Did Princess Diana’s mental illness cause her to treat Prince William more like a husband than a son? Is this why William chose the perfectly balanced and dutiful Kate Middleton for a bride? Lady Di was undoubtedly beautiful but it appears there were many faces to the People’s Princess and some of them weren’t so glamorous.
In her new book, Prince William: Born to be King, Penny Junor says Princess Diana was anything but the generous and loving mother we all came to admire. Instead, Juror says she was manipulative and damaging to her two young sons who were sheltered from knowing the truth of their mother’s questionable actions.
“The reality was that Diana was not always as warm and demonstrative in private as she was in public,” Junor writes. “Away from the cameras, the boys saw the extremes of her moods and were often frightened and bewildered by them. She just didn’t know how to be a mother.”
Junor claims Diana suffered from a mental illness that the royal family weren’t well briefed on. But the signs were there. After the engagement was announced, the 19-year-old went from a, “happy-go-lucky teenager into a volatile and unpredictable stranger.” And that’s one of the main reasons her marriage to Prince Charles deteriorated – not his affair with Camilla Parker-Bowles, now the Duchess of Cornwall.
“Diana’s mood swings were violent and unnerving,” Junor writes. “In the blink of an eye, she went from cheerful and funny to brooding and sobbing, or furiously angry and screaming. At other times, she cut herself until she bled profusely. His wife needed constant reassurance, constant attention, constant love; but Charles had no idea how to cope. He became prone to temper tantrums, for which he didn’t always apologize. But he did everything she asked: he got rid of loyal staff whom she said she didn’t like; gave away the faithful dog she couldn’t stand; and stopped seeing the friends she neither liked nor trusted. But nothing seemed to make her happy.”
The validity of this book will naturally come under fire from many especially since it’s being published on Prince William’s 30th birthday, June 21. Although there are some new fiery claims, I’m not too sure people will spill their pockets to read more damning gossip about Diana.
By now we’re all well-versed on her depression, bulimia, and the unbearable loneliness she felt while married to Charles. To claim she was a bad mother to Princes William and Prince Harry would seem unbelievable. The Princes do not speak publicly of her often, but when they do, it is with love and undeniable devotion. Maybe some things were hidden from them but I always thought the problem with Diana was her inability to hide things from her sons – especially William. Diana famously used him as a shoulder to cry on when her royal life was at its worst. If anything, she should be called out for that – and she has. So when will we let this woman’s sins rest?
Are you interested in the book or do you think it’s just trying to capitalize on the new popularity of the young royals?