Sally Bedell Smith

Offers a portrait of the late Princess of Wales that examines the varied events and relationships that shaped Diana's life, her emotional complexity, and her search for a better sense of self

Portrait of a Troubled Princess

Diana in Search of Herself

Rachel Benton

I have been wanting to read a good book on Princess Diana as of late. I have been hearing a lot of good things from other people about Sally Bedell Smith. Apparently, quote on quote, she is the go to when it comes to the Windsors. I been wanting to her books on Prince Charles and Queen Elizabeth. So I decided to read her book on Diana and work my down to her other books. I was very disappointed in this book. This book is very pro-Royalist. This book was more vilifying Diana rather than trying to psychoanalyze her. Diana comes off as so mentally ill and conniving that it's over the top. I’m not one of these people that think that Diana can do no wrong, but this portrayal of her was disgusting. Charles of course comes out smelling like roses. You can’t tell me that a man who was cheating both emotionally and physically throughout their marriage was fighting hard to stay together. The moment that Charles told Diana on the day of their marriage that he didn’t love her, and basically that he was doing it out of duty, the marriage was over. And Bedell Smith wonders why Diana was so resentful to him? What woman in her right mind wouldn’t be. Bedell Smith of course blames the ending of the marriage on Diana’s “ mental illness”. Meanwhile excusing Charles of his behavior. Stating that he didn’t start having a physical relationship with Camilla until he and Diana started to lead separate lives from each other, which I don’t believe at all. But he was clearly having an emotional affair with her. Which is just as bad. Bedell smith touches briefly on Charles/Camilla, but takes time to go through in great detail of all Diana’s affairs. By the end of this Diana comes out looking like she is not only batshit crazy, but she is a whore as well. The constant contradictions in this book was driving me up the wall. And to self-diagnose Diana as having Borderline personality based on interviews from unnamed sources, tabloid articles, and interviews with friends that Bedell smith admitted that one time or another Diana had fallings out with is ridiculous. She did use interviews with Diana herself, it's presumptuous of Bedell Smith to give diagnose to Diana when she herself is not a medical professional. And from what I understand Bedell Smith met Diana once and she barely spoke two words to her. I’m guessing that Diana was getting bad vibes off her. And from this book she was right. The irony of this is that this portrait was not based on any evidence. Just hearsay and gossip.Relying on people who had their own agenda. She did use interviews from Diana, but it doesn’t take much to twist someone’s words in order to fit your own agenda. If you're looking for an unbiased account on Princess Diana this is not the book for you. It's a waste of trees as far as I’m concern. One down, and two to go. And so far Bedell Smith has not shown me that she is the expert when it comes to Windsor's.

Diana in Search of Herself Portrait of a Troubled Princess

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