Quotes from a few books. I'd like your opinions, please

Started by Mike, January 14, 2009, 05:00:07 AM

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Mike

Here are a few passages from books I read on Diana that stuck in my mind and I'd like any comment.


Sarah Bradford, "Diana," p.285:

. . . it (Diana's supposed Borderline Personality Disorder) was another manifestation of the continuing argument between partisans of the Prince and those of the Princess:  was Diana disturbed before she married or did his behaviour with Camilla and the circumstances surrounding the couple drive her to bulimia and irrational behaviour?

----------------------

These two seem to be at odds with each other.


Andrew Morton, "Diana, Her True Story," p.328

"On summer afternoons she would spend hours sitting in the garden, engrossed in the latest blockbuster novel."


Tina Brown, "The Diana Chronicles," p.4

"Putting out a deck chair in her spacious garden at Kensington Palace was not a conceivable option for someone with an aversion to books."

-----------------------

Ingrid Seward, "The Queen and Di," p.249:

Prince Charles was Diana's first love.  She was not his.  She told me how, not long before their marriage, she had asked him about his previous girlfriends and were they 'better' than her.  An unusual word, but I knew what she meant.

It is a question many young women ask.  It is one any worldly man avoids answering.  Instead of side-stepping the subject, the Prince made the mistake of telling her about his other relationships.  One name stuck in her mind.  It was that of Camilla Parker Bowles.  Diana could not shake it from her memory.  It came to cloud her judgement and colour her actions.  She convinced herself that whenever Charles was absent from their home, he was seeing Camilla.

It became her obsession.  And in the end it became the reality.

------------------------

Is Seward suggesting Charles should have lied about his previous relationships?  Is honesty sometimes not always the best policy?

Thanks.
Mark Twain:
"Patriotism is supporting your country all the time, and your government when it deserves it."
and
"Get your facts first, then you can distort them as you please."

Gaeaskywalker

I want to react on your last quote and your question. Yes, sometimes it is better that you don't know everything. I have been in a similar situation. My ex and I just started our relationship when he told me that before me he used to have a new girlfriend every other week without breaking up first. Since I could be very jealous back then, it fed this jealousy. It had become an obstacle in the relationship and I didn't really trust him. I kept thinking he was cheating on me. What I know now was the truth. At first I was happy that he told me, but after a while it became a big issue.


Amaliaite #1 cheese-ite #0025

Trudie

Quote from: buffalobreath on January 14, 2009, 05:00:07 AM
Here are a few passages from books I read on Diana that stuck in my mind and I'd like any comment.


Sarah Bradford, "Diana," p.285:

. . . it (Diana's supposed Borderline Personality Disorder) was another manifestation of the continuing argument between partisans of the Prince and those of the Princess:  was Diana disturbed before she married or did his behaviour with Camilla and the circumstances surrounding the couple drive her to bulimia and irrational behaviour?

----------------------

These two seem to be at odds with each other.


Andrew Morton, "Diana, Her True Story," p.328

"On summer afternoons she would spend hours sitting in the garden, engrossed in the latest blockbuster novel."


Tina Brown, "The Diana Chronicles," p.4

"Putting out a deck chair in her spacious garden at Kensington Palace was not a conceivable option for someone with an aversion to books."

-----------------------

Ingrid Seward, "The Queen and Di," p.249:

Prince Charles was Diana's first love.  She was not his.  She told me how, not long before their marriage, she had asked him about his previous girlfriends and were they 'better' than her.  An unusual word, but I knew what she meant.

It is a question many young women ask.  It is one any worldly man avoids answering.  Instead of side-stepping the subject, the Prince made the mistake of telling her about his other relationships.  One name stuck in her mind.  It was that of Camilla Parker Bowles.  Diana could not shake it from her memory.  It came to cloud her judgement and colour her actions.  She convinced herself that whenever Charles was absent from their home, he was seeing Camilla.

It became her obsession.  And in the end it became the reality.

------------------------

Is Seward suggesting Charles should have lied about his previous relationships?  Is honesty sometimes not always the best policy?

Thanks.

Regarding the Queen and Di quote of course the name Camilla would stick during their courtship they spent a lot of time at Boldehyde Manor the home of the Parker Bowles, The fact that Cammy knew of the engagement and left a note for Diana when she arrived at CH and the famous lunch where she questioned Diana on her plans i.e. hunting after marriage her interests. and let us not forget the GF bracelet I don't recall any other former girlfriend getting a farewell gift from Charles upon his marriage. Seward had it wrong it was a reality that had become an obsession. But Diana is now dead and Cammy is alive why shouldn't Ingrid change tacks now to continue to curry favor and invitations from Charles. The difference in her writing is when Diana was alive she gushed sugary stories about her and about a year after her death the change in her writing was unmistakable Pro Charlie and Cammy.



sandy

Seward had an axe to grind. SHe is the only one to talk of Charles' confession. Diana figured it out by hersef. Seward was quite nasty to Diana in print (Majesty, The Queen and Di, and William and Harry) during "Operation Camilla" because she wanted to curry favor with C and C. I thought her books pathetic and very biased. I disregard her because her loyalties were clearly with C and C. And Seward and Charles sycophants never condemmed Charles' affair with Camz(of course not) but pointed an accusing finger at Diana for "forcing" Charles back to Camilla because of Diana's "obsession." What a bunch of hogwash.

Seward also claimed that of course it was an "honor" for APB to share his wife with CHarles plus nastily charged Diana with "sleeping with Manakee" first so what else was poor Charles to do but sheep with Camz. He couldn't help himself with such a s---t of a wife. And interestingly after Diana denied to Setttelen there was a physical affair with Mannakee Ingrid retracted the poison pen and said Diana "didn't sleep" with Manakee.  I stopped buying Majesty because it practicaly is a love lettert to C and C.

Diana was not the airhead Brown depicted (not reading). Diana was good at languages and liked music and did read.

And that snippet from Bradford's book is not the complete story. I had the impression that Bradford DISCOUNTED the BPD Diagnosis. It came from DImbleby who NOT a professsional in the field leafed through some textbooks in psychology and came to this diagnosis (and he was not qualifid to make the diagnosis) to assist Charles in bashing Diana. But he subsequently left it out of his biography of Charles (he knew darn well what would happen if Diana saw this nasty stuff) but after Diana died, Penny Junor got hold of it and wrote Charles Victim or Villain the first of Diana was Mad and drove Charles to Camilla stories. Junor is another firmly in the C and C camp.

Stix Chix

#4
Quote from: buffalobreath on January 14, 2009, 05:00:07 AM
Sarah Bradford, "Diana," p.285:

. . . it (Diana's supposed Borderline Personality Disorder) was another manifestation of the continuing argument between partisans of the Prince and those of the Princess:  was Diana disturbed before she married or did his behaviour with Camilla and the circumstances surrounding the couple drive her to bulimia and irrational behaviour?
i dont put much stock in the BPD theory.  it's an illnesses psychiatrists dont like to make a snap diagnosis on, so how Penny Junior can label Diana as one i dont know! :laugh: 

but she did have bulimia (as did her older sister) and that in itself shows that she wasn't ok.  so yes....i'd say Diana did have troubles (it could have been genetic, or over her parent's divorce, could have been both) before, during and possibly after her marriage.  the fact that she had it didn't help the marriage.....the fact that it was a bad marriage aggravated her condition....the pressure she was under from the press, public and her new royal duties didn't help either.

you really cant blame a person for having a mental illness.  and you really can't blame a person for not being able to deal with someone's mental illness.  Charles could have been more supportive, Diana could have used more self-control but neither was able to.  imho. 

QuoteThese two seem to be at odds with each other.

Andrew Morton, "Diana, Her True Story," p.328
"On summer afternoons she would spend hours sitting in the garden, engrossed in the latest blockbuster novel."

Tina Brown, "The Diana Chronicles," p.4
"Putting out a deck chair in her spacious garden at Kensington Palace was not a conceivable option for someone with an aversion to books."
go with Andrew Morton.  he actually talked to Diana and to her friends.  Tina Brown met her for lunch a couple times.

QuoteIngrid Seward, "The Queen and Di," p.249:
Instead of side-stepping the subject, the Prince made the mistake of telling her about his other relationships.  One name stuck in her mind.  It was that of Camilla Parker Bowles. 

Is Seward suggesting Charles should have lied about his previous relationships?  Is honesty sometimes not always the best policy?
Charles made a classic male mistake.  men take note: the dress never makes her look fat and all your ex-girlfriends are nothing in comparison to your current gf and certainly not to your bride-to-be.

Harryite #0004

sandy

I'm not buying into THe Seward edition of How Diana found out about Camilla. Anyone would wonder why Camilla was hovering and knew things about her fiance that she didn't.Creepy.Diana put two and two together but only after the engagement. Apparently she bought into Camz being a "safe married friend" for a short time. She actually hung out with Camilla (they are pictured together) until she caught on. And of course Diana knew about Charles' previous relationships (she figured out Camilla was not a safe married friend a bit later) he dated her sister after all.

Diana was not "mentally ill"--she had an eating disorder which did not mean she was fit for a psycho ward. Charles cruelly had the "mad" DIana aired first from his friend Fatty Soames who publicly called Diana"paranoic." Diana did not have this eating disorder until she move into BP and saw what was going on with C and C. An employer said she was happy and healthy pre enagement and Diana got over the bulimia after she separated from Charles.I wonderwhy.

Mike

#6
Stix Chix, Sandy and Trudie,

Thank you for your remarks.  Such insights are what I'm looking for.  I am a relative late arrival on the Diana scene and I'm looking for guidance like yours.

I didn't follow Diana's life when she was alive, I knew who she was and the basics of the bad marriage, but, that was it.  I was shocked by her sudden death and watched the funeral on TV, but, then put her out of my mind.  What did British Royalty have to do with me?  Then, when the media started talking about the tenth anniversay of her death, I really got caught up in it.  I couldn't get enough about her.  I've "calmed down" a bit since, but, my interest in her is alive and well.

Thank you all again for your replies.

Mike
Mark Twain:
"Patriotism is supporting your country all the time, and your government when it deserves it."
and
"Get your facts first, then you can distort them as you please."

Trudie

Thanks Mike. I have followed Diana from her courtship to her death. Diana was not mentally ill in any way shape or form. Bulimia is a eating disorder not a mental illness. Diana's bulimia started when her engagement was announced and that unflattering suit she thought made her look big and Charles putting his arm around her and say she was getting a little chubby. Diana suffered postnatal depression again not a mental illness but normal fluctuations in hormones after giving birth. If anything one could argue Charles suffers from a mental illness after all when things don't go his way he starts throwing the Crockery and his temper is legendary.