With the authority missing from all previous accounts, acclaimed royal biographer Sarah Bradford delivers a complex and explosive study of the greatest icon of the twentieth century: Diana, Princess of Wales. With access to those closest to Diana and her select circle, Sarah Bradford casts aside the gossip and lies and takes us to the very heart of the Royal Family, talking to those who know them intimately, and finally separating the myth from the truth of the Diana years. Drawing on remarkable new interviews and first-hand accounts from friends, courtiers and employees, ''Diana'' paints an extraordinary portrait of a woman riddled with contradictions. Magnetic, affectionate, compassionate, stylish, and dutiful, on one hand; destructive, needy, self-absorbed, and consumed with insecurity and suspicion, on the other.''Diana'' follows the blighted childhood, which left her feeling she was an unloved disappointment; the old-fashioned courtship which saw her capture the Prince of Wales; the transformation of an unworldly teenager into an emotionally demanding yet adoring wife and mother; the damage caused by the ever present spectre of Camilla Parker Bowles; and the eventual collapse of the doomed marriage once hailed as the ultimate fairytale. Bradford examines Diana's relationships with her lovers, staff and friends as well as her children, husband and in-laws. She also charts Diana's profound commitment to her charities and her rare connection and empathy with all those she met; the struggle to find an identity after the separation from Charles; and the final, complicated year as a single woman. From the bestselling author of ''Elizabeth: A Biography of Her Majesty The Queen'' - Sarah Bradford's ''Diana'' is the most revealing, insightful and accurate portrait of the Princess, and her continued impact on the Monarchy.