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Shadows Of A Princess: An Intimate Account by Her Private Secretary
In 1981 Lady Diana Spencer was destined to ascend the British throne, innocent young wife to the future King Charles III. With her beauty, modesty, and charitable good works, she seemed the perfect addition to bring the Royal Family into the twenty-first century.
Instead, she brought a revolution.Twenty years later, the comforting illusion of royalty as we knew it is gone forever. Diana is dead, the Windsors are marginalized and a chastened Prince faces the dilemma of being a very different sort of King than his people expected. But what does it mean to be royal? Thrown into her role with little background for it, Diana learned the hard way. This book goes further than any other in exploring Diana's growth, from innocent schoolgirl to sometimes cynical member of the world's most royal family.
No one knows more about Princess Diana's struggles than the author, P.D. Jephson, Diana's closest aide and adviser during her years of greatest public fame and deepest personal crisis. Rooted in firsthand experience, Shadows of a Princess is the most authoritative, balanced account we ever will have of the woman who became an icon yet remains a contradictory enigma. Viewed from behind the scenes during eight relentless years, this is the princess in all her disguises, as we never have seen her before. It is the story of shifting loyalties, self-delusion, and shattered hope--of defiance and wasted opportunities. But it is also a story of the laughter and optimism that were the hallmark of Diana's alternate court and a tantalizing glimpse of what might have been.
Instead, she brought a revolution.Twenty years later, the comforting illusion of royalty as we knew it is gone forever. Diana is dead, the Windsors are marginalized and a chastened Prince faces the dilemma of being a very different sort of King than his people expected. But what does it mean to be royal? Thrown into her role with little background for it, Diana learned the hard way. This book goes further than any other in exploring Diana's growth, from innocent schoolgirl to sometimes cynical member of the world's most royal family.
No one knows more about Princess Diana's struggles than the author, P.D. Jephson, Diana's closest aide and adviser during her years of greatest public fame and deepest personal crisis. Rooted in firsthand experience, Shadows of a Princess is the most authoritative, balanced account we ever will have of the woman who became an icon yet remains a contradictory enigma. Viewed from behind the scenes during eight relentless years, this is the princess in all her disguises, as we never have seen her before. It is the story of shifting loyalties, self-delusion, and shattered hope--of defiance and wasted opportunities. But it is also a story of the laughter and optimism that were the hallmark of Diana's alternate court and a tantalizing glimpse of what might have been.
464 pages, Hardcover
First published October 9, 2000
168 people are currently reading
448 people want to read
About the author
Patrick Jephson
3 books8 followersPatrick is a consultant, journalist, broadcaster and New York Times and London Sunday Times bestselling author, based in Washington DC.
His byline has appeared in every major UK newspaper and international titles as varied as TIME magazine, Vanity Fair, People, The Spectator, Paris Match, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung and the National Catholic Reporter. He is a published authority on corporate and personal branding, addressing conference audiences worldwide as well as events at the US State Department, the American University and the Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism. He also writes, presents and advises on factual and drama programs, appearing on every major US network as well as British and international platforms. Patrick is a consultant to the award-winning Netflix series The Crown.
Patrick owes much of his practical communications experience to Princess Diana, who chose him to be her equerry and only private secretary/chief of staff. He served the Princess for eight years (1988-96), responsible for every aspect of her public life, charitable initiatives, and private organization. He travelled with her to five continents, working with government officials up to head of state. Under relentless media scrutiny, his tenure covered the period of Princess Diana’s greatest popularity as well as the constitutional controversy of her separation from Prince Charles.
Patrick was born and raised in Ireland and holds a Masters degree in Political Science from Cambridge University. As an officer in the British Navy he served all over the world before being selected for royal duty. A naturalized US citizen based in Washington DC, he is founding partner in the specialist communications consultancy JephsonBeaman LLC (www.jephsonbeaman.com).
Born and raised in Ireland, Jephson studied a Masters degree in political science at Cambridge before becoming an officer in the Royal Navy.
After ten years of service, he was selected to join the Royal Household serving eight years as an equerry.
Jephson was private secretary to Princess Diana for more than seven years and travelled the world with her on Royal duties.
Part of his job involved writing speeches and public correspondence, as well as handling her relations with the media.
Jephson also witnessed the breakdown of her marriage to Prince Charles and was instrumental in handling it.
He has written two books about his time working with Princess Diana and is a TV writer and presenter now based in America.
Jephson is one of the people providing an interview in the controversial Channel 4 show Diana: In Her Own words.
His byline has appeared in every major UK newspaper and international titles as varied as TIME magazine, Vanity Fair, People, The Spectator, Paris Match, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung and the National Catholic Reporter. He is a published authority on corporate and personal branding, addressing conference audiences worldwide as well as events at the US State Department, the American University and the Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism. He also writes, presents and advises on factual and drama programs, appearing on every major US network as well as British and international platforms. Patrick is a consultant to the award-winning Netflix series The Crown.
Patrick owes much of his practical communications experience to Princess Diana, who chose him to be her equerry and only private secretary/chief of staff. He served the Princess for eight years (1988-96), responsible for every aspect of her public life, charitable initiatives, and private organization. He travelled with her to five continents, working with government officials up to head of state. Under relentless media scrutiny, his tenure covered the period of Princess Diana’s greatest popularity as well as the constitutional controversy of her separation from Prince Charles.
Patrick was born and raised in Ireland and holds a Masters degree in Political Science from Cambridge University. As an officer in the British Navy he served all over the world before being selected for royal duty. A naturalized US citizen based in Washington DC, he is founding partner in the specialist communications consultancy JephsonBeaman LLC (www.jephsonbeaman.com).
Born and raised in Ireland, Jephson studied a Masters degree in political science at Cambridge before becoming an officer in the Royal Navy.
After ten years of service, he was selected to join the Royal Household serving eight years as an equerry.
Jephson was private secretary to Princess Diana for more than seven years and travelled the world with her on Royal duties.
Part of his job involved writing speeches and public correspondence, as well as handling her relations with the media.
Jephson also witnessed the breakdown of her marriage to Prince Charles and was instrumental in handling it.
He has written two books about his time working with Princess Diana and is a TV writer and presenter now based in America.
Jephson is one of the people providing an interview in the controversial Channel 4 show Diana: In Her Own words.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 55 reviews
March 10, 2019
Scrolling through the Goodreads reviews, you'll find reader after reader proclaiming the Princess self-absorbed and monstrous, based on this book. Read editorial reviews (and the opinion of Prince William), you'll see this book described as a hatchet job. I found it to be neither.
Rather, it's a warts-and-all portrait of a complicated, immature woman. Thrust at age 19 into a position of unimaginable pressure and stress, Diana Spencer had precious few coping skills. She was willful and impetuous. She had a martyr complex and an unfortunate attraction to psychics and a morbid fascination with predictions of death (hers and/or Charles').
She was also undeniably charismatic. A gifted performer and a hard worker. Savvy, if not intellectual, and eager to serve Crown and Country. She improved many of the lives she touched, and if her motives were not 100% pure, well, whose are?
What I liked about this book was the workaday aspect of it. So this is what goes into a Royal walkabout, a visit to a hospital or senior center, a trip to India. I didn't realize how much diplomacy and philanthropy is converted into dollars and cents (pounds and pence?) and can see how the Royal family is worth it to their subjects.
What I *didn't* like about the book was the choice of photos. The author mentions specific outfits (like what she wore when christened a nuclear submarine) or portraits (Nelson Shanks' painting) or controversial news photos (Diana slipping into the car of a tabloid reporter to give him a scoop). Yet none of these things are shown. I don't like a book I have to read with my phone at hand so I can Google the images.
Rather, it's a warts-and-all portrait of a complicated, immature woman. Thrust at age 19 into a position of unimaginable pressure and stress, Diana Spencer had precious few coping skills. She was willful and impetuous. She had a martyr complex and an unfortunate attraction to psychics and a morbid fascination with predictions of death (hers and/or Charles').
She was also undeniably charismatic. A gifted performer and a hard worker. Savvy, if not intellectual, and eager to serve Crown and Country. She improved many of the lives she touched, and if her motives were not 100% pure, well, whose are?
What I liked about this book was the workaday aspect of it. So this is what goes into a Royal walkabout, a visit to a hospital or senior center, a trip to India. I didn't realize how much diplomacy and philanthropy is converted into dollars and cents (pounds and pence?) and can see how the Royal family is worth it to their subjects.
What I *didn't* like about the book was the choice of photos. The author mentions specific outfits (like what she wore when christened a nuclear submarine) or portraits (Nelson Shanks' painting) or controversial news photos (Diana slipping into the car of a tabloid reporter to give him a scoop). Yet none of these things are shown. I don't like a book I have to read with my phone at hand so I can Google the images.
August 2, 2014
This book may have been tolerable if not for the horrible writing style. I don't know how this man organized the princess' schedule when he can't even organize his thoughts into a consistent story. He jumps from event to event with no consistency or smooth transition. it got so bad that I just gave up half way through.
August 31, 2011
Yaaaaaaawn...
I thought it would be interesting to learn about the everyday workings of a Princess, especially one that has been shrouded in such secrecy and media hype.
However, that is all this book is.
Mudane, boring account of what Diana did every day. Yawn.
I feel like the author was hoping to be the next bestseller as he thinks he's giving away "secrets" of his personal accounts as her secretary. Instead, he doesn't tell us anything we didn't already know and he's kind of a dick in the way he describes some "unflattering" things Diana may (or may not, who really know) have done.
Not worth the time I put in.
I thought it would be interesting to learn about the everyday workings of a Princess, especially one that has been shrouded in such secrecy and media hype.
However, that is all this book is.
Mudane, boring account of what Diana did every day. Yawn.
I feel like the author was hoping to be the next bestseller as he thinks he's giving away "secrets" of his personal accounts as her secretary. Instead, he doesn't tell us anything we didn't already know and he's kind of a dick in the way he describes some "unflattering" things Diana may (or may not, who really know) have done.
Not worth the time I put in.
August 18, 2017
Boring. Too many unnecessary details. We get it. You were at her beck and call. She was moody and sometimes spiteful. You traveled the world in style and comfort yet complained you never got a holiday.
Whine, whine, whine. You had a busy job. She could be difficult. What about all the handwritten words of thanks? What about the travel , the obvious perks? The book was boring. Too many details of too many trips.
Whine, whine, whine. You had a busy job. She could be difficult. What about all the handwritten words of thanks? What about the travel , the obvious perks? The book was boring. Too many details of too many trips.
February 4, 2015
I first read this book when it was published in 2000. Now, the marriage of HRH Prince William of Wales, has prompted me to read it, avidly, a second time.
Patrick Jephson’s description of the character and actions of the late Diana, Princess of Wales, acts as the most awful cautionary ‘tale’ never, ever, to judge a person solely by either their physical beauty or their public persona; especially if viewed only through the prism of the journalistic media.
My heart reaches out to both to Mr Jephson (a private secretary to the late Princess) and also to HRH The Prince of Wales. For myself I have met the latter, but not the former. How awfully those two men have both, in different ways, suffered horribly. How sensible Prince William is to now marry for real and time-tested, as opposed to arranged, love; and to marry a gracious and considerate girl who has been born to, and has grown up with, parents who are happily married. One can but speculate that over recent years Prince Charles has not been backward in acting honestly with his sons, to the end that desperately painful lessons from the past are learnt and (we trust and pray) not repeated.
Please DO read this book. For any private individual who is in the fortunate position of employing staff, this book offers very sound lessons on how, and more importantly how not, to behave within those relationships of responsibility. For the general reader, this book glaringly highlights the very real and dreadful destructive dangers which can lurk in self-promoting celebrities; should a genuine sense of self-humility be absent.
Patrick Jephson’s description of the character and actions of the late Diana, Princess of Wales, acts as the most awful cautionary ‘tale’ never, ever, to judge a person solely by either their physical beauty or their public persona; especially if viewed only through the prism of the journalistic media.
My heart reaches out to both to Mr Jephson (a private secretary to the late Princess) and also to HRH The Prince of Wales. For myself I have met the latter, but not the former. How awfully those two men have both, in different ways, suffered horribly. How sensible Prince William is to now marry for real and time-tested, as opposed to arranged, love; and to marry a gracious and considerate girl who has been born to, and has grown up with, parents who are happily married. One can but speculate that over recent years Prince Charles has not been backward in acting honestly with his sons, to the end that desperately painful lessons from the past are learnt and (we trust and pray) not repeated.
Please DO read this book. For any private individual who is in the fortunate position of employing staff, this book offers very sound lessons on how, and more importantly how not, to behave within those relationships of responsibility. For the general reader, this book glaringly highlights the very real and dreadful destructive dangers which can lurk in self-promoting celebrities; should a genuine sense of self-humility be absent.
May 5, 2014
I did not like his style of writing.
December 26, 2021
Of all the memoirs of Diana's flunkies and hangers on, this is one of the few worth reading. From the opening pages, Jephson is self aware enough to acknowledge the affect of proximity to royalty. He's also one of the only ones with the intellectual capacity to provide some interesting analysis of the princess. I don't think this makes him more trustworthy a source than the others, just more interesting and worthwhile.
September 24, 2017
With the 20th anniversary of the death of Diana, Princess of Wales, I thought that it would be interesting to read this account by Patrick Jephson. Jephson served as Diana's private secretary and worked in her household from 1987 until 1996. Going in, I wondered how how much of the book would be a standard tell-all as well as how much would be defense of Jephson's own actions. While both of these elements are contained in the book, Jephson presents a nuanced portrait of a complicated and imperfect Princess. In other words, the major success of the book is that it portrays a real human being with tremendous charisma who grew into her role as Princess of Wales while also addressing her foibles. There is no question that Diana transformed the monarchy and brought a humanity to her work that had been lacking with her in-laws. As someone who had suffered herself, Diana had a unique ability to relate to the downtrodden, homeless, sick, elderly, and young. Her charity work with HIV patients made a tremendous difference in the 1980s. Jephson celebrates Diana's giftedness and how she grew into her role. At the same time, he describes how she could be impetuous, histrionic, selfish, and downright mean to her staff.
As someone who works in a career that has some similarities to Jephson's, it was fascinating to read about what was involved in supporting Diana's work. I could relate to the near-misses, misses, successes, and uncertainty about how a VIP will react in particular situations. Sometimes Jephson received high praise, and other times he endured unreasonable criticism.
Jephson's book presents a fair assessment of Diana and her humanity.
As someone who works in a career that has some similarities to Jephson's, it was fascinating to read about what was involved in supporting Diana's work. I could relate to the near-misses, misses, successes, and uncertainty about how a VIP will react in particular situations. Sometimes Jephson received high praise, and other times he endured unreasonable criticism.
Jephson's book presents a fair assessment of Diana and her humanity.
April 8, 2019
Finished this incredibly sad book about a woman who never really got to grow up, may (or may not) have been suffering from a mental illness, and wanted something so badly but could not identify what "it" was or how to achieve it. The victim-hood turned spiteful/vindictive streak was her undoing which sounds to me like immaturity and just not a fully formed adult. The book was hard to finish b/c the ending is just so sad and the opportunities squandered. It also makes me afraid for what we aren't able to see about ourselves. How many of us are not able to get out of our own way and want sympathy for what we see as obstacles not of our own making?
November 26, 2018
A warts and all insight into the life of a Private Secretary to the late Diana, Princess of Wales. A worthy account of the ups and considerable downs to life in the employ of a fragile, emotionally damaged young woman who was, in essence, in an "arranged" marriage to a future King.
March 13, 2017
Tediously written…….but an important book if you are a die hard Princess Di fan!
July 13, 2018
Intriguing
January 31, 2025
My first nonfiction for 2025. As fascinated as I am by the British Royal Family, this is surprisingly the first Princess Diana book that I have read. I did read Spare, and own a few other books about Princess Diana and the Queen.
The day-to-day going’s on working for Diana was insightful, yet quite boring. Not to mention the jumping around of time and events. It truly showed her in another light than I had been used to, which was quite eye-opening.
The day-to-day going’s on working for Diana was insightful, yet quite boring. Not to mention the jumping around of time and events. It truly showed her in another light than I had been used to, which was quite eye-opening.
September 24, 2023
Repetitive and snippy memoir.
April 5, 2019
There is a book to please and displease both monarchists and republicans. It may also entertain the interested indifferent. It is a satisfyingly objective account derived from a unique perspective. It reeks of authenticity, glimmers from behind gilded doors, and exerts a sovereignty earned by surviving both jousts and crusades in service of the UK’s, and perhaps the world’s, most famous former princess. It lays bare the price to be paid by the privileged at the pinnacle of public service as well as also acknowledging the almost sacred impact they can have on their international equivalents, and on the much less fortunate individuals at the bitter end of misfortune.
This is another volume which doesn’t quite fit into the five-star system. Nine out of ten would be more accurate but I’ve approximated to full marks because of the intelligent analysis and polished text. It’s easy to read and also provocative and insightful. It is not a book for someone looking for glossy magazine gossip or tabloid sensationalism. It is a serious chronicle of service and an intriguing record of roughly ten years trying to marry military efficiency to a moody misplaced person.
Jephson is articulate and persuasive. He also preserves a high degree of objectivity whilst also managing to engage enough empathy to offer a sympathetic analysis. He is not afraid to be pitiless in order to balance the portrait he paints. The result is an account that is sufficiently even-handed to allow the reader to reach their own conclusions but not without considering flaws as well as attributes.
It is a little on the long side. The same effect could have been achieved with eighty per cent of the content. Whilst the schedule of Diana’s duty evolves in accordance with the ups, downs and exposed dirty linen of the Royal Family during the 1980s and 90s the perspective of her personality remains principally the same. Sometimes it drills back and forth over well-trodden ground, especially when appraising the personality of the Princess. If this were a work of fiction it may be criticised for the way in which the protagonist does not substantially change, but real life doesn’t necessarily follow a fictional arc and Jephson compiles his report in accordance with more detached parameters. Detachment is one luxury that could not be enjoyed by his subject. There was no escape and this volume reveals the rules, ruses, and penalties experienced by both prisoner and lackey, and does so with precision, polished presentation and a very particular pertinence.
This is another volume which doesn’t quite fit into the five-star system. Nine out of ten would be more accurate but I’ve approximated to full marks because of the intelligent analysis and polished text. It’s easy to read and also provocative and insightful. It is not a book for someone looking for glossy magazine gossip or tabloid sensationalism. It is a serious chronicle of service and an intriguing record of roughly ten years trying to marry military efficiency to a moody misplaced person.
Jephson is articulate and persuasive. He also preserves a high degree of objectivity whilst also managing to engage enough empathy to offer a sympathetic analysis. He is not afraid to be pitiless in order to balance the portrait he paints. The result is an account that is sufficiently even-handed to allow the reader to reach their own conclusions but not without considering flaws as well as attributes.
It is a little on the long side. The same effect could have been achieved with eighty per cent of the content. Whilst the schedule of Diana’s duty evolves in accordance with the ups, downs and exposed dirty linen of the Royal Family during the 1980s and 90s the perspective of her personality remains principally the same. Sometimes it drills back and forth over well-trodden ground, especially when appraising the personality of the Princess. If this were a work of fiction it may be criticised for the way in which the protagonist does not substantially change, but real life doesn’t necessarily follow a fictional arc and Jephson compiles his report in accordance with more detached parameters. Detachment is one luxury that could not be enjoyed by his subject. There was no escape and this volume reveals the rules, ruses, and penalties experienced by both prisoner and lackey, and does so with precision, polished presentation and a very particular pertinence.
February 28, 2021
I found the book hard to get into. There wasn't a whole lot written about Princess Diana that I didn't already know about. There were also a lot of mundane descriptions about the various travels, perks of the job, responsibilities etc. and I got the distinct impression that the author would rather work for Prince Charles. I don't know whether it was just me, or it was the way the book was written but I couldn't finish it. Perhaps I will try and finish it another time!
October 28, 2020
Too much boring detail of arrangements made by Jephson during his service to Diana. Almost like he took his diary/calendar and turned it into a book. The language was much too dense. He did show us that the Princess was multi-dimensional and not the saint that she is believed to be by many of her ardent fans.
May 15, 2014
Didn't like the book at all. I am not a big princess fan but it's funny how author portrays that she liked attention, I mean who wouldn't like attention and she was a princess after all. This book is a complete no no for me.
December 16, 2018
This is an excellent, up-close account of the the real Diana with all her foibles and strengths delineated in detail. I detected a small deference to the anachronistic institution of monarchy but it didn’t seem to compromise his ability to see her clearly as an individual. Very enjoyable.
November 22, 2022
Re-read. Nothing new here, apart from a new cover and Forward. It's a shame he didn't wait for the 25th anniversary of her death to republish or even write a new book post-BBC confessions on the infamous 1995 interview. It would have been really interesting to read his reframed recollections.
February 28, 2018
Surprisingly good. I've read many books discussing Diana. This is one of the better ones. It's written with dignity and respect and is not exploitative at all. I can definitely recommend it.
May 23, 2018
Not what i was expecting a longggggggggggggg read
August 11, 2019
It was an interesting book and I felt it was fair & balanced.
December 10, 2019
Just so very long.
February 29, 2020
Vandetta wont bring you to the surface of glam and fame. Needless to say, I admire your writing style. For that matter, im Giving you 4 stars
January 1, 2021
Good book
The book was very enjoyable to read. Seemed very factual in the behind the seems of the running of the Princess press secretary worked.
The book was very enjoyable to read. Seemed very factual in the behind the seems of the running of the Princess press secretary worked.
August 24, 2016
DNF
It was interesting in the beginning that he seemed to condemn those trying to make money off of her, claiming they knew her. He wanted to set the record straight and show the truth, because people were misrepresenting her. He claimed to know her about the best, and it kind of didn’t bode well when he said to bear with him if their memories of her differed from his, and for those of us who didn’t know her to keep an open mind. And that the truth wouldn’t hurt her now. So it seemed like he was going to shed her in a different light and say things that might upset those who liked her.
It read like a novel instead of an autobiography, being told as an author would write it, like a story instead of an actual account. It was clear the author has a sense of humor in the way he described things, and a sarcastic sense of humor.
“An attractive male lead always brought out the best in our unpredictable royal performer.”
And
“Oh! Wretched press! They follow me everywhere.” The plaintive note was easy to hear. Too easy, I thought. You’re overdoing it. But it earned her a sympathetic look from our handsome guide, so that was good too.
I didn’t like that she seemed difficult, as if she would only behave when there was a hot guy around. And that she would pull the damsel in distress card and use it as a ploy. And it sounded like she hit rock bottom, hanging out with seedy people. Her and Jephson went “incognito” on a “fact-finding tour,” whatever that meant. They were with an inspector watching surveillance videos of people crapping in their hands and selling it off to customers.
“I had seen many saintly things done in her name, and even if she was not exactly saint material herself—as she would be quick, even too quick, to agree—she had certainly done a lot of suffering.”
“Now, however, she was floundering. ..now she was a self-proclaimed adulteress.” “Where once she had summoned Air Force jets, now she bummed rides in planes smelling of rich men’s cologne.”
“..she had built up deep reserves of public sympathy. She still had that magical forgivability. But I knew these were the gifts more of others’ mistakes than of her shining virtues. I knew she had begun to believe her own publicity, just as I was believing it less and less. I feared that others, like me, were every day seeing more of the steady fraying of her fragile mental stability..”
I did not like the sound of that at all, like she used men to fly in their planes and get things out of them, and that the only reason people forgave her was because they had screwed up too, not because they thought she was worth it.
I thought it was weird that he said Diana seemed worth it to the soldiers, who would willingly give their lives for her, not that she was worth it, but that she seemed it, like she really wasn’t worth it..
I was surprised that he said Diana, like the royal family, “only reluctantly acknowledged that her staff had a life either before or beyond their contact with her.” He said employees came and went so often that it was possibly an understandable reaction, that sometimes she made the effort of a concerned employer, and that it was more than most royal employers, but that it didn’t come naturally. And that royalty was inforced with indifference towards the underlings, and they had to look after themselves.
It’s weird that the job didn’t lead to promotion like his dad thought, and that his stepmom was mostly right in thinking the job would be nice. The Bag, which was a bag which held letters and bills and other documents to give to Diana would be opened at the end of the day and he knew how to lead her to pick option A or B. Sometimes she would choose the other option out of spite, so he started to learn to pretend to lead her to one option (the one he didn’t want her to pick) knowing she would choose the other, the one he wanted her to. And it was hard to hear that she bought a shredder and would shred things up that displeased her, claiming she’d never seen them and her office (and him) were incompetent and that she wasn’t being supported. I didn’t like to know that, and when he started making copies of ones he thought she would shred, she’d claim she never saw them and he’d produce a copy and she hated it.
It was neat the insight we got into the job, about him having to answer the telephone and take care of the Bag every day. He imagined he knew it was her calling by the ring of the telephone and he always knew what kind of mood she was in by the first syllable. He knew by the background noise what they’d talk about. He said running bathwater meant they were in for a playful 10 minutes during which he was supposed to imagine her up to her neck in bubbles and the sound of a dress being unzipped meant she was having a fitting with her designer..or something. That was funny. It was uncomfortable reading that she could lower your guard and then deliver a stinging rebuke about something that appeared in the papers, some of them were fired, and she would hang up on them. It was funny when he said her sense of timing was uncanny; she usually called when he was late coming back from lunch. Diana would stage herself being photographed or call journalists and it gave them a lot of trouble trying to deal with it. He felt that she didn’t set out to rebel but that she wanted to please herself since she couldn’t please them, that’s why she did all that charity work, and that she had to compensate for the rejection she got from the royal family. All she wanted was for someone to tell her she’d done a good job but she didn’t get that.
Waiting for her to come downstairs, he always tried to figure out her mood. Bad phone calls would put her in a bad mood, being late would make her irritated, bumpy rides in planes would put her in a bad mood. It sounded really bad, because “moods were what we all dreaded.” It was interesting that her lady-in-waiting carried around gum drops and there as an emergency stash of chocolate her chauffeur kept in the car, because she had cravings for sweets. He knew later it was her way of curing her emotional hunger.
The book really took a turn and my fears were realized as I read things that I definitely didn’t want to. He had said she would laugh at things because she wanted to laugh, even if she didn’t get the joke. Someone had already said she liked to shock people with crude jokes, but he mentioned even if she didn’t understand the jokes she told, she got a thrill from shocking people and that’s what she wanted. She’d mostly tell jokes about sex and she’d say it in front of outsiders, like the Queen’s Flight crews, diplomats and charity officials, and that she had an “infantile mockery” of the royal family, as her way of coping with stress. The looks on other people’s faces as she called them names, like Boy Wonder for Charles and “the Germans” for his parents made Jephson realize “other people’s feelings were less important to her than her desire for gratification.” Afterward she would either meet their eye if she approved of them for the day, as she dismissed them, or she wouldn’t meet their eye, letting them know she found them wanting. He wondered if he laughed enough. “But I got the message. Yes, I can be fun, but I can also choose to be an imperious madame—and now I own you.” I didn’t care for his view on the subject, and I didn’t like hearing bad things about her. I was so worried this would change my opinion of her and I didn’t want it to. Especially that in public she never mocked a disability or disfigurement, until she got in the car, and that she had a crude humor that was directed at the expense of those she had been visiting. This was a book to set the record straight that Diana wasn’t all nice and that the person she presented in public wasn’t the real one, but one she crafted because she knew how to please fans. And he implied that her compassion wasn’t because she really understood what people were going through, but because it was what she wanted people to do for her.
She also made the staff feel guilty if they took a vacation, or if they went on assignments. “It doesn’t seem fair on you”—by which she meant her—“to be sending you away. We’re so busy at the moment.” (We were always “so busy.”) He sounded like a disgruntled employee getting back at their boss. She knew he was going on a trip and was almost late and she kept him on the phone talking about something that wouldn’t happen for months, and her loneliness was transparent as she was familiarly “chiding her scatterbrained private secretary. A call that began with contrived recrimination ended with genuine good wishes for my success and a quick return. No wonder I left a heel.”
This was a jerk reliving things he hated about his job and bashing his employer. I don’t believe in speaking ill of the dead and so couldn’t continue with this terrible story. I believe if you can’t say good things about someone who’s died, then don’t say anything at all. Certainly don’t write a book about every bad quality they had, your awful opinions about their braying laugh, indifference to the help and guilt trip she pulled when anyone needed to leave her. I am so against this book it isn’t even funny. I wish I’d never come across it and this thing shouldn’t even be sold for people to read. It’s not an account, it’s a sarcastically told narration from his point of view that we’re supposed to accept as fact. I don’t like taking someone’s interpretation—their feelings—of an event instead of the truth. Stick to the facts and not how you felt, how you saw things, because it isn’t necessarily true just because he thought that’s how it was. It cast her in such a bad light and made me change my good opinion of her. I rue the day I ever found this in my library’s catalog.
It was interesting in the beginning that he seemed to condemn those trying to make money off of her, claiming they knew her. He wanted to set the record straight and show the truth, because people were misrepresenting her. He claimed to know her about the best, and it kind of didn’t bode well when he said to bear with him if their memories of her differed from his, and for those of us who didn’t know her to keep an open mind. And that the truth wouldn’t hurt her now. So it seemed like he was going to shed her in a different light and say things that might upset those who liked her.
It read like a novel instead of an autobiography, being told as an author would write it, like a story instead of an actual account. It was clear the author has a sense of humor in the way he described things, and a sarcastic sense of humor.
“An attractive male lead always brought out the best in our unpredictable royal performer.”
And
“Oh! Wretched press! They follow me everywhere.” The plaintive note was easy to hear. Too easy, I thought. You’re overdoing it. But it earned her a sympathetic look from our handsome guide, so that was good too.
I didn’t like that she seemed difficult, as if she would only behave when there was a hot guy around. And that she would pull the damsel in distress card and use it as a ploy. And it sounded like she hit rock bottom, hanging out with seedy people. Her and Jephson went “incognito” on a “fact-finding tour,” whatever that meant. They were with an inspector watching surveillance videos of people crapping in their hands and selling it off to customers.
“I had seen many saintly things done in her name, and even if she was not exactly saint material herself—as she would be quick, even too quick, to agree—she had certainly done a lot of suffering.”
“Now, however, she was floundering. ..now she was a self-proclaimed adulteress.” “Where once she had summoned Air Force jets, now she bummed rides in planes smelling of rich men’s cologne.”
“..she had built up deep reserves of public sympathy. She still had that magical forgivability. But I knew these were the gifts more of others’ mistakes than of her shining virtues. I knew she had begun to believe her own publicity, just as I was believing it less and less. I feared that others, like me, were every day seeing more of the steady fraying of her fragile mental stability..”
I did not like the sound of that at all, like she used men to fly in their planes and get things out of them, and that the only reason people forgave her was because they had screwed up too, not because they thought she was worth it.
I thought it was weird that he said Diana seemed worth it to the soldiers, who would willingly give their lives for her, not that she was worth it, but that she seemed it, like she really wasn’t worth it..
I was surprised that he said Diana, like the royal family, “only reluctantly acknowledged that her staff had a life either before or beyond their contact with her.” He said employees came and went so often that it was possibly an understandable reaction, that sometimes she made the effort of a concerned employer, and that it was more than most royal employers, but that it didn’t come naturally. And that royalty was inforced with indifference towards the underlings, and they had to look after themselves.
It’s weird that the job didn’t lead to promotion like his dad thought, and that his stepmom was mostly right in thinking the job would be nice. The Bag, which was a bag which held letters and bills and other documents to give to Diana would be opened at the end of the day and he knew how to lead her to pick option A or B. Sometimes she would choose the other option out of spite, so he started to learn to pretend to lead her to one option (the one he didn’t want her to pick) knowing she would choose the other, the one he wanted her to. And it was hard to hear that she bought a shredder and would shred things up that displeased her, claiming she’d never seen them and her office (and him) were incompetent and that she wasn’t being supported. I didn’t like to know that, and when he started making copies of ones he thought she would shred, she’d claim she never saw them and he’d produce a copy and she hated it.
It was neat the insight we got into the job, about him having to answer the telephone and take care of the Bag every day. He imagined he knew it was her calling by the ring of the telephone and he always knew what kind of mood she was in by the first syllable. He knew by the background noise what they’d talk about. He said running bathwater meant they were in for a playful 10 minutes during which he was supposed to imagine her up to her neck in bubbles and the sound of a dress being unzipped meant she was having a fitting with her designer..or something. That was funny. It was uncomfortable reading that she could lower your guard and then deliver a stinging rebuke about something that appeared in the papers, some of them were fired, and she would hang up on them. It was funny when he said her sense of timing was uncanny; she usually called when he was late coming back from lunch. Diana would stage herself being photographed or call journalists and it gave them a lot of trouble trying to deal with it. He felt that she didn’t set out to rebel but that she wanted to please herself since she couldn’t please them, that’s why she did all that charity work, and that she had to compensate for the rejection she got from the royal family. All she wanted was for someone to tell her she’d done a good job but she didn’t get that.
Waiting for her to come downstairs, he always tried to figure out her mood. Bad phone calls would put her in a bad mood, being late would make her irritated, bumpy rides in planes would put her in a bad mood. It sounded really bad, because “moods were what we all dreaded.” It was interesting that her lady-in-waiting carried around gum drops and there as an emergency stash of chocolate her chauffeur kept in the car, because she had cravings for sweets. He knew later it was her way of curing her emotional hunger.
The book really took a turn and my fears were realized as I read things that I definitely didn’t want to. He had said she would laugh at things because she wanted to laugh, even if she didn’t get the joke. Someone had already said she liked to shock people with crude jokes, but he mentioned even if she didn’t understand the jokes she told, she got a thrill from shocking people and that’s what she wanted. She’d mostly tell jokes about sex and she’d say it in front of outsiders, like the Queen’s Flight crews, diplomats and charity officials, and that she had an “infantile mockery” of the royal family, as her way of coping with stress. The looks on other people’s faces as she called them names, like Boy Wonder for Charles and “the Germans” for his parents made Jephson realize “other people’s feelings were less important to her than her desire for gratification.” Afterward she would either meet their eye if she approved of them for the day, as she dismissed them, or she wouldn’t meet their eye, letting them know she found them wanting. He wondered if he laughed enough. “But I got the message. Yes, I can be fun, but I can also choose to be an imperious madame—and now I own you.” I didn’t care for his view on the subject, and I didn’t like hearing bad things about her. I was so worried this would change my opinion of her and I didn’t want it to. Especially that in public she never mocked a disability or disfigurement, until she got in the car, and that she had a crude humor that was directed at the expense of those she had been visiting. This was a book to set the record straight that Diana wasn’t all nice and that the person she presented in public wasn’t the real one, but one she crafted because she knew how to please fans. And he implied that her compassion wasn’t because she really understood what people were going through, but because it was what she wanted people to do for her.
She also made the staff feel guilty if they took a vacation, or if they went on assignments. “It doesn’t seem fair on you”—by which she meant her—“to be sending you away. We’re so busy at the moment.” (We were always “so busy.”) He sounded like a disgruntled employee getting back at their boss. She knew he was going on a trip and was almost late and she kept him on the phone talking about something that wouldn’t happen for months, and her loneliness was transparent as she was familiarly “chiding her scatterbrained private secretary. A call that began with contrived recrimination ended with genuine good wishes for my success and a quick return. No wonder I left a heel.”
This was a jerk reliving things he hated about his job and bashing his employer. I don’t believe in speaking ill of the dead and so couldn’t continue with this terrible story. I believe if you can’t say good things about someone who’s died, then don’t say anything at all. Certainly don’t write a book about every bad quality they had, your awful opinions about their braying laugh, indifference to the help and guilt trip she pulled when anyone needed to leave her. I am so against this book it isn’t even funny. I wish I’d never come across it and this thing shouldn’t even be sold for people to read. It’s not an account, it’s a sarcastically told narration from his point of view that we’re supposed to accept as fact. I don’t like taking someone’s interpretation—their feelings—of an event instead of the truth. Stick to the facts and not how you felt, how you saw things, because it isn’t necessarily true just because he thought that’s how it was. It cast her in such a bad light and made me change my good opinion of her. I rue the day I ever found this in my library’s catalog.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 15, 2025
The book: “Shadows of a Princess” is about Princess Diana, written by her private secretary P D Jephson. The former personal secretary of Princess Diana describes the eight years (1987 to 1995) that he served her.
Now after reading the book you are left with mixed feelings. Why? Well, the book is not always positive about Princess Diana, yes sometimes she comes across as a monster in, among other things, the way she deals with staff etc.
But let’s start at the beginning. Her private secretary P D Jephson reports on his work, and that is mainly what it is about. His work, work and more work. Diana herself just lags behind in that respect. As a reader you are waiting for information about the princess. Not about how bad the work is. This man comes across as whiny. To name a few examples: Diana was moody and sometimes mean. (Well, she was only human, with good and bad days. She was certainly not a saint as I have written before.) Many trips all over the world, provided with all the comforts and then this man complains that he never went on holiday…. You can’t imagine that someone complains about that, traveling and provided with all the comforts… Most people can only dream about this….
The author comes across or came across as a person who is disappointed in Diana. At the time of writing and publishing the book, the princess received information about her private secretary that prompted her not to trust him. Now, after so many years, we know that these were lies, spread by the maker of the infamous interview of Princess Diana “Panorama”.
The style and structure of the story is also worth mentioning. The daily routine of working for Diana was illuminating here and there, but also quite boring. It took a lot of effort to keep your attention on the book. Chronologically speaking, it is very bad. You keep jumping back and forth between time and events. That certainly does not promote reading comfort.
I had expected more from the book. But this also turned out to be one that only used its “story” to earn money. Nothing more and nothing less. A recommendation? No, there are better books about Princess Diana. This one is a waste of time.
Now after reading the book you are left with mixed feelings. Why? Well, the book is not always positive about Princess Diana, yes sometimes she comes across as a monster in, among other things, the way she deals with staff etc.
But let’s start at the beginning. Her private secretary P D Jephson reports on his work, and that is mainly what it is about. His work, work and more work. Diana herself just lags behind in that respect. As a reader you are waiting for information about the princess. Not about how bad the work is. This man comes across as whiny. To name a few examples: Diana was moody and sometimes mean. (Well, she was only human, with good and bad days. She was certainly not a saint as I have written before.) Many trips all over the world, provided with all the comforts and then this man complains that he never went on holiday…. You can’t imagine that someone complains about that, traveling and provided with all the comforts… Most people can only dream about this….
The author comes across or came across as a person who is disappointed in Diana. At the time of writing and publishing the book, the princess received information about her private secretary that prompted her not to trust him. Now, after so many years, we know that these were lies, spread by the maker of the infamous interview of Princess Diana “Panorama”.
The style and structure of the story is also worth mentioning. The daily routine of working for Diana was illuminating here and there, but also quite boring. It took a lot of effort to keep your attention on the book. Chronologically speaking, it is very bad. You keep jumping back and forth between time and events. That certainly does not promote reading comfort.
I had expected more from the book. But this also turned out to be one that only used its “story” to earn money. Nothing more and nothing less. A recommendation? No, there are better books about Princess Diana. This one is a waste of time.
January 1, 2022
What an excellent read. I gained a lot of insight into the real person behind the facade. The writer seemed like a respectful, intelligent, and loyal employee who tried to help her, but in the end I felt very sad for him because he felt he had failed at the job. I don't think he failed at all. I think he did all that was humanly possible. The princess was at turns rash, impulsive, and moody, and he seemed to have been always walking on eggshells around her. I always felt Charles was to blame for the marital problems and I was dismayed when he married Camilla, but as with all similar situations, there are two sides to every story and Diana was far from perfect. While some Diana fans may not like this book, it is a fair, balanced, and truthful account of what life as her private secretary was really like.
March 21, 2023
Book was a very interesting look into the life of the right hand of the princess of Wales. He acknowledges that much of what he wrote could be classified as a disgruntled former worker, and yes, some of what was written had that tinge to it, but a lot of it rang true with what has been written about Lady Di and what her closest people have said.
A complicated and nuanced look into the fascinating and tragic life of Diana. All parties involved were in the wrong, and you can take sides, or you can have empathy for both. I personally have such sadness for the boys. It’s obvious that the struggles in their relationships with one another and their father stems from the same struggles their mom endured. And that is tragic, too.
A complicated and nuanced look into the fascinating and tragic life of Diana. All parties involved were in the wrong, and you can take sides, or you can have empathy for both. I personally have such sadness for the boys. It’s obvious that the struggles in their relationships with one another and their father stems from the same struggles their mom endured. And that is tragic, too.
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