Tina Brown's Acclaimed Biography of Princess Diana: The Diana Chronicles

Anne E.: I was very impressed with and enjoyed reading this book. It was very thorough and well researched and very readable. The beginning of the book painted Diana in a bad light but I kept reading and could see how she evolved into the person she ultimately became.

Canada on Oct 23, 2023

Janie S: of the life of the lovely Diana, warts and all. From her birth to untimely death in a Paris tunnel, we are told every detail of her life; her love for her philandering husband; subsequent love affairs with unsuitable partners; the way she was treated when she joined the Firm; and, above all, the deep and abiding love she felt for her sons. One wonders what she would have done about Prince Harry and his wife - I suspect she would have seen her off the premises fairly sharpish! The account of the inquest is very interesting and deals with all the conspiracy theories, knocking each one on the head as they are raised. But on the whole, it is a sad tale of a beautiful woman pining for her husband who loves elsewhere, and the result. I enjoyed the book for its information and objectivity but I don't think I'll be reading it again. Nevertheless, recommended if you're interested in the subject.

United Kingdom on Oct 05, 2023

Leire: Me gusta mucho el estilo de Tina Brown. Me parece que tiene una opinión sensata y equilibrada.
He leído varías biografías de Diana en un intento por comprender su carisma, su magia y su complicada forma de ser, ya que ella padecía el trastorno límite de personalidad (borderline) y sin ese conocimiento su conducta privada es incomprensible.
Este es un buen libro, pero me gustó más el The Palace Papers de la misma autora, que está más interesante, quizá por ser más actual.

Mexico on Apr 24, 2023

Sarah Hapgood: I re-read this one again recently after a gap of several years, and if anything, it is even better than I remembered it. This is one of the best of the numerous books about Diana. I would cite this one and Tim Clayton's business-like biography as two of the better ones. Like Clayton, Tina Brown does a good job of a balanced overview. It is neither a hagiography or a hatchet-job. She doesn't gloss over Diana's mistakes. Most noticeably in her lost soul years in the early 90s, when she seemed to be careering around like a loose cannon, making several mistakes, including the telephone stalking of Oliver Hoare and the farce of the gym pictures. But even taking all that on board, you still feel sympathy for her. She was scared, particularly of what the future might hold (justifiably as it turned out!), what her role would be, and probably frightened she might lose custody of her children, as her mother had done. Her parents horribly acrimonious divorce constantly haunted her.
Her relationship with the Press was a complex one. We know Diana liked to play cat-and-mouse with them at times, and that she did sometimes alert them when she was going to be somewhere. But at the same time,...

United Kingdom on Sep 02, 2022

Kindle Customer: I only discovered this book recently, after reading the author's new book, The Palace Papers. I had been impressed by the content and style of the author's writing, and decided to purchase this book, which had received good reviews.

I am so glad that I did! It is very well researched and provides lots of details that I was unaware of, even though I have read lots of books on Princess Diana. Events and facts are outlined very clearly, providing a clear analysis of Diana's life, before and after her marriage. It is written in a non judgemental style, leaving the reader to judge for themselves the character of the most famous woman of that time. I was totally immersed in it and found it totally fascinating, as I remembered all events, but could now actually read what was going on behind the scenes.

Diana was 18 months younger than me, she married a year after me, and she also had 2 boys. She was of my time and I was interested in her life and how she lived it. I always wondered what was the real truth about their marriage and their lives. The accusations and the denials, the rumours and the fights. This book explained it all. I feel, all these years later, that I now...

United Kingdom on Jul 13, 2022

James Barton Phelps: Diana Frances Spencer was the third child of the 9th Earl Spencer of Althorp and his wife Frances. She was book ended by two gorgeous sisters and a handsome red headed brother Charles. Nobody paid much attention to her until at 18, beautiful and virginal, she met 31 year old Charles, Prince of Wales and heir to the throne of England,. Within months she had married him and commenced another life and a career which soared to unimaginable heights as she became HRH The Princess of Wales and which then came crashing down 17 years later in a dark underpass in Paris when, accompanied by her Egyptian boyfriend, she was killed in a car which lost control at 70 mph. She died, divorced, single and wanting for the riches she had enjoyed as the Queen in waiting.

She did not, however, want for sympathy. All England and much of the world mourned her passing in a huge, spontaneous and amazing outpouring of love, respect and grief unequaled in our time except perhaps for the response of the American people to the assassination of John F, Kennedy. She remains enshrined, almost sanctified, in the memory of millions as a lovely, loving, tragic woman who died too soon.

In 482 pages this...

United States on Aug 22, 2011

PMcC-DC: Tina Brown has put together a remarkably multifaceted portrait of Diana. At first blush it's hard to imagine a more exhaustively researched biography; it draws on the perspectives of literally hundreds of people who knew Diana (including Brown herself). She takes an analytical approach, questioning some of the claims Diana made via Andrew Morton's book and in the momentous BBC interview with Martin Bashir. Brown offers extensive source notes throughout.

There are some shortcomings in Brown's approach, however. She assumes her audience is familiar with the biggest events in Diana's life, and this causes her to downplay or even omit some of the most famous moments or quotes. Brown makes most chapters thematic rather than strictly chronological; the text weaves among adjoining years, making it more confusing than it needs to be to discern what happened when. Perhaps to avoid overdramatizing complex material, Brown tends not establish turning points or a strong narrative arc. Her text may be highly accurate, but there is not a clear sense of just when and how Diana and her relationship with Charles are changing. The book is highly readable throughout, but it becomes more...

United States on Feb 06, 2009