Diana: The Secret Years [Mass Market Paperback]

Simone Simmons (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 3, 1999

Though many have written about Diana, Princess of Wales, few have known her as intimately as Simone Simmons, the woman who became Diana's close friend and confidante following her painful separation and divorce.

A beautiful tribute to the remarkable woman behind the image, here is Diana as we have never seen her before--the secret forays she took, often hiding in plain sight in various disguises, to Hampstead Heath and the jazz clubs of Soho; her deepest feelings about Prince Charles, Camilla Parker Bowles, and the royal family; the shocking truth about Diana's one true love and how losing him led her into the arms of playboy millionaire Dodi Fayed. Full of penetrating insight and startling new revelations, Diana: The Secret Years brings the People's Princess vividly to life for the people who love her--and who continue to celebrate her enduring memory and lasting legacy.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"A FASCINATING INSIGHT INTO DIANA'S LAST YEARS FROM A TRUE INSIDER."
--ANDREW MORTON
   Author of Diana: Her True Story in Her Own Words

From the Inside Flap

Though many have written about Diana, Princess of Wales, few have known her as intimately as Simone Simmons, the woman who became Diana's close friend and confidante following her painful separation and divorce.

A beautiful tribute to the remarkable woman behind the image, here is Diana as we have never seen her before--the secret forays she took, often hiding in plain sight in various disguises, to Hampstead Heath and the jazz clubs of Soho; her deepest feelings about Prince Charles, Camilla Parker Bowles, and the royal family; the shocking truth about Diana's one true love and how losing him led her into the arms of playboy millionaire Dodi Fayed. Full of penetrating insight and startling new revelations, Diana: The Secret Years brings the People's Princess vividly to life for the people who love her--and who continue to celebrate her enduring memory and lasting legacy.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 226 pages
• Publisher: Ballantine Books (August 3, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0345435907
• ISBN-13: 978-0345435903
• Product Dimensions: 7 x 4.2 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.3 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,189,179 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #85 in Books > Biographies & Memoirs > Leaders & Notable People > Royalty > Princess Diana

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Not As Trashy As It Sounds, September 21, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Diana: The Secret Years (Hardcover)

An honest but compassionate view of Diana's strengths and weaknesses in her last years through the eyes of her former friend and "faith healer." While there may be less to Simmons' "powers" than meets the eye, she provides fairminded insight into Diana's quirks, insecurities and baffling behavior, allowing the reader to draw their own conclusions. Diana's periods of strength are poignant because she wasn't able to sustain them. Simmons reveals Diana was still cutting herself, making obsessive phone calls, undergoing colonic irrigation and seeking out faith healers late in life. Disturbing behind-the-scenes of the infamous Panorama interview and her obsessive and flighty behavior with men. Touching details of Diana's life with her sons, close friends, and her "truce" with Charles and Camilla. One feels sorry for a wonderful but troubled person spiraling out of control, and for the author, who was frozen out, as many of Diana's friends were, for confronting Diana with the truth.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very Interesting Reading, April 16, 2003

By 

Quinn Wyatt "qthereader" (Michigan, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Diana: The Secret Years (Mass Market Paperback)

I own practically every book ever written about Diana, Princess of Wales, but I think this has to be the most interesting account ever written. I loved it - it's very well-written, very insightful into her personality, and contains information I had never known before. It truly does explore "the secret years" of Diana's life in the 1990s. As a healer and close friend of Diana's, Simone Simmons had access to knowledge and personal details of Diana's life. But rather than seeing this account as a betrayal, I see it rather as a healer's insight into a unique personality. Much of what is written here is a healer's psychoanalysis of Diana's mind. I continue to be a great fan of Princess Diana's and am thrilled to have come across this book. You won't be able to put it down!

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A, October 25, 2000

By 

Author Kevin Noa (Merrimac, Massachusetts, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Diana: The Secret Years (Mass Market Paperback)

The Secret Years was a respectful portrayal of Diana's triumphs and trials, between her divorce and death.The book revealed the paranoia and mistrust Diana struggled with towards the end of her life; as-well-as the never ending love and service she gave to those in need. How like so many other individuals of noteriety through the centuries, her grandiose popularity not only had to hidden behind disguise, but added to the torment that continually plagued her. I believe Ms. Simmons depictions were written with sincerity. Confessing with sadness of the erosion of her relationship to Diana shortly before her death, left this close friend and comrade without the closure so many others were left with on August 31, 1997.