Product Description

Glamour. Duty. Tragedy: The Woman Behind the Princess. Sarah Bradford delivers an authoritative and explosive study of the greatest icon of the twentieth century: Diana. After more than a decade interviewing those closest to the Princess and her select circle, Sarah Bradford exposes the real Diana: the blighted childhood, the old-fashioned courtship which saw her capture the Prince of Wales, the damage caused by the spectre of Camilla Parker Bowles, through to the collapse of the royal marriage and Diana's final and complicated year as single woman. Diana paints an honest portrait of a woman riddled with contradictions and whose vulnerability and unique empathy with the suffering made her one of the most extraordinary figures of the modern age.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #327661 in Books
• Published on: 2007-07-05
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 496 pages

About the Author
Sarah Bradford is a historian and biographer. Previous books include biographies of Disraeli, George VI, Elizabeth II and Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis (America's Queen), as well as two previous accounts of the Borgia family. She lives in London.

Customer Reviews

I've read every Diana book published, and this is one of the best.
So many of the books written on Diana have glaringly obvious errors, but this one is different. Sarah Bradford has thoroughly researched her subject, and presents a very balanced view of the Princess. In years to come if my grandchildren want to know about Diana Princess of Wales, this is the book I will tell them to read. The book shows both sides of the Princess, she was a very human Princess and that is why she was so loved, and it's important that history knows this. I can highly recommend Sarah Bradfords book, and knowing how well researched and detailed the book is, it makes me want to read more of Sarahs books.

Detailed and fascinating
As someone who knew a bit about Diana but not a whole lot, I found this book thorough, in-depth, interesting and well written. Ms. Bradford obviously spent a long time researching and writing the book and it shows. It is not biased and varies between being sympathetic towards Diana and also mentioning her faults and areas in her life she may have made mistakes (such as the Panorama interview in 1995). It is quite critical of Charles during his affair with Camilla but also critical of Diana's dealings with James Hewitt, among others.
I especially like the way the book outlines the last few hours of Diana's life using the known facts rather than focusing on conspiracy theories or speculation. The book celebrates the life of one of the most famous women of our lifetime and, in my opinion, ticks all the boxes for someone wanting every detail of Diana's life, from her birth to her tragic death in 1997. Highly recommended.

Readable, new material, well researched
Definitely one I would recommend. Well researched, without the glaring errors a few less well researced Diana biogs have. Sarah Bradford has a good reputation as a biographer anyway so is obviously not one just to go for a slap dash quick buck with that reputation to consider.

Well written and enjoyable. Even handed and considered, has some new revelations in it but is not sensationalist. Although one of the other viewers complains about 'unnamed sources' in this case it seemed to me more like contributors who didn't want to give their name because of links to the subject and the stigma attached rather than a 'tabloid trick'.

As it is comprehensive, entertaining and extremely readable this would be a good book for anyone from a Diana buff to a relative newbie to Diana's story.