The Diana Chronicles

By: Tina Brown

Narrated by: Rosalyn Landor

Length: 21 hrs and 21 mins

Publisher's summary

Ten years after her death, Princess Diana remains a mystery. Was she "the people's princess", who electrified the world with her beauty and humanitarian missions? Or was she a manipulative, media-savvy neurotic who nearly brought down the monarchy?

Only Tina Brown, former editor-in-chief of Tatler, England's glossiest gossip magazine, as well as Vanity Fair and The New Yorker, could possibly give us the truth. Tina knew Diana personally and has far-reaching insight into the royals and the Queen.

In The Diana Chronicles, you will meet a formidable female cast and understand as never before the society that shaped them. Among them are Diana's sexually charged mother, her bad-girl sister-in-law, Fergie, and, most formidable of them all, her mother-in-law, the Queen. Add Camilla Parker Bowles, the ultimate "other woman", into this combustible mix, and it's no wonder that Diana broke out of her royal cage into celebrity culture, where she found her own power and used it to devastating effect.

©2007 Tina Brown (P)2007 Books on Tape

Critic reviews

"Tina Brown has produced something that is, as well as absorbing and stirring, witty and penetrating." (Christopher Hitchens)
"A delightfully smart and insightful book that...weaves a compelling human drama into a rich social history." (Walter Isaacson, author of Einstein: His Life and Universe)
"This is not only first-rate biography, but a marvelous social history, and a bitingly accurate portrait of the English upper classes." (Michael Korda, author of Charmed Lives and Ike)

Best Bio of the late Princess

Excellent narration. I believe I've heard her before. The finest bio of Diana, while touching on other characters as well. 10/10, would highly recommend.

Very informative

Good book. The narrator did a fine job and I learned things about Diana l never knew.
It's so sad to me, people that seem to have everything one could ever want and yet they are SO miserable. I understand, but don't agree with it. It's a bit whiny.

Well narrated

Good narration, story wasnt just fluff and delved into the harder topics like “was diana manipulative” and “were phones tapped illegally?” Kept me interested

Well done

This book has lots of insider information. The stories are well told and beautifully read. Quite enjoyed this book.

Fascinating

If you are not an Anglophile or did not get up in the wee hours of the morning to watch the wedding of Diana and Charles, you are probably not going to be interested in this book.

I thought it was an interesting and riveting listen. Rosalyn Landor's narration was wonderful. The quality of my download was excellent. I did not have any issues with echo or hollowness of sound as another listener did.

Diana did not make a world-altering discovery or lead a country but there is no doubt she had a gift for touching peoples' hearts and giving comfort. She could have been an asset to the royals. Their own jealousy and inability to help her along with her own self-centered, destructive and selfish behavior doomed the marriage.

Tina Brown presents a fair and well-rounded look at the royal family and Diana. Brown knew Diana but fairly paints her manipulativeness as well as her compassionate and loving side. At the end of the book, you can really feel sympathy for all the players in this real-life drama.

What potential, what a waste and lost opportunity for them all. Hopefully her sons will benefit and learn from the story.

I thought this was a great listen.

Engaging

I loved the authors selection of Diana's life that was written about. It is a very good book.

great book!!!

loved it. amazing narrator. really enjoyed this one on audio. one of the best books about Diana available today.

Marvelously researched and heart touching

When I first acquired this book i had the vision of the Diana from the late press articles: the dysfunctional, dramatic, over the top and inadequate attention seeker, filled with emotional issues due to her inability to act as an adult and face reality.
For once in my life I'm glad I was wrong. Diana was so much more than that easy headline, that breaking picture; she was a real woman, complex, filled with feelings, dreams, expectations and unfortunately, deceptions.
Diana's life must be the best example of how a broken heart can be destructive, and make no mistake; if there was something Diana was not was dramatic, at least not when you actually acknowledge the facts.
This book allowed me to see the princess of Wales as a real human being and to understand why she behaved the way she did. If I had to define the book with one word, I'd pick "gentle" . It presents the facts in a non intrusive, non disrespectful manner, always showing what was behind the scenes in the most respectful sensitive way possible.
If you like history and you want to actually know more about the British monarchy and of of its most iconic figures in a sober and respectful, yet realistic and pure way, then I definitely recommend this book.

Didn’t know I could detest Camilla more …

… until I listened to this account of her leech-like hold on the spineless and whiny Charles. I am still waiting for karma to catch up with this entitled pair. Bring on King William!

Excellent, such a great listen!

well first of all it was very well read, and very well researched. the author of course lived in that area and met Diana herself and many of the people in the book. I'm sure she actually knows far more than she put into the book, but in the end we got plenty! I learned a lot more about what made Diana tick, and unfortunately, a lot more of the inner machinations of the royal household. like many others, I felt it a little personal, as I felt a small connection with Diana, she's only 5 months older than me, and I remember watching her get engaged, and specifically watching her get married while at my girlfriend's house, who at the time was only a year or so younger and was the splitting image of Diana at the time! we even got engaged ourselves. there's a lot more to be said about all that, but I always thought about her, about them both.
I can't blame her for much, Charles deserves so much of the blame. I won't blame him for being spoiled and self-centered or for being a narcissist, it's hard to think it might be otherwise someone in his position, but he never really loved her, even close, not even a half so much of what she deserved. I think he waited too long to get married, but worse than that, he kept seeing Camilla on the side, and what bride would ever put up with that! but this book is rife with the commonplace adultery that goes on in the landed gentry of England. I had no idea it was that pervasive and worse, just so accepted and condoned from the queen all the way down. it's very bizarre given that they have a very pent-up view of divorce and of a lot of other social norms. and yet they think nothing of on going affairs. I know enough of History to know, that is centuries past, if the king wanted to sleep with your wife, it was considered an honor and you would of course escort her to the Royal bedchamber. but I had no idea that it, or things like that would exist today! thank God that Diana raised her son's differently, and William and Kate, Harry and Megan, all have a bit more of that modern sensibility.
I guess I was a fan of the monarchy, I was never really against them, but after this book, and putting it together with everything else, I really understand why some people might question their relevance. or at the very least, do they even fit in???
on a final note, and I don't want to spoil anything, but after you're done, do a little research on that white Fiat. I don't think that things ended quite the way the media or law enforcement would like us to believe. at least he got what he deserved