I felt like I knew a lot about Princess Diana but this book proved just how much I didn’t actually know.
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This book focuses on Princess Diana’s back story from a young woman at school, to an engaged woman, to an eventual princess. Of course, we know the way this tragic story ends but I was interested in this fictional backstory! Holden did a great job weaving this tale between two time periods reflecting on what should have been such a happy period but in reality was anything but.
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Huge thank you to @berkleypub @berittalksbooks @thephdivabooks @dg_reads and @netgalley for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.
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“‘I just think,’ she went on, ‘that I would be really, really brilliant at loving people. Helping them. Caring about them. With all my heart and soul, that sort of thing. If there was a job like that, I’d definitely do it.’” Indeed, Diana. Indeed. 💕

The whole world saw Princess Diana step from a gilded carriage for her wedding at St. Paul’s Cathedral. But before that fairy-tale moment came a dark and difficult journey.…

And just when I thought I could not possibly adore or learn more about Diana…this book comes along.

Ugh my heart feels so full if Diana was even remotely as whimsical and dreamy as she is portrayed in this book. And if so then she was, indeed, the ray of sunshine we all saw her to be.

This story, along with her life, was hopeful and romantic but tinged with sadness. Diana’s essence oozed from the pages and at times I felt like I was watching her old home movies. I know that this book was meticulously researched and that is very evident.

“Never explain and never complain, and all that.”

I was too young to be obsessed with her when she got married but I remember where I was when I heard about the accident and then that she had died, and I watched the entire funeral through tears. I still get chills when I hear Elton John’s tribute England’s Rose. I don’t know exactly what it was about her that was so special but it transcended class and duty and nationality. She was the brightest of lights and the world is better for having had her in it, even as brief as that time was. I feel honored to have been given what I believe to be a fairly historically accurate peek into her life before she became ours. 👑 💛

Thank you to Netgalley, Berkley Publishing, and the author for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thanks to Berkley for a copy of The Princess by Wendy Holden.

I struggle with biographical fiction sometimes, especially when there isn't a lot in the author's note about the research and unfortunately The Princess fell into that for me.

I struggled to get into this book from the beginning with the first third of the book being told through the eyes of Sandy, who was a classmate of Diana's at school and how they became friends. Then in 1992, it goes to Diana and Sandy reconnecting and then Diana sharing how she and Charles fell in love and the lead-up to the wedding.

It all was disjointed for me and in the later part of the book is told from the viewpoints of so many different people.

I'm a big fan of the Royal Family and Princess Diana but don't really recommend this book.

Diana Spencer, is a sweet young lady surviving in a tough world. But, her whole life changes when the royal family puts their sights on her for the wife of Prince Charles.

There is so much I want to say about this novel. First up, I remember all of this taking place. Everyone fell head over heels for Diana, including me! And yes, she was very, very young and thrown into a terrible situation. But, under no circumstances do I believe she was as stupid, insipid, or inane and this novel portrays her. Yes, I believe she was in love with the idea of being in love. But, she had been through her parents divorce, she knew a lot more than the author portrayed.

Now, there are parts of this novel in which I loved. These parts were 4 and 5 star reads. But, then there were parts that I rolled my eyes. Being the royal watcher that I am, I learned quite a few things and y’all know, I love a novel which teaches me a few things.

Need a good tale about Princess Diana…THIS IS IT! Grab your copy today.

I received this novel from the publisher for a honest review.

The Princess by Wendy Holden is a captivating piece of historical fiction that effortlessly transports readers into the enchanting world of British royalty. With its delectable attention to detail and impeccable portrayal of various well-known royal figures, this novel is sure to captivate and delight fans of the genre.

Holden's writing delicately weaves a tapestry of emotions, occasionally evoking a sense of wistfulness that adds depth to the story. Through her masterful storytelling, she brings to life the intricate lives of these regal individuals, allowing readers to immerse themselves in their triumphs and tribulations.

This novel is a treasure trove of fascinating insights, providing readers with a glimpse into the inner workings of the royal court. Holden's meticulous research shines through, as she effortlessly captures the essence of the era, painting a vivid picture of the opulence and grandeur that surrounded these iconic figures.

The Princess is a must-read for anyone with an appreciation for historical fiction and a fascination with British royalty. Holden's ability to transport readers to a bygone era, combined with her impeccable attention to detail, makes this novel an absolute delight from start to finish. Prepare to be enthralled as you embark on a journey through time, where the lives of these captivating characters unfold before your eyes.

Author Wendy Holden has written a stellar piece that gives the reader the story of Diana Spencer. She was daughter of Viscount Althorp, heir to the Spencer earldom - yet she was just like so many others. She experienced family turmoil and witnessed her parents marriage crumbling, she experienced life as a teenager of a broken family, she struggled with friendships, she didn’t do very well in school - yet like other teenage girls she found solace in books and loved romance novels. She longed for a Prince to fall in love with her, to sweep her away, and to live happily ever after.

Prince Charles was almost 38 years old before he was forced to find a bride and sire some royal heirs. This bride to be couldn’t just be anyone she had to be young, aristocratic and completely free of past liaisons. She must be pure a.k.a. a virgin and completely innocent. There could be no doubt in the lineage of her future children. Diana Spencer fit the requirements.

As the world watched it seemed she found her Prince and as she married Prince Charles at St. Paul’s Cathedral - a wedding fit for a fairytale - I wonder if she had any idea what becoming Princess Diana would entail or how much her life stopped being her own.

I found this book to be exceptionally written with meticulous attention to details - yet not written in a dry or uninteresting manner. The author takes you along to experience the road Diana Spencer traveled to become Princess Diana.

5 Stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

📚Disclosure: I received a review copy of this #book from Berkley Publishing via #Netgalley. All thoughts, opinions, comments, and interpretations of the story are my own and bias free. I did not receive any money in exchange for this review. Thank you to the publisher/author for allowing me the opportunity to review. Reviews are usually cross-posted to social media, goodreads, and blog. 🦄 @penguinrandom @Berkleypub @BerkleyRomance @penguinusa
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This book ended up not being what I expected. I’m not saying it’s not possible, but I just personally don’t like when you use a bland third-party character (friend/colleague) to tell the story of an extraordinary person…*especially* when the book is pitched as being *about* that special person with no mention of the narrator. It’s just a personal preference, but I don’t want a dynamic character’s to be filtered through someone who is more or less unremarkable in their own right.

What’s it about (in a nutshell):
The Princess by Wendy Holden is a novel about Princess Diana telling her childhood friend how she came to marry Prince Charles (now King).
My Reading Experience:
Wow, this story felt authentic. It didn’t change my opinion about anyone. Still, it definitely intensified feelings that were already there. And I attribute that to the authenticity. In this novel, Diana meets up with her friend in April 1992, just months before she officially separated from Charles. She tells her all that unfolded in the late 70s and early 80s until her wedding. Of course, it’s being told through the eyes of a woman who no longer sees events through rose-colored glasses. Still, other important people also narrated specific parts to balance what could be considered subjective.

I loved the woman empowerment feelings of Diana’s childhood friend, Sandy, versus the rules that Diana was raised with as a noble. It’s a great juxtaposition that clarifies how antiquated and even misogynistic the traditions and ideals of the nobility were during that time. The world has been growing and changing, yet the nobility was stuck back in a different time.

I initially saw footage of the courtship and wedding when I was very young and looked at it through the romantic eyes of a child and how the press portrayed it. It never occurred to me how much of a transaction it all was - barely more than an arranged marriage. My heart ached for Diana, who was also looking at the situation through the romantic eyes of a teen who read romance novels constantly. The reality didn’t take hold until she was married and had two children. I wondered why no one warned her about the reality - where was her family, and why weren’t they looking out for her, or would she have even listened?
Characters:
Princess Diana is very authentically and empathetically portrayed. She is fleshed out exquisitely to the point where I feel I understand her better now than I did when she was still alive. She believed in the ideal and wasn’t mature enough to see anything other than that ideal.
Narration & Pacing:
The pacing is a consistent medium pace that moves at a leisurely place but not one that feels too slow. The narration was mainly in first person, with Diana telling her friend, Sandy, what had happened and getting sections from other players in the tale -notably, the Prince’s valet, who played a prominent role in making the marriage happen and narrated sections. However, he was absent in the 1992 scene with Diana and Sandy.
Setting:
The setting was different areas of the UK, as the story took place in many other regions. It follows the real story consistently regarding the location.

At the age of sixteen, daydreamy Diana sets her sights on the Prince of Wales. With the help of palace insiders, she manipulates him into proposing. But can she make him fall in love?

Superficially, Diana is portrayed in this book as a young, innocent victim. She voraciously reads Barbara Cartland novels and dreams of fairytale romance. Yet she knows there's nothing romantic about dating the Prince of Wales. Her sister did that, and the relationship came to an abrupt end after she committed a faux pas. Diana is specifically told that she has the sort of qualifications the palace is looking for in the Princess of Wales. She studies Charles' past love affairs to make herself as desirable as possible to him and the royal machine. And it works.

But it's also clear that Charles is not in love with her. Weeks go by with no contact. When he does invite her to an event, he spends little time with her. Unless she's shockingly obtuse, she has to realize that he's just not that into her. She's in it for the crown, and she's willing to put up with his neglect in order to get it.

She thinks she's in love, but she's deeply in denial. She doesn't even know this man. She's in love with the idea of him. Diana is portrayed as empathetic and kind, but utterly insipid.

As with the previous books in the series, Elizabeth, the Queen Mother is the villain of the piece. But in the world of this novel, if she hadn't acted, King Charles would still be single, pining for a married woman, and Prince Andrew would be the heir to the throne {shudders}.

I doubt that the real Diana, Princess of Wales was ever the bland, spineless teenager portrayed in this novel. My impression is that she was far more witty and cunning. Naïve, yes, given how young she was, but also bubbly and full of life. That aspect of her personality didn't really come through, in my opinion, given that the author seemed intent on portraying her as a victim.

Thanks, NetGalley, for the ARC I received. This is my honest and voluntary opinion.

I went into this book knowing very little about Princess Diana and now I can firmly say that I really admire her. I was constantly looking up interviews, photos, and quotes from Diana while reading this book. Holden has created such a dynamic portrait of this beloved icon. She has painted Diana's larger-than-life status across the chapters of this book while still allowing her to feel like the real person she was.

This story reads like a historical fiction tell-all that you cannot put down. It pairs perfectly with primary source books, documentaries, and other resources about Diana's life. Holden helps us get to know the real person behind the public persona. Fans of Kristin Hannah and Curtis Sittenfeld will love this one.

This is the story of Princess Diana, told through the eyes of her close friend from boarding school. It opens with an invitation to the palace, where they reminisce, and Diana talks about how she was chosen by his family to marry Prince Charles.

It’s great historical fiction, based on facts. The “old friend” vehicle is a great way to tell her story with a personal touch.

I liked this book a lot, 4 stars.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed as in this review are completely my own.

Thank you @berkleypub for the free book and @prhaudio for the audio version as well. My thoughts are my own.#penguinrandomhousepartner
#berkleypartner #berkley #berkleybookstagram

If you are a royal watcher or a Princess Diana lover, you will enjoy this unique historical fiction novel by Wendy Holden.

In this story, in 1992, a disillusioned Diana enjoys a chat with an old school friend as she recounts how she was ‘set up’ to be in the royal family. The story unfolds through multiple timelines going back to Diana’s teens through her engagement to Prince Charles; and multiple perspectives (Diana, Sandy -her friend, the Queen Mother, valet Stephen Barry, Prince Charles, and even the press) as 1992 Diana describes her lonely childhood and her joy at meeting and falling in love with Prince Charles.

The author does a great job letting Diana’s voice come through as Diana tells the story. I could see how Diana’s naivety and youth made her the perfect candidate for those who schemed to make her the Princess of Wales for reasons of their own. The author uses many of the Barbara Cartland regency romance novels that Diana loved so much to explain Diana’s idealistic thinking as she really believed she had found her Prince Charming.

Though this is a work of fiction the author listed at least 20 biographies and fact based works she used as she gathered information. I have read many of those same sources and I felt this was a very realistic work of fiction. I have also read other works by this author and really appreciate the research that goes into her well-written works.

I got up in the wee hours in America to watch the glorious wedding of Diana to Charles, and have read scads about them since. This fine addition to the canon gives us a compelling behind-the-scenes look of Diana before Charles, then during their courtship. Anyone reading this gripping story can see how the match would end tragically, with Diana as a sacrificial lamb and Charles equally doomed, forced to marry someone he didn't love. Highly recommended for histfic fans and those beguiled by the People's Princess!

I loved The Duchess and The Royal Governess by this author so I was excited to get to read this ARC. I really did not know much about Princess Diana before she was Princess Diana so I thought this would be an interesting book. I enjoyed how the author told the story through multiple POVs. So many people were involved in deciding she would be the perfect candidate to marry Charles. Who cares if love was involved? I mean, whatever in love means, right Charles? Diana was so naive and I did not realize when she was 18 Charles was 30. They thought she was perfect to be molded into what they needed her to be. Here's the thing though. Eventually women get tired of the cheating and will break. I was very curious how it would end and I loved the ending. I knew of the story at the end of the book and thought that was a perfect way to end it.

-One thing I had learned from the novels of Barbara Cartland was that you could judge a book by its cover.

-It had been clear, at Darenth Park, that she was intelligent in a very rare way, an instinctive and compassionate way.

-"You have an incredibly special gift. Empathy, I think it's called. You're empathetic."

-She was a hard woman and would be an unloving stepmother. Which would be terrible for the Spencer siblings, who, for all their privilege, had experienced so little love.

-I reflected that great titles and vast estates rarely brought out the best in people.

-"Screw your courage to the sticking place." (I love a Hamilton reference, oh wait, a Beauty and the Beast reference, ok,ok, it is a Shakespeare reference.)

-"Love and royalty, they really don't go together, you know."

-But Charles would be there. He would help her, protect her. With his love and support, she could face anything.

I stayed up all night to watch Diana marry Charles, and now it's the subject of historical fiction.
This is a very enjoyable novel. I loved it. I am a long time fan of Diana and read many books about her while she was living. This one weaves fictional conversations, thoughts, and details around known events. The author achieves this seamlessly. Diana and her friends become real, tangible people the readers can care about, whether they followed Diana's story in life or weren't even born before she died.
The book focuses on Diana's youth and her courtship with Charles. I hope the author decides to pick up this story and fictionalize later parts of Diana's life.
This is a winner for anyone who enjoys books about royalty, fact or fiction.
Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This book is a look at Diana’s early life and family as well as her friendships with other young ladies. She is a girl who loves to read romance novels and longs to be in love. Her family is a bit dysfunctional, her parents having divorced when she was quite young.

She befriends one girl from boarding school who reappears in her life after her marriage of 10 plus years to Charles, and we learn from her reminisces to her friend what it was like for her before her marriage to .Charles and of all the machinations that went on to get the two of them together. Although I have previously learned a lot of this sad situation, my heart once again went out to this lonely girl who just wanted to be loved. I will say I wish the book had gone into what Charles and .Diana’s early years of marriage were like.

I received this book from the publisher via net galley in exchange for an honest review. Four stars.

💖 I received this book in exchange for an honest review from @netgalley .
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Diana, Princess of Wales was (and still is) an icon. But what no one knew at the time, was that her marriage was anything but a fairytale; it was arranged by her husband's family and the grey men of the Palace.
We meet Diana as a child - seen through the eyes of the fictional Sandy, an orphan sent to Riddlesworth on scholarship, who makes friends with the caring and compassionate Diana Spencer. The story surges forward and changes perspectives, alternating between Sandy, Diana, Charles, the Queen Mother, Stephen Barry and even the press: all showing how carefully coordinated the process of making Lady Diana the Princess of Wales. Contrasted to the frothy and bosom-heaving Barbara Cartland novels, Diana's "romance" is all the more tragic. The novel really hits home at just how YOUNG Diana was when she was placed on the royal conveyor belt, and just how little her happiness mattered to anyone that was arranging the show. @wendyholdenauthor has done her research and, having read most of the books listed in her sources, I enjoyed revisiting many of those scenes. Fiction yes, but a sympathetic and beautiful portrait of the beautiful and ultimately tragic People's Princess.

This was a very good historical fiction rendering of Lady Diana Spencer's recruitment as wife for the Prince of Wales, Charles Windsor. The book begins as Lady Diana is departing for St. Paul's Cathedral on her wedding day in July of 1981. Then the story reverts back to when Diana is a lonely child at boarding school where she connects with an underprivileged girl named Sandy. Although they come from vastly different backgrounds, in a display of Diana's empathy and disregard for class distinctions they become best friends. Then the time jumps forward to 1992 at Kensington Palace when Sandy comes to visit the now Princess Diana after not seeing her since school days. It's here that Diana opens up to her old friend, telling the story of how her marriage to Prince Charles came to be.

The author masterfully builds the story of an arranged marriage between Lady Diana Spencer and Prince Charles, masterminded by The Queen Mother (Charles' grandmother), her lady-in-waiting Ruth Fermoy (Diana's grandmother), Prince Phillip (Charles' dad), Stephen Barry (Prince Charles' valet), and Camilla Parker Bowles (then mistress, now Queen Consort to King Charles). Having read about Princess Diana and the Windsors extensively over the decades, this offering reeked of authenticity both in factual details and the author's spot on capturing of the main players' characterizations. Rich in details, this historical fiction imagining presents a highly probable account of how this ill-fated/iconic royal marriage was born. Even though I already knew most of these facts, the realistic presentation was like hearing it afresh, evoking such a sadness and sympathy for Princess Diana in me- for a young woman who seemed to truly love Prince Charles, but was a pawn in a greater scheme.

Thank you to Berkley Publishing Group for providing an advance reader copy via NetGalley.

I started this, intending to read a chapter or two at the most. Imagine my surprise then that The Princess pulled me in immediately and I didn't notice the change of chapters until I was on chapter - it’s highly readable.

As a child at the time of the wedding of Charles and Diana, I’m now middle aged and what struck me as magic and a fairy tale at the age of 8, now just hits me as unfortunate and sad.

Diana is a child when she meets Charles and, after her traumatic childhood she is in love with love and the concept of “happily ever after”. She falls for the then Prince of Wales and, being so young, is easily manipulated into the fairy tale she’s desperate for. Charles, of course, is a real person with his own experiences and feelings and due to the Firm and how things are done, is forced into a marriage with a “proper” candidate. The failure of this relationship is not a surprise when you consider the factors. It’s unfortunate for all involved. I’m thankful that marrying for love now is the norm for royals.

What comes along with a relationship with a future monarch must be almost impossible - I’m always impressed with the Princesses of Wales, Catherine and, before her, Camilla. Both women put up with constant and often unflattering press. Most people could not accept this and deal with it gracefully.

Historical fiction within my lifetime can be pretty fascinating and this one definitely is; I found The Princess to be engaging and consuming. Be prepared to lose time to this one, if it pulls you in as easily as it did me.



Thank you to Berkley and NetGalley for the DRC!

I enjoyed this historical fiction novel about Princess Diana. I was a little disappointed that it only focused on her life pre-royalty. I wanted to find out what happened after the wedding. Still, a good read!