The Queen & Di: The Untold Story (Hardcover)

by Ingrid Seward (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review
Ingrid Seward, a prolific writer on the English royal family, was the last journalist to interview Princess Diana before her death in August 1997. In this intriguing book, Seward gives a worm's-eye view of Diana's trouble-plagued life, layered with episodes of betrayal and illness, and she accords full sympathy to the minor noblewoman who became "the people's princess." She is still more sympathetic to Diana's sometime nemesis Queen Elizabeth II, who, in Seward's account, labored endlessly to preserve the dignity of the monarchy in the face of a family that behaved in anything but a dignified manner.

Rising above the caricatures that color the popular press, Seward depicts a queen who tried her best to accommodate Diana--who was, it seems, never shy in voicing her displeasures and had an undeniable flair for recruiting the media in her cause, all the while protesting the press's intrusion into a fairy-tale life that "turned into a Gothic nightmare." Diana's insistence on airing her dirty laundry in public was bound to irritate the ever-sensitive queen, but more, Seward writes, "in her demands for love and sympathy, she gave self-fulfillment precedence over duty"--and for Elizabeth, dereliction of duty was the greatest possible sin one could commit. Their relationship could end only in tears; and so it did, taking much of the English public's good will toward the royal family with it.

Sometimes racy and breathless, but intelligent all the same, Seward's account enlarges our understanding of the internal dynamics of the modern court while delivering no end of scandalous news, just as a palace chronicle should. --Gregory McNamee

From Publishers Weekly
It is hard to imagine a need for yet another look at the short, glamorous, tabloid-trashy life of Diana, Princess of Wales, but this in-depth analysis of the princess's rise and fall distinguishes itself with its restraint, psychological insight and abundant insider knowledge while never veering very far from good gossip. Steward, who has written seven books on the British royal family and was editor of Majesty magazine for 17 years, has had personal relationships with many of her subjects and often speaks from the position of a critical insider. In her account, Queen Elizabeth II extended herself time and again to her new daughter-in-law, and was at times Diana's lone defender within the royal family, until Diana's self-absorption and cultivation of the media in her public relations war with her husband alienated her. Steward is unafraid to make judgments: when Charles asks Di, "Why can't you be more like Fergie? Why can't you be more jolly?" she deems it "not a kind question." She's also more then happy to detail royal failings (such as Charles's inability to satisfy his wife on their wedding night and later), but generally prefers an empathetic and kind view of her subjects. While Steward provides little new material here, her book is filled with the details and minutiae of private lives, which should keep royal watchers more than happy. 16 pages of color photos. Agent, Mike Shaw, Curtis Brown, Ltd. (Apr.)Forecast: Celebrations of the late princess have proven more popular than the latest crop of tell-alls, making the publisher's announced 40,000-copy first printing appear optimistic. Still, this measured look at court intrigue will do well if Steward's six-city author tour and TV satellite tour succeeds in reaching those interested in the most informed tattling on the royal family.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 272 pages
• Publisher: Arcade Publishing; 1st U.S. ed edition (April 4, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1559705612
• ISBN-13: 978-1559705615
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.4 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 2.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (26 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,402,179 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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  #46 in	Books > Biographies & Memoirs > Leaders & Notable People > Royalty > Elizabeth II
  #90 in	Books > Biographies & Memoirs > Leaders & Notable People > Royalty > Princess Diana

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

32 of 37 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Good coverage of Queen, bad coverage of Princess Diana, February 20, 2001

By A Customer

This book about the often complex relationship between the Queen and Princess Diana had a promising start with the author's account of her meeting with the Princess. However, it degenerates into an unrelenting catalog of Princess Diana's transgressions and rarely has a good word to say about the Princess. It rehashes some of the negativism expounded in Penny Junor's and Sally Bedell Smith's works. Seward agrees with Bedell Smith that Diana had Borderline Personality Disorder plus was the first to cheat in the royal marriage (providing sketchy evidence of this allegation). The list of Diana's alleged misdeeds include: pretending not to be home to her sister and father; not sleeping with Charles after Prince Harry's birth (testimony of Charles's associates); being a shrew to Charles, always shouting at him; being obsessed with Camilla Parker Bowles; dressing up like a police officer and going on the town with Sarah Ferguson; and competing with Charles. Seward cannot seem to find one good thing to say about the Princess and seems to blame her for much of the problems in the marriage. Incredibly, also, Seward implies that if Diana did not find out from Charles telling her that Camilla was a former flame, Diana's obsession and jealousy could have been avoided. Seward ignores the evidence about the Charles-Camilla association that Diana was able to figure out for herself (e.g. Camilla's enduring presence during the engagement and her picture falling out of Charles' engagement book during the royal honeymoon). Strangely, the author does not condemn Camilla, a married woman for much of the time she was involved with the Prince, for her transgressions. Queen Elizabeth II is depicted in a much better light as a woman who is a dedicated ruler, yet human as well. Her relationships with all four of her children plus her sons and daughters in law are depicted. Seward describes her early life as not quite as idyllic as depicted and recounts that she sometimes had to be a stoic figure in being a ruler. Her marital problems with Prince Philip are recounted as well; the author maintains that the Queen and Prince Philip have overcome these adversities to build a good marriage. In conclusion, the best parts of Sewards work are the wonderful photographs and the depiction of the Queen. If Seward had done as good a job writing about the late Princess and not done such a hatchet job, this book would have been a much better one. The Princess maintained that the fault for the break up was fifty-fifty. From this book those who don't know better would assume the fault is all the Princess's, the author being most sympathetic to the Prince.(Note: there is a historical error in book: Zara Phillips is said to be at Balmoral when Lady Diana visited in 1980; Zara Phillips was not born until 1981).

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars The Knowledge of a Misunderstood Relationship, September 18, 2003

By	Taylor Martin (Charlevoix, Michigan) - See all my reviews

If you are like half of the population and interested in all the gossip about the House of Windsor and the late Princess of Wales, then this book should be one that you should read. This book is about the relationship between Queen Elizabeth II and Princess Diana. This book, to my belief, is a piece of evidence on why we as the public should respect Her Majesty, and why we should understand what their relationship is truly about. The book describes Diana's first State duty with the entire Royal Family in November 1984 at the State Opening of Parliament. Diana was having her hair being done for the event and insisted that she wore her hair up knowing that it was not long enough and looked different. The next day Diana's hair was on the headlines not the Queen, on which should have been a day of her publicity. This was the beginning of the popularity contest between these two women.
The author Ingrid Seward, is editor of Majesty magazine. She has written many books about the Royal Family that has kept her in the bestsellers list for twelve years.
This book all and all will give you a better knowledge about both women and will teach you the inside story of what happened behind the palace walls of two remarkable women and there relationship that is so widely known and questioned by the public.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Don't Waste Your Money, May 10, 2001

By A Customer

Having read a great many books on the British monarchy in general and the House of Windsor in particular, I can say with some authority that this book is a terrible disappointment and a collosal waste of money. Only about one-third of the book deals with the relationship that existed between the Queen and her late daughter-in-law. The rest is simply filler which the author lifts from a variety of books about the Windsors written by others. Especially galling is that so much of the filler doesn't even pertain to the Queen and Diana -- ostensibly the subject of the book. Instead, it rehashes stale tales about other mrmbers of the family, living and dead, which have nothing to do with the subject of the book. While there are a few small nuggets of new information -- e.g., Charles feared an attempt on his life during Diana's funeral procession; the Queen was deeply sympathetic, patient and kind towards Diana, even when Di was acting her craziest -- they certainly don't warrant a book at this price. A lengthy magazine article in Vanity Fair would have been far more appropriate, given the scarcity of real news in this disappointing book.