The Princess — Books, Beauty, & Buys

By: Wendy Holden
Published Year: 2023
Publisher: Berkley
Pages: 416

I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. This in no way shape or form influenced my opinion of this novel.

Summary (Provided by Goodreads): Princess Diana was the most famous woman in the world, celebrated across the globe for her poise and glamour. But before stepping out of the royal carriage at St. Paul's Cathedral she spent nineteen years as the shy, awkward Lady Diana Spencer. How did the aristocratic ugly duckling become a beautiful royal swan?

Bestselling author Wendy Holden explores the astonishing backstory and young adulthood of the ultimate royal celebrity.

Britain, 1961: A bouncing blond baby is born to Viscount Althorp, heir to the Spencer earldom, and his wife Frances. Diana grows up amid the fallout of her parents' messy divorce. She struggles at school. Moving to London, she takes menial jobs as a cleaner and nanny. Her refuge throughout is romantic novels. She dreams of falling in love and being rescued by a handsome prince.

In royal circles, there is concern about the Prince of Wales. Nearly 30, Charles remains unmarried; the right girl needs to be found, and fast. She must be young, aristocratic and come to the royal family without any past liaisons.

The eighteen-year-old Diana Spencer is just about the only candidate. Her desperation to be loved dovetails perfectly with royal desperation for a bride. But as the ruthless Palace machine starts up, there are challenges for Diana to face plus mysteries she can't fathom, from the strangeness of life within the palace walls to a certain Mrs. Parker Bowles. Can her romantic dream survive the forces that shape her into a global icon?

First Impressions

I have been enjoying some more recent historical fiction, so when I saw this one I was intrigued. I’ve read about strong historical female figures in the 50s, 60s, and 70s, so reading about Princess Diana seemed like a solid next step. I haven’t read the other Royal Outsider books by Holden, so this was my first experience.

What I thought

This book follows Princess Diana from childhood and up to the 1990s. She had a close friend named Sandy in elementary school and when her world starts to fall apart, she reaches out to her to tell her all about how she truly ended up as princess.

Being completely honest, if I wasn’t reading this book for review, I wouldn’t have finished it. It was slow to start and then by about half way I hated everyone. Granted, I’ve never liked Prince Charles but this book made me really dislike him. I was never one who knew a lot about Diana, since I was young when she was around, but always had positive feelings about her. This book made me dislike her too.

I don’t know if part of my issue was that I knew what was coming or just the way it was formatted. I thought at first it was going to be told through the eyes of her fictional friend Sandy. But instead, it was told from everyone’s perspectives. When Diana starts to share with Sandy how she was manipulated to marry Charles, the perspective switches to Charles’ valet Stephen, and then to the Queen Mother, and to Charles at one point, and even some other minor characters. It felt very disjointed and I never connected to anyone. Then it would jump back to the 90s and you’d have Sandy’s perspective again.

This book made Diana sound so dumb and whiney. I know she was 20 when she got married and 18/19 when they started dating, but this book makes her seem incredibly immature and naiive. I think it’s supposed to make you feel sympathetic but the book also has a ton of her friends telling her how dumb she’s acting and she chooses to ignore them.

I enjoyed the earlier years because I didn’t know much about Diana’s childhood or family life and that made me sympathetic. Considering how negatively this book paints everyone, I’d be shocked if it gets sold in the UK. Not to say they don’t deserve it or it’s not true, but wow. Holden does not like the Royal Family, that’s for sure.