There is a certain charm about Princess Diana, which lingers even today: 10 years after her much-pursued life came to an end in a dark tunnel in Paris. As the limousine?s driver was trying to dodge the ?devils? on motorcycles: known to the world of celebrity as paparazzi.
Tina Brown?s The Diana Chronicles is an excellent read but that is more because the subject continues to be one riddled with intrigue and awe and not because of the writing craft alone that Tina has infused into this rather weighty book. What is interesting about this work on Diana is the extensive research that Tina has undertaken to give us a rare insight into the life and the times of Diana, Princess of Wales who now lives in our hearts and minds as the People?s Princess. There are obvious biases which every biographer harbours depending on the angularity of the book, so it is not surprising to see a scathing portrayal of the Fayeds and the role they played including comments passed by Dodi Fayed?s uncle (who was at The Ritz in Paris the same evening that the crash occurred) when he famously said, ?if Diana were with me I would have taken her to the jungle not to The Ritz?: there are many such tidbits which spice up any biography and there is no way of saying how true it is but it does make for some exciting reading.
Having been an avid Diana follower, the book does stoke interest only because of the many theories it pursues; almost making them come across as facets of the life that Diana lived. And the book is not just someone sitting down to write about a woman who was at her time the most famous woman in the world. There are anecdotes that draw the circle that Diana was part of, as well: whether it is the Royal Photographer or Burrell, her butler, or for that matter the concerns that her only serious lover Dr Hasnat Khan had when it came to the massive media blitz that always surrounded Diana.
Where the book scores is that it does not foist an angle or a conspiracy theory like most biographies would. It carves for the reader a portrait, embellishes it with the many real-life situations that occurred and instead paints a paradox against that of Diana with the world on the one hand and Diana with her family on the other hand. Which is why the holidays that Prince William and Diana took with Dodi is contextualised by Prince William saying ? he felt like he was being tested and was worried what his mates would say when he went back to Eton after the vacation?. It is this kind of detailing that is fascinating and in a sense, I guess, the timing is perfect. Ten years is a long time to dig up stuff on your subject. In Tina?s case she has relied on the investigation that the British Government lodged into Diana?s death, headed by Lord Stevens as well as interviewed the French detectives who treated it not as a conspiracy (much as Al Fayed the owner of Harrod?s and the father of Dodi, would have the world believe today) but instead as an accident that happened because Henri Paul the driver was inebriated.
What I truly loved about the book is the many insights into the various moods; the fears and the insecurities that a woman of Diana?s appeal and influence had bottled up inside her. There are many such moments in the book where Diana comes across as someone who just wanted to get on with her life post the divorce with Charles. And the good thing about the book is that it does not lend an evil facet either to Prince Charles or for that matter to his then girlfriend and now wife, Camilla Parker Bowles. In fact, there is a mention of how upset and hurt she was that Charles made a public display by giving Camilla a 50th birthday party in the glare of media barely days after he and Diana divorced.
But more than anything else this is a book that comprehensively allows us to intrude into Diana?s life, not in a rude or obsessive sense but with the same refinement that the people?s princess lived her life with that famous toss of her hair and a smile which lit up all of England when she lived. And made millions across the world weep when she was no more. In a sense, the candles still haven?t blown against the wind as it were?
?Suhel Seth is president, Equus Red Cell