Make a trip to the library and go through them there, or, if your local system has links to reviews and exerpts, that's a way to check the various books to see what styles appeal to you.(our system does that and it makes it very easy to peruse the books) I was adored the Princess of Wales-the Queen could take her title away, but not for me- and thought her lovely and was drawn to the sadness in her. Imagine being hurled into the situation she was thrust into at the age of only 19, especially with no mother to guide you and having your every move watched by press that hounded one's every move. In many ways, she was much younger than her actual age and I always felt that she never deserved what she got in a husband- a man who did not have the courage to stand up to his own mother and admit that he could not stop his affair with a married woman and sacrificed the future and the happiness of his young wife for his own selfishness.
Enough said from me as you can see that I have very strong feelings on the subject. You are right that many, many books are written and those by Paul Burrell, her butler and confidant can be particularly painful to read as he was very devoted to her and it becomes hard to decide where reality and fiction divide. His accounts of remaining with her before she was moved to Lie in State are particularly wrenching. This is going to be a tough year for those that loved her as her sons as planning a special charity concert on her birthday and a memorial service on the anniversary of her death(with BOTH sides of the family, the Windsors and the Spencers in the same place for the first and only time since that dreadful funeral). One can only hope that the adults will behave and the events will be a fitting memorial to a lovely, caring woman who adored her sons and tried her hardest to leave the world a better place. It still tears at me to think of her buried all alone on that little island. hidden from the people she cared so much for. Isn't it amazing how someone we never knew can touch us so deeply and rouse such strong emotions in us?
May she rest in peace
