The last two years have also seen the publication of books that attempt to analyze the significance of her life and death and assess her place in history. Among the best works are Planet Diana: Cultural Studies and Global Mourning (1997), a collection of essays from an Australian conference, Diana: Icon and Sacrifice (1998), written by a religious correspondent from the BBC  who studies her in historical, religious, and anthropological perspectives, and Julie Burchill's Diana (1998), the first biography to analyze the events of her life as opposed to merely chronicling them.
A feminist interpretation of how Diana's marital problems and her public persona influenced the House of Windsor is told in Diana, Princess of Wales: How Sexual Politics Shook the Monarchy (1998).The cover of  After Diana (1998) irreverently depicts her as the Virgin Mary and the quality of its essays are uneven, but it is an interesting glimpse into current treatment of her by British academics. The one good study from the US is The Princess and the Package: Exploring the Love-Hate Relationship Between Diana and the Media (1998). Diana: Fractured Fairytales (1998) is one of many books which examines the meaning of her death in the context of the crisis in contemporary spirituality and diminished church attendance. And the anniversary of her death continues to produce additional titles: forthcoming books this year (1999) include two studies on the psychological significance of the public mourning, one science fiction novel, and major biographies from Sally Bedell Smith, biographer of Pamela Harriman, and Anne Edwards, who has written books about Queen Mary, Vivien Leigh, and Margaret Mitchell.
 
 

Several books have been inspired by the circumstances surrounding Princess Diana’s death. The best of these is Death of a Princess: the Investigation (1998), but since it was written before the investigation was completed, it cannot be considered definitive. Who Killed Diana? (1998) is a conspiracy book, with possible contenders for assassins ranging from enemies of the Al-Fayeds to MI6 to Hollywood film producers, and with scenarios for perpetrating the deed which would be worthy of an espionage thriller. (Its credibility is not helped by its frank appeal to readers who are looking for “figures on a grassy knoll in Dallas, thumps heard in Brentwood, and soft metallic artifacts at Roswell”.) The revelations contained in Diana: the Last24 Hours (1999) claim to be based on transcripts from bugging equipment in the Imperial Suite at the Ritz Hotel. And thanks to internet super bookstores like Amazon, it is much easier to locate self published books like Diana the Queen of Hearts & the CIA/MI6 the Princedom of Darkness (1997), which contends that Princess Diana was murdered by the same groups that assassinated JFK.
 
 

Throughout her life, Princess Diana was an irresistible subject for novelists. The Prince and the Princess: a Very Special Love Story (1983) was written very much in the style of the Barbara Cartland novels which Princess Diana had loved as a teenager and included a happy-ever-after ending with the birth of Prince William. Heir of Sorrows (1988), which first appeared in the satirical magazine Private Eye, was a more jaundiced view that, considering what we know now, was quite accurate in depicting the state of the marriage at that time. A novel called Princess (1991) depicted the kidnapping of Princess Diana by Basque terrorists while on a visit to Spain, which caused it to be heavily criticized for fear it would give ideas to other terrorist groups.
The best of the novels before 1999 is Di and I (1994), a wonderfully humorous book in which she falls in love with an American writer and elopes with him and the boys to a new life in California as co-owner of a McDonald’s franchise. And since her death, at least two novels have appeared in which she did not die in the tunnel and was spirited away to a new life. (So watch those 7-11s for sightings of Princess Diana as well as Elvis and JFK Jr.) The Way of Gentleness (1998) sends her to Greece where she becomes a noted counselor and healer.
 
 

Go back to Case Two
Return to Exhibit Introduction
Return home to Princess Diana Shopping Arcade