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.
