Diana in Search of Herself: Portrait of a Troubled Princess

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.

I find the numerous reviews by outraged readers listed below rather sad. It was well known in numerous circles here in the UK that Diana was at best unstable, but clearly the full extent of her precarious mental state was not widely known. I found this biogrpahy refreshing, as Bedell Smith says in her introduction, most accounts of Diana's life to date are either character assassinations or hagiographies - this is neither. I am convinced that the author meticulously researched this work.Diana was clearly a thoroughly unpleasant person who spent much of her adult life confused, unhappy, habitually lying and living in some sort of fantasy world. She was also an unbelievable hypocrite and did anything possible to try and tarnish Charles' image and discredit him. So much for being a wonderful mother if she was prepared for her sons to be subjected to her numerous attacks on their father. Also for someone who was supposedly such a devoted mother, I find it incredible that she missed Willaim's first birthday, over burdened him in a most inappropriate way with all her emotional baggage, tried to use them to annoy Charles as well as trying to pass herself off as the only parent who really loved them. Dreadful woman, this is unforgiveable, not to mention the harm she could have inflicted on them whilst pregnant with her bulimia & pathetic suicide attempts. I suspect the only reason she really loved her sons was because they were the only people she was able to sustain any sort of relationship with. Everyone else she managed to drive away or fell out with.It is also well known that one of the steps towards recovery with any type of disorder/addiction is to accept responsibility for one's own actions, something Diana was never prepared to do - she loved to portray herself as the victim and blame everyone else for her misfortunes.I think it's time we got real and stopped all this misplaced reverence of the woman. Other members of the royal family (and don't get me wrong, I am a republican) have done far more charity work than she ever did - the only appeal Diana had were her photogenetic looks and tactile approach. And let's face it the only reason she adopted many of her charities was in her competitive struggle with Charles for media supremacy & public approval. Having read this book I am no longer surprised at the royals' antipathy towards her. She hoisted herself with her own petards with the Morton book and her Panorama interview. Agreed that her Panorama interview was in retaliation to Charles' earlier one, despite his admission of infidelity he never once spoke against Diana.I feel sorry for Charles and always have done. Never once has he come out publicly & bemoaned the fact he was married to a complete loon who spent much of her time with her head down the loo or in floods of tears, he has remained steadfastly silent on the subject. I also feel that Camilla has received a lot of bad press - c

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.

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.