Archive Photos/Express NewspaperThe Prince and Princess of Wales after their wedding at St. Paul's Cathedral on July 29, 1981.

Archive Photos/Express NewspaperDiana's father, the Earl Spencer, with his second wife, Raine, in front of Althorp, the family estate.

Reuters/Ru7ssell Boyce/Archive PhotosDame Barbara Cartland, the romance novelist, who is Raine Spencer's mother. "Her false eyelashes look like two crows flying into the White Cliffs of Dover," said Diana, who would not invite her stepgrandmother to the royal wedding.

Archive Photos/Express NewspaperDiana and her mother, Frances, who left Diana's father to marry Peter Shand Kydd. Accused of adultery, Frances lost custody of her children when her mother, Lady Ruth Fermoy, testified against her in the divorce.

Archive Photos/Express NewspaperDiana's brother, Charles Spencer, who inherited his father's t.i.tle, was known in the press as "Champagne Charlie."

Rex USADiana is estranged from her older sister, Jane, who is married to Sir Robert Fellowes, the Queen's private secretary.

Archive Photos/Express NewspaperThe young Princess of Wales in the fat and thin stages of bulimia before she conquered the disease and put herself under the fashionable tutelage of British Vogue. Vogue.

Archive Photos/Express Newspaper

Archive Photos/Express Newspaper

Archive Photos

Archive Photos/Express Newspaper

Archive Photos/Express Newspaper

Rex USA

Archive Photos/Express NewspaperThe glamorous Princess became the most photographed woman in the world.

Reuters/Mike Theiler/Archive Photos

Archive Photos/Express Newspaper

Rex USA

Rex USA

Archive Photos/Express Newspaper

UPI-Corbis/BettmannDiana becomes the first member of the royal family to touch a person suffering from AIDS.

Tim Rooke/Rex USA"I am a humanitarian figure," said Diana during her 1997 visit to Angola, "always have been, always will be." After visiting amputee children, she criticized governments for continuing to manufacture lethal weapons and called for a worldwide ban on land mines.

White House Photo"My biggest thrill," said Diana after dancing with John Travolta, the star of Sat.u.r.day Night Fever, Sat.u.r.day Night Fever, at the White House in 1985. at the White House in 1985.

Rex USA"The Prince nearly fell out of his chair," said the Royal Ballet's Wayne Sleep after Diana leapt on stage at Covent Garden in a white satin slip to surprise her husband. She had secretly rehea.r.s.ed a dance routine that she performed in front of 2,600 people who had never seen royalty slink seductively across a stage. Charles later said her "exhibitionism" embarra.s.sed him.

Rondadswell/Rex USAAfter Diana found out about her husband's affair with Camilla Parker Bowles, she began her own love affair with Army Major James Hewitt.

Globe PhotosDiana with art dealer Oliver h.o.a.re. Newspapers reported that for eighteen months the Princess peppered the married man with anonymous telephone calls and screamed torrents of abuse at his wife.

Glenn Harvey/Globe PhotosEngland's rugby captain Will Carling, another married man who became close to the Princess of Wales. His wife threatened to name Diana in a divorce suit for adultery.

Globe PhotosBritish car salesman James Gilbey, whose telephone conversations with Diana were secretly recorded by a mysterious third party. In one transcript, Gilbey rea.s.sures the Princess, whom he calls "Squidgy," that she won't get pregnant.

UPI-Corbis/Bettmann"I never looked better," said Sarah Ferguson of her July 23, 1986, wedding to HRH the Duke of York, the Queen's favorite son.

AP/Wide World"At one point, I weighed 250 pounds. I've always had a weight problem," said the d.u.c.h.ess of York, also known as Fergie. "I'd work out, but then I'd eat ten sandwiches with gooey mayonnaise." She later lost 100 pounds and became the spokesperson for Weight Watchers International.

Archive Photos/Express Newspaper

AP/Wide World

Rex USA"Glamorous at last," exclaimed Fergie in 1991 after months of strenuous dieting. Like the Princess of Wales, she, too, took lovers outside her marriage. Her excuse: her naval husband's absence. "He was away at sea all the time," she said. "But he's still my bestest friend."

Rex USATexan Steve Wyatt was "the love of my life," Fergie admitted. She was five months pregnant when they met. "He bored everyone to tears," said the columnist Taki, "by talking about diets and good karma and the rest of the bulls.h.i.t modern Americans pollute us with."

UPI-Corbis/Bettmann"I like athletic men," said Fergie, who courted Australian tennis player Thomas Muster.

Dave Chancellor/Globe PhotosJohnny Bryan, whose poolside romp with Fergie and her children in the South of France in 1992 was captured by paparazzi. The photos of a bare-breasted d.u.c.h.ess and her toe-sucking financial adviser caused an international scandal.

AP/Wide World

Archive PhotosAs single mothers, Diana and Sarah begin new lives. The Princess of Wales with her two children, Prince Harry and Prince William. The d.u.c.h.ess of York with her two children, Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie.

AP/Wide World

Archive Photos/BIG PicturesSophie Rhys Jones with HRH Prince Edward, who asks to be called "Mr. Windsor" during the days he works for a living making television doc.u.mentaries. In the evenings he insists that people address him as His Royal Highness. The Queen gave the couple, who met in 1993, permission to share Edward's rooms at Buckingham Palace.

Archive Photos/Express NewspaperThe Queen Mother on her ninety-fourth birthday surrounded by most of the royal family. Back row, left to right: Anne, The Princess Royal; Commander Tim Laurence; Viscount Linley and his wife, Serena; Peter Phillips, son of Princess Anne; Sir Angus Ogilvy; Princess Alexandra; Prince Edward; Prince Andrew (head turned away from camera). Front row, left to right: Her Majesty; Zara Phillips, daughter of Princess Anne; Queen Mother; Prince William; Princess Margaret; Prince Charles; Prince Harry.

Archive Photos/PA News

Trog/The Observer/London/Cartoonists & Writers Syndicate

AP/Wide WorldTHE TROUBLES OF PRINCESS DI (REPRISE)by Calvin TrillinOh Di, we try to keep your troubles highOn any list we make of tragic matters.Egad, it's sad the tsoris tsoris that you've had: that you've had: The prince. Your health. A paramour who matters. The prince. Your health. A paramour who matters.And now you vow to stick it out somehow,So William would be king, and not his pater.If so, let's go. If it would end this show,We'd like to see it sooner, Di, not later.Calvin Trillin Prince William, the man who might be King.

Chapter Notes.

More than one thousand people contributed to this book over a period of four years. Many who provided information are cited in the text, the bibliography, and the acknowledgments. The following summary, by no means all-inclusive, provides the reader with a general review of other aspects of research involved in constructing the book.

CHAPTER 1.

Traditionally, royalty has been held up as the golden standard by which the rest of us should live. An ill.u.s.trious moment occurs in Leon Uris's novel Exodus, Exodus, when the King of Denmark transmits a message to all Danes regarding the n.a.z.i command that Danish Jews must wear a Star of David: when the King of Denmark transmits a message to all Danes regarding the n.a.z.i command that Danish Jews must wear a Star of David: "The King has said that one Dane is exactly the same as the next Dane. He himself will wear the first Star of David, and he expects that every loyal Dane will do the same."

The next day the residents of Copenhagen stood in the town square wearing armbands with the Star of David. The following day the Germans rescinded their order.

Struck by the King's admirable courage, I wrote to the palace in Denmark, seeking to verify a historical incident and learn more about this n.o.ble monarch who had demonstrated such integrity. He was an exemplar of how royalty should should behave. Since I was writing about royalty, I wanted to define its enn.o.bling characteristics. behave. Since I was writing about royalty, I wanted to define its enn.o.bling characteristics.

The following reply from the Lord Chamberlain of Denmark made me wish I had never inquired. It taught me a lesson about the facts and fables and fantasies of royalty: With regard to the incident described in With regard to the incident described in Exodus Exodus by Leon Uris (1958), the following information regarding King Christian X of Denmark's att.i.tude toward the Jews can be supplied: by Leon Uris (1958), the following information regarding King Christian X of Denmark's att.i.tude toward the Jews can be supplied: 1. In 1933, 1. In 1933, after after Hitler's takeover, the King attended a service in the synagogue. Hitler's takeover, the King attended a service in the synagogue. 2. In 1941, after the German occupation, the King in a personal letter condoled the Jewish community due to a fire in the synagogue. 2. In 1941, after the German occupation, the King in a personal letter condoled the Jewish community due to a fire in the synagogue.3. In October 1943, the King in a personal letter to Ribbentrop warned him against interning the Danish Jews.King Christian never wore the David Star and nothing is related for sure that he eventually threatened to do so....

Almost apologetically, he concluded his letter to me: "The story has been widely spread and used by many other Danish and foreign authors."