cover image Diana, Princess of Wales: How Sexual Politics Shook the Monarchy

Diana, Princess of Wales: How Sexual Politics Shook the Monarchy

Beatrix Campbell. Women's Press (UK), $22 (198pp) ISBN 978-0-7043-4585-0

At the time of her death in a fatal car crash in 1997, Diana, Princess of Wales, was ushered into secular sainthood by millions of people who saw her as the victim not simply of an unfortunate accident but also of a cold and uncaring British royal family whose members demanded strict adherence to repressive traditions of public behavior and marriage. When Diana broke from these conventions during her life, she became a populist rebel and heroine. Looking at Diana's life through a feminist lens, Campbell, a British journalist and academic, has composed a political hagiography that elevates Diana to the position of feminist role model and martyr. Although she draws on familiar news accounts and popular biographies about Diana's life and relationships, Campbell's reinterpretation of the facts is refreshing and persuasive. Claiming that the ""patriarchal foundations of the monarchy have lost their legitimacy,"" Campbell sees Diana as a modern, independent woman who did not stand a chance against an institution that valued her only for her virginity, ability to have children and presumed complacency. She contends that Diana's depressions, eating disorders and suicidal impulses were personal if self-destructive revolts against her stifling existence as a ""royal,"" and that they occurred within a broader, historical framework of cultural misogyny. While Campbell recognizes that both women and men are hurt by this system, she does not stint on blunt criticism. For instance, she claims that Prince Charles ""used his children as an alibi in the face of public criticism,"" and that Diana died ""because a posse of men [the paparazzi] would not take no for an answer."" While Campbell's tone is forthright, sarcastic and even overtly angry, her arguments are provocative. (Apr.)