Diana - Remembering the Princess
'Diana was the very essence of compassion, of duty, of style, of beauty. All over the world she was a symbol of selfless humanity. All over the world, a standard bearer for the rights of the truly downtrodden, a very British girl who transcended nationality. Someone with a natural nobility who was classless and who proved in the last year that she needed no royal title to continue to generate her particular brand of magic...'
From Charles Spencer's address at his sister Diana's funeral, Westminster Abbey, 6 September 1997
Today, twenty-five years since Diana's death, seems the right moment for a reassessment of this remarkable woman. Did the Royal Family learn lessons from her life, about protection and privacy, about how to incorporate 'outsiders' into their ranks, about how to manage scandal? Did it take any lessons from her death, and the public's reaction not only to that, but to the behaviour of, in particular, the Queen and Prince Charles, in the aftermath? Or have the family and the Palace - 'the men in grey suits', as Diana called them - continued on the same track, unchanged, repeating many of the mistakes made with her, from her first nervous ventures in royal circles to her later defiance of traditional protocols?
These and many other questions are explored in this authoritative book, written by two people closely associated with Diana: Inspector Ken Wharfe was the Princess's police protection officer for six years during the most turbulent period of her marriage to Prince Charles. Ros Coward was chosen as author of the official book by the Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Trust. Their book is both an examination of the people and events of the time, and an elegiac tribute to one of the most iconic figures of the late twentieth century.
Inspector Ken Wharfe, MVO, was personal protection officer to the late Diana, Princess of Wales, in charge of round-the-clock security at home and abroad, from 1987 until 1993. His memoir, Diana: Closely Guarded Secret, co-written with Robert Jobson, was a bestseller on its first publication and again when it was reissued in a revised edition in 2016.
Ros Coward is a writer and journalist, and the author of a number of well-received books on subjects ranging from feminism to environmental issues. She was chosen by the Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fund and the estate to write Diana: The Portrait, published in 2004.