself.

16 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Don't read this book if you want to keep loving Diana, December 23, 1999

By	Mariah (the -17 and windy city (brrrr)) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Diana in Search of Herself: Portrait of a Troubled Princess (Hardcover)

I have been a Diana-adorer since she first came to prominence when I was a young girl. In fact, I have a photograph of myself as a 15-year old in my bedroom, and behold, on the wall behind me is a photograph of the young Diana Spencer walking down a London street -- still my favorite image of her. Since discovering ebay I have been gleefully adding to my collection of Diana-paraphernalia.

So I was excited to see this book come out. Finally! I thought. A REAL biography, not some piece of tabloid tripe written by some guy who was home sick on the day they taught *journalism* in journalism school. And as a person who has read numerous books and articles on Diana, watched umpteen television specials on video, and has all the facts of the case memorized, I was certainly prepared to throw this one on the trash heap if it was not as informative and well-researched as I expected.

Well, folks, be careful what you wish for, because you might just get it. This book is extremely well written. It is extensively researched. It has 30+ pages of notes and citations at the end, appendiced for anyone to reference. The author has read just about every paparazzi article on the Princess and compared them on a timeline of actual events in the Princess' life, interviewed dozens upon dozens of people, most of whom are actually named (and in fact specifies that 68 are not named), and has laid bare every iota of this woman's existence.

Unfortunately, it will be the last Diana book I ever buy or read. What is the point? By the time I had finished this incredibly detailed book, I simply looked around at my shrine to the mystery of Diana and threw up my hands.

My idol was vain, selfish, paranoid, unreasonable and insane. Covered over with a thin veneer of charm and good looks. The author of this book may be wrong. But as a writer and researcher myself, i can tell she definitely did her homework. She has constructed a premise and argued for it, and I am convinced by the evidence.

Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go write a letter of apology to the Prince of Wales for all the mean things I believed and said about him.

13 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Careful Research and Compelling Reading, January 16, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Diana in Search of Herself: Portrait of a Troubled Princess (Hardcover)

I thought this book was fascinating, well-written, and very solidly researched. I am perplexed by the negative review below posted by Simone Simmons, Diana's "energy healer." While as a employee/friend of Diana she is certainly entitled to her literary opinions, her insinuations of fraud on the part of this biographer seem to me rather more serious. After reading the startling Simmons review, I actually got out Bedell Smith's book and cross-referenced every mention of Simmons. Contrary to Simmons's accusations, Bedell Smith does NOT claim to have interviewed everyone and NEVER claims to have interviewed Simmons. In fact, EVERY time Simmons's name appears Bedell Smith uses quotation marks around Simmons's material, notes that the information came from Simmons's book, and specifies the page. This is standard journalistic and biographical practice. I'm not quite sure what more Ms. Simmons could want... except, perhaps, a different conclusion to the unhappy story of Diana. We all wish for that, of course. Unfortunately, smearing this author's careful work won't make it happen.Read this book if you want a realistic look at the charming, contradictory, beautiful, funny, impossible, vulnerable, and sadly overwhelmed person we loved to watch grow up on the world's stage.