The Princess

Content warning: manipulation

Orphan Sandy becomes friends with her schoolmate Diana Spencer.

The Princess begins with the story of Sandy, an orphan who attends school with Diana Spencer. Sandy admires Diana for her ability to make everyone feel important and included. Sandy recognizes that Diana is someone special, but she has no idea how special and beloved her friend will one day become.

The story then jumps to Sandy's reunion with Diana, Princess of Wales in 1992. Diana tells her old friend about how her marriage to Prince Charles was orchestrated by several palace agents including Charles' grandmother The Queen Mother. Narration switches between Diana, Charles' valet, Charles, and even The Press during the period of introducing Charles to Diana and their inevitable engagement and wedding.

Diana is painted as a naive young woman who is in love with love and convinces herself that she is in a fairy tale romance with Prince Charles. She ignores the signs of Charles' indifference and his relations with Camilla Parker-Bowles. The reader can't help feeling sorry for the young woman who was manipulated by the royal family's machine into a loveless marriage.

Recommended for royal watchers and readers who still feel Diana's loss decades later.

Wendy Holden is a bestselling author who also writes as Taylor Holden. She is a former journalist who writes both fiction and non-fiction.

Series: Windsor Women Trilogy/Royal Outsiders, #3

Publisher: Berkley

Length: 416 pages

Release Date: August 1, 2023

Representation: orphan

I received an electronic galley copy of this title from the publisher through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.