Dianaworld: An Obsession

A fascinating new perspective on the life and afterlife of Diana, Princess of Wales, the planet’s all-purpose cultural icon.

Over the last forty years, the mythology of Princess Diana has turned the woman who was born Diana Spencer into a symbol for almost anything. From a harbinger of Brexit populism, an all-American consumer capitalist, and the savior of the British aristocracy, to a catalyst for #MeToo and—in the words of one superfan—“the biggest punk that’s come out of England,” Diana connects with a wider array of people than any member of the royal family ever has. We feel so familiar with Diana that it seems crushingly formal to use anything but her first name.

In Dianaworld, Edward White guides us through this strange precinct of a global cultural obsession. It’s a place of mass delusions, outsized fantasies and quixotic dreams; of druids, psychics, Hollywood stars, obsessive stalkers, radical feminists, and Middle Eastern generals. In a signature, innovative “exploded biography,” White offers both a portrait of the princess, and group portraits of those who knew her intimately; those who worked with and for her; and the many ordinary people whose connection to Diana reveals her unique and enduring legacy. White draws on a kaleidoscopic array of sources and perspectives never before used in books about Diana or the royal family—from interviews with sex workers and professional lookalikes, to the Mass Observation social research project and the Great Diary Project in Britain, and the peculiar work of outsider artists.

Diana would have approved of her posthumous title, “the People’s Princess”: the image of a royal with a pauper’s soul was exactly how she marketed herself. In Dianaworld, White explores Diana Spencer—the person and the cultural figure—by re-creating the world Diana lived in and illuminating her lasting impact on the world she left behind.