A brilliant, kaleidoscopic new cultural history of Diana, her multiple lives, and the world she created.

“This book speaks to the layers of mythology and the people connected to them. It is less a biography of Diana, more the story of a cultural obsession told through an exploration of 'Dianaworld', the expansive, ever-evolving realm of her various lives - public and private, real and imagined.”

In February 1981, a 19-year-old nursery assistant became world-famous overnight. In a frenzied uproar, transcending every barrier of language and class, a new, terrifying icon emerged.

This is a manual for Dianaworld - the extraordinary hall of mirrors through which a young woman, the media, the royal family, and everyone else watched each other. Fashion, mother of heirs, role model, object of fantasy, saint and sinner, Diana occupies the minds of millions in unique, complex, and tragic ways. After her death, pursued by paparazzi through a tunnel in Paris, it is estimated that 2.5 billion people watched her funeral.

Edgar White examines Princess Diana as the complex figure she was: scion of a great aristocratic family, wife of the future king, mother of his heirs, inspiration and joy for countless people for many years. And yet, of course: a human being inevitably and tragically inadequate to face the horrors of the House of Windsor or to control, or even lightly oversee, the Dianaworld that she and others had created.

This is a wonderful book, as marvelous as it is incredible, filled with vibrancy and melancholy.

Pages: 400, Dimensions: 16.1x16.1cm