Shadows Of A Princess: An Intimate Account by Her Private Secretary

Rating:
Summary: Some spice but mostly bland
Review: After all the commotion around this book I expected it to be nastier. Indeed, there are some critical portions about Diana, but Jephson also defends and admires his former employer.

I actually found his personal asides about the perks of life as a courtier interesting...e.g. the shooting party they had, how they blew off steam, etc. But I feel he could have done much more with personal glimpses into Diana's life behind-the-scenes. When he does give us the occasional offhand remark, they are as amusing and fascinating as the woman herself.

For example, even something as simple as her remark, at his job interview lunch, that "I hope you like chicken; they seem to serve it all the time" (not verbatim) I found very funny and sarcastic in her own way.

I feel this book could have been more, but it does show one a side of the royal life I never got in other books. I feel its biggest flaw is Jephson's redundant statements, time and again, about how Diana was manipulative in her emotions and media contact (some of this certainly debatable). He seems to be conflicted about even that much criticism as you find him second-guessing his own criticisms of her.

As a big fan of Diana books, this one may not be way up there but is worth a look.

-- J. Wilkinson

Rating:
Summary: Shadows of a Princess-for a reason!
Review: I have owned this book for 4 months now and literally cannot seem to get through it. I even put it aside to read another book about Princess Diana in its entirety, which was fascinating. Now that I'm back to this one, I've decided to skim through and locate the interesting parts until I'm finished with it. Patrick Jephson takes forever to make a point... the book is somewhat well-written, however, which may be its only positive point. I don't like smut or tawdriness, especially about someone who contributed so much to the world as Princess Di did, but sadly that seems to be all Jephson knows how to recount. I own practically all the titles written about Diana, but when this one joins them on the shelf, unlike the others, it won't be taken out again and re-read. I'm glad it was deeply discounted when I bought it!

Rating:
Summary: A Work of Literary Genius
Review: I have read them all for a screenplay I am writing and none made me guffaw like PDJ's; he writes of the travel set pieces with the wit of Moliere or the farce of Faydeau. Diana was a character from Central Casting and he puts her in her proper place, revenge perhaps for an employer (boss) who was awful to work for. This makes monarchy truly ridiculous and the author is to be thanked for his effort.

Rating:
Summary: Really excellent book
Review: I loved this book! I could see the author's wit and his sharp point of view in observing the funny side of serving the royals. If you read "The nanny diaries", you will see the same idea here about how the mighty and royal, rich peoples live. After reading that (I couldn't put down), I don't see what is the point of Princess Diana complaining about life, husband, etc. Many women go through the same problems (without the same benefits, kudos, peaks, privileges, etc)with their husbands, so what ? She should have count her blessings, stop tormenting the underlings. My heart goes really to the poor peoples who worked hard for her to shine. But these peoples that worked closely could see that not everything that shines is gold. What the public know about these rich and influential peoples ? They were not born shining like that. They were created, pampered by the lower class. That is why monarchy should be abolished. We are past the milenium, stop feeding these parasites. Make them work, not served like that.

Rating:
Summary: One of the two books about Diana that I will remember.
Review: I've read many books about Princess Diana...and I will read no more. As far as I'm concerned, there is nothing else left to be said. Of all the books I've read, there are two that I will remember the most--this one by Mr. Jephson, and Inspector Ken Wharfe's book. Both authors were condemned for writing their books...as if it's a sin to know your subject on a day-to-day basis! Wouldn't you think that actually would mean the book has more "truth" in it, than those written by people who hardly knew or didn't know the subject at all? And both were suppose to feel guilty about "hurting" Prince William and Prince Harry. Gee, after both your parents confess to adultery on TV, while you're still young boys in school, can you be hurt any deeper? And isn't it time the palace stopped using William and Harry as "guillotines", to try to silence everyone who says anything they don't want to hear? Mr. Jephson's book is well written and very intelligent. Inspector Wharfe suggested in a photo caption in his book that Mr. Jephson wrote his book out of bitterness. Maybe he did...or maybe he simply is not as kind-hearted and forgiving as Inspector Wharfe. Inspector Wharfe seemed to also take exception to Mr. Jephson's views that Diana's good works were done to feed her own psychological needs. Maybe Inspector Wharfe's views are more accurate...or maybe Mr. Jephson has a keener eye for what motivates others. And motivation is very important--if you are doing it all for yourself, you might as well not be doing it at all, because you are simply using those you claim to be "helping".Let others bash Mr. Jephson and Inspector Wharfe all they want. Their thoughts, memories and stories are their own "property", not the "property" of the palace! I personally am grateful to the two of them for writing their books...because somewhere between the pages of those two books, I must have discovered some "truths" about Princess Diana's life and the royal family...and the truth, I believe, always sets you free...and I am now free of the need to read any additional books about Princess Diana or the current royal family of England.

Rating:
Summary: Mean-spirited and poorly-written
Review: Jephson's "Intimate Accounts" reveal absolutely nothing new about the Princess or the royal family, but is instead yet another attempt to cash in on Princess Diana...and an extremely boring and poorly-written attempt it is. There is no coherent time line, stories and anecdotes are begun but never finished, and Jephson's boorish, preachy style quickly gets old. As other reviewers have mentioned, this is a book about Jephson, not Diana. Most of the text is an excruciating play-by-play of his days, minutes, and seconds, all relayed in a whiny, "poor-me" tone. The author takes all the credit for anything good in the Princess's life and gives her all the blame for anything bad. No one believes Diana was a saint, but the pure spite flowing through this work is obvious.

Thank goodness for the library, I'm glad I didn't buy this snoozer.

Rating:
Summary: Really excellent book
Review: Patrick Jephson served as private secretary to Diana, Princess of Wales for 6 years. Their relationship began with mutual admiration and respect and ended in mutual acrimony. Jephson could probably have used some time in therapy, but instead he chose to write this book. It's not intentionally vindictive, but he is so scarred by the experience of working for her that everytime he points out something good that the Princess did, he immediately feels the need to backtrack or devalue that quality. So, for example, Diana doing needlework on a plane becomes "reenacting a scene out of eighteenth century Versailles - another act". Or Diana needing to go to the toilet while on duty becomes a surprise designed to "test the ingenuity and resourcefulness of her equerry and to attract the sympathy of anybody else within earshot". You can't help but feel that Jephson was at much at fault in the relationship breakdown as Diana - clearly these are two personalities who just didn't mesh. For this reason, I ended up taking his conclusions about what was going on inside Diana's head with a grain of salt.

The book takes a while to get going. Early on it doesn't seem to have much structure and there are large sections that are repetitive. In the second half it finds its feet. In the early sections I felt defensive on Diana's behalf as Jephson relentlessly criticised her, but later I started to feel some sympathy towards him and the obvious misery that he was in.

This book is interesting if you want to find out more about the behind the scenes operation of the Royal Family - how royal tours are organised, what the staff actually do etc. It also sheds light on the breakdown of the royal marriage, although there are no dramatic revelations here. But if you are a diehard Diana fan, this is probably not the book for you.

Rating:
Summary: Hire an editor!
Review: This book is nearly 500 pages, but barely half of that is informative and even less is actually interesting. I've read nearly every book about the Princess, this is one of the few I couldn't finish. I was interested in a portrait of Diana the woman rather than Diana the icon. I also read this book to get some insight about the inner workings of royalty and the "palace machine". Any hopes of this were lost in Jephson's endless rambling.
He criticizes Diana from head to toe, most of which seem ridiculous and petty. I have no doubt the Princess was a demanding and difficult boss, but Jephson makes her seem more like a soap opera villian than a normal, flawed human being. Before the first chapter is over, you'll be wondering why this man stayed with Diana for so many years. His bitterness overshadows what could have been and interesting "insiders" perspective of the Princess. AVOID IT!!!!

Rating:
Summary: Hire an editor!
Review: This book is nearly 500 pages, but barely half of that is informative and even less is actually interesting. I've read nearly every book about the Princess, this is one of the few I couldn't finish. I was interested in a portrait of Diana the woman rather than Diana the icon. I also read this book to get some insight about the inner workings of royalty and the "palace machine". Any hopes of this were lost in Jephson's endless rambling.
He criticizes Diana from head to toe, most of which seem ridiculous and petty. I have no doubt the Princess was a demanding and difficult boss, but Jephson makes her seem more like a soap opera villian than a normal, flawed human being. Before the first chapter is over, you'll be wondering why this man stayed with Diana for so many years. His bitterness overshadows what could have been and interesting "insiders" perspective of the Princess. AVOID IT!!!!

Rating:
Summary: shadows of a princess
Review: Unbelievably smug and self serving book about a man who thought he was princess of wales and how he taught Princess Diana all he knew!

No wonder the british monarcy is floundering.