Review: The People's Princess

The People's Princess by Flora Harding
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I started reading this book with a bit of trepidation but soon found myself engrossed in the lives of Diana Spencer, a Princess that was never Queen, and Princess Charlotte of Wales (1796-1817), the Lost Queen. We have a book split into equal parts, one showing Diana's relationship with Charles during their engagement and leading up to and including their marriage. The other half of the book deals with the life of Princess Charlotte of Wales, following her engagements and subsequently her marriage and untimely death. Do you see a parallel here? Two Princesses destined to be Queen, two Princesses losing their lives tragically and before their time. Two princesses, one that had a horrid life and one whose life was so-so. I truly don't know enough about Diana to make any assumptions about her childhood. This book ensnared me and kept me reading until done. The author had a wonderful way of juxtaposing these two lives and making them come to life. I urge you to read the writer's notes at the back of the book. I did, and I find that I am curious enough to read more about these two Royals. *ARC provided by the publisher HarperCollins Publishers Limited, ATTL/EDELWEISS, and the author.

 
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SYNOPSIS: "Buckingham Palace, 1981

Her engagement to Prince Charles is a dream come true for Lady Diana Spencer but marrying the heir to the throne is not all that it seems. Alone and bored in the palace, she resents the stuffy courtiers who are intent on instructing her about her new role as Princess of Wales…

But when she discovers a diary written in the 1800s by Princess Charlotte of Wales, a young woman born into a gilded cage so like herself, Diana is drawn into the story of Charlotte’s reckless love affairs and fraught relationship with her father, the Prince Regent.

As she reads the diary, Diana can see many parallels with her own life and future as Princess of Wales.

The story allows a behind-the-scenes glimpse of life in the palace, the tensions in Diana’s relationship with the royal family during the engagement, and the wedding itself."