Diana: Her True Story in Her Own Words

Diana: Her True Story in Her Own Words

3.67 of 5 stars 3.67  ·  rating details  ·  2,283 ratings  ·  113 reviews
In a shocking, headline-making story (coming as an NBC TV movie), Andrew Morton goes beyond speculation to present the facts about Princess Diana and her royal marriage--written with the full cooperation and support of Diana's family and friends, who speak freely in a sizzling, insider's tell-all. "Startlingly candid".--People. Includes never-before-seen photographs.
Mass Market Paperback, 432 pages
Published December 1st 2009 by Pocket (first published 1992)
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Lauren
Sep 04, 2007 Lauren rated it 4 of 5 stars
Shelves: smut
I'm not sure what it is about the House of Windsor but those royals make me cry every time. Perhaps it is the drama that hooks me; Diana's self-description on her wedding day as "a lamb to the slaughter". Poor Di. All I know is that the Princess was a born tragedy, her life over and out of her hands before she could say tea and crumpets. She is, and will forever be the most famous, widely recognized person in the world. That says a little about her life and even more about her death. I too miss...more
Tamara
"Every family has a secret and the secret is it is not like any other family." - Alan Bennett, pg. 146

This book was supremely engaging; I found that I could not, quite literally, put it down. In the two days it took for me to finish it, I read it at the gym (deliberately choosing the stationary bike rather than my usual treadmill), in the bathroom while brushing my teeth, at the breakfast table, and even during a hockey game. I stayed up late both nights just to read another chapter, because I w...more
Jennie
I have to say, I was surprised by how engrossed I became in this book. I picked it up not expecting to learn much about her that I hadn't already seen in a million TV specials, but through Diana's cooperation Morton was able to create a very complete picture of her life. Her journey from rebellious girl to carefree young woman to frightened & lonely royal wife to the strong, independent woman she became in the 90s was inspiring. Being married and thrust into her princess role at such a young...more
Joshua Wilson
I really enjoyed reading this book during a particularly trying time in my life over the past few weeks. I related a lot to the central themes here including: isolations, low confidence in ones self, charming manner and social aptitude while harboring self doubt and the plight of disordered eating patterns. Perhaps what is most unbelievable is that Charles was wrecked by his jealousy of his wife and her rapport with the public, the media and just about anyone she met. He gave up an opportunity f...more
June Louise
"Her adult life ended as it began, in the brazen, staccato embrace of the camera flash"

There are certain events that happen in life where you can remember exactly what you were doing when you heard about them. The death of Diana, is one of those.

Being the Diamond Jubilee year of our current Sovereign, I am reading books on history of the monarchy; and although the Sovereigns I have read up on until now were powerful, strong, effective leaders, it seemed appropriate that the tragic tale of the...more
Needleroozer
This book is another one picked up at a thrift store in desperation.

I didn't know much about Diana before reading this book. I remember when she married the Prince. That wedding was a big deal. I remember when she was pregnant with her first kid-also a big deal. And of course I remember when she died in 1997. I had just come home from the second Sister Subverter and was sitting around in Abe's backyard with several woman who had landed in New Orleans after the gathering. Someone casually mention...more
Redfox5
This book was up and down for me. I'm not keen on the way Morton tells her story and I had in my head the whole time that Diana regretted this book. I was first annoyed when Morton trys to portray Diana as someone who had a normal down to Earth upbringing. Saying that when she has to stay with her mum she had to live in normal house but on the next page talking about Dianas ponys. Yes, Andrew. Very normal. The other I just can't understand is just how naive she was. How did she not expect life t...more
Danica
A good book, but quite heartbreaking. The reader is left with the impression that Diana never quite reached full maturity due to childhood abandonment. This, combined with the cold, maltreatment at the hands of the establishment/monarchy, compounds the isolation she feels. From time to time the American in me wants Diana to get tough and tell them all to go to hell, but the reality appears to be that the royal family is more KGB than one would expect.

The most troubling thing about the book is t...more
Megan
I’ve had this book for almost a year but couldn’t get through it. Here is why: this edition was published after Diana’s death so the transcripts from the interviews Morton conducted are included in the front of the book. After reading her words, I didn’t care to read the rest of the book. But I made myself do it.


If you know about Di, you probably know almost everything in here. It covers her life from her childhood to her death (the book was originally published in 1992 so if you have one of tho...more
Marvin
Diana:Her True Story reads like a tabloid magazine. Prolix and overflowing with details about location, first, middle, and last names, the author betrays his eager quest for validation. The book would have been much less tedious if he'd left those details to the reference section. Andrew Morton's portrayal of Prince Charles - with his numerous relationships and "confession" of easily falling in love - and the aristocracy makes the storied high born society of Britain seem vain and vacuous. The t...more
Elizabeth
I didn't read this book when it was first written as I wasn't all that interested. The wedding of William and Catherine prompted me to find out more about Williams mother. I was very surprised to find out how unstable she actually was, how little care and advice she was given, and the extent of Charles relationship with Camilla. HOWEVER, it does state that she was quite a liar in her youth, and I have no doubt some of the events have been exaggerated. However, she was clearly in an arranged marr...more
Shahrun
Princess Diana is the same age as my mum - they even met! (I am the same age as Prince William.) So she was always a presence in the world I grew up in, and my memory of her was as a humanitarian who worked tirelessly for the underdog. But do remember her being relentlessly hounded by the media too.

If the bulk of the claims in this book are true, she had a pretty awful life. The true tragedy appears that just as she was finally so happy (you can see it in the photographs of her just before the...more
Theresa Stevens
She may have started out as a cinders-princess-in-waiting and naively thought she could change her prince! But in the end she brought about the greatest change in British Royal history - a human side to the rigid course of royalty protocols. Ultimately she turned out to be a resourceful asset to herself and her children, giving them as much normality as could be possible with the added touch of human compassion and understanding of people. An ability to stand up for one's self and to say that, '...more
Stephanie
Okay, so I got an INSANE case of royal fever after the wedding (the more I read about the royal family the more embarrassed I get about this.) Anyway, the most interesting part of this book is the author's note, where he explains how he had to get the information by smuggling lists of questions to Diana who would then tape record her answers and smuggle it back to him. Then (after Diana's death) they published this book with a transcript of her answers which was fascinating to read. But after th...more
Lori
Interesting in the beginning, but it dragged on too long, and was ridiculously repetitive. (Some events, names, and titles were mentioned numerous times. "I know," I'd think, "you already said that. SIX TIMES!") Hard to follow chronologically because the chapters seemed to incorporate events that followed the current theme the author was addressing. I wasn't always sure where I was chronologically when I was reading. All of this made for a very slow progression which became tedious towards the e...more
Bronwyn
the story of the life of the people,s princess princess diana in her own words as shr gets her story out, from childhood till a year before her death, and tells how she grew up in a broken home, and went on to marry one of the worlds most eligable men only to discover she was only a substitute for the woman he really loved, the aftermath, their subsequent divorce, and how she has strived to build a new successful life for herself, and her sons. this is a book worth reading, poignent, and full of...more
Lindsay
I'm one of those people that was, and continues to be, fascinated by Diana. This book was an interesting one bc it was written before her death and even before her divorce was finalized! I enjoyed getting to (supposedly) get a look into her everyday life from childhood to acting as Princess. We will never know everything about this enchanting woman, but it won't stop us from trying. I would really like to find another biography about Diana that is up-to-date and regarded as at least somewhat rel...more
Margaret
Feb 25, 2013 Margaret added it
Shelves: 2013
This book's been around quite a while and now I've finally read it. This edition is the commemorative edition published after Diana's death. I liked the very first part of the book which is transcriptions of her actual recorded words better than the author's tale of her life. Nothing in the book was a surprise to me although I did not know some of the details surrounding her death. Overall it was a surprisingly engrossing read - and it made me sad again to remember that just when it seemed like...more
Linda
Blah! This book leaves the reader wondering who was more at fault for the Windsor's marriage failure. From what this author writes, it had nothing to do with Diana's immaturity, bulimia, half-hearted suicide attempts, intellectual capacity (or lack thereof), or her extra-marital affairs. The whole fault lay with Charles and his philandering with Camilla. Isn't it always the guy's fault? :)

The bottom line is that if a person is not born into the public spotlight, it's a tough lifestyle to adapt...more
Betsy Willing
As far as auto-biographies go, this one is pretty "droll" you can tell that she was still part of the "establishment" when she made the tapes because even though I am a Diana fan, she paints herself as the absolute victim for every scenario that happens in her life. If it was a true auto-biography, I believe she may have been more honest about her life and opened up more with details from certain events. If you want insight into royal life or the royal family, this is not the book. I recommend o...more
Ann Clay
Not as shocking as the version that came out in 1992. That was amazing. This time I read only the part in the front of the book that included her actual words. I can't believe she cooperated so fully. Seems like an incredibly stupid thing for her to do back in 1991, but it must have been frustrating for her to be living such a huge lie. It's so sad. This poor girl was a mess, but marrying someone so very young and inexperienced when Charles was a 32 year old man of the world in my view was cynic...more
Erica
I had no idea how much Princess Diana suffered as Prince Charles' wife. She was very insecure in her personal life but a giving, generous person who did a lot of behind the scenes charity work with the homeless, people suffering from leprosy and aids, and battered women. I gave the book three stars because the author was a little repetitive. The story didn't flow very well some of the time. Her story was very interesting. She was a complex woman who died when she seemed to have finally found hap...more
Maria
While Andrew Morton claims that everything in this book is factual, and is proven by photos of Diana's handwritten notes to him, it is still not something you could fully trust. Yes, I know, authors who write a biography of Diana cite their sources to Morton, but remember that Diana herself wrote these notes. In case it didn't dawn on you yet, there are information she didn't want to share, and information in which she changed the story in order to make you believe that it was the truth. I actua...more
Erin Butler
Great reading in the light of the recent royal wedding and Will and Kate's visit to North America.

The version I read also included a prologue and additional chapter after Diana died in the car crash. Morton explains that he had Diana's cooperation throughout the writing of the book, and she is, in fact, the source of most of the information. I was fascinated by the life of the British royalty in the modern era. I don't get what these people actually do for money or if they just live off of forme...more
Colleen
Loved! My only complain (and it could have been as a result of the version I read) that all of Diana's interview material was transcribed up front, before book began. So, I kind of felt like I was reading everything twice. Once in her own words, and once written out by Morton. But I did love the material!! Very juicy and showed me a totally different side of Diana. In one sense it did make me feel horrible for her situation, but I also gained a better understanding of her own (very serious) psyc...more
Lady
The book is engaging, even exciting, because of Morton's journalistic expose style of writing; but I can't help but feel that this was a propaganda piece in favour of Diana, and so while there may be some truth in parts of it, there are many accounts to the contrary regarding some of the things Diana claimed happened both before and during her tenure as Princess of Wales. (See Tina Brown's The Diana Chronicles for a less syrupy portrayal of Diana, or even Diana: Closely Guarded Secret, written b...more
Someoneyouknow
I think that a better title for this book would be “The Tribulations of Princess Diana”. It is a bleak and depressing book, yet I couldn’t stop reading it. Also, I should mention that I read a 1993 edition of this book which was published before Diana divorced Charles. It was certainly a bit strange reading about a dead person as if she were alive.
Of course, the book was informative and held my interest constantly, there were even funny/feel-good scenes in it, but the main reason why I can’t rat...more
Lauren
I will probably finish this someday. I had about 50 pages left. I just don't have the time and full commitment of interest to read it. Diana's life is very interesting and sad. I've never heard the whole story. I've just heard that she was a not known girl who suddenly became Princess of Whales and captured the attention of the world much to her husband's annoyance and that she had died while running from paparazzi. I did not know of her husband's dealing with Parker-Bowles and I didn't know tha...more
Lauren
This is the enhanced edition of the original Diana: Her True Story, published in 1992 as a “quasi-authorized biography.” After her death, Morton let the public know that not only was Diana his main source for the book, but also played an important role in editing and correcting original drafts. Diana chose to remain anonymous in fear of the Royal Family’s retaliation, but it was very important to her that her story was told. Part of what makes this so interesting is that the information came str...more
Sydney
What a sad book. I grew up with Diana as the "People's Princess." I remember my mom waking my sister and I up so early those many years ago to watch the royal wedding. Like so many in the world, I watched Diana through the years with fascination and admiration. I wept when her life was cut tragically short just as it seemed she had found happiness in so many areas of her life.

This is the updated edition that came out after her death. Morton adds context to how he gathered the information for her...more
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Andrew David Morton (born 1953) is one of the world's best-known biographers and a leading authority on modern celebrity. His groundbreaking biography Diana: Her True Story was a #1 New York Times bestseller, as was Monica's Story, an authorized biography of Monica Lewinsky, and Tom Cruise: An Unauthorized Biography. The winner of numerous awards, including Author of the Year, his other New York T...more
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