If you're a Diana fanatic (which I happen to be --- call it a sad but guilty pleasure), then you will find SHADOWS OF A PRINCESS remarkably entertaining. Except for an opening sequence in which HRH finds herself the witness to a particularly pornographic drug deal, which sets a nasty tone for the book at first, SHADOWS OF A PRINCESS, written by her private secretary, P. D. Jephson (or P. J., as the folks at K. P. --- or Kensington Palace --- called him), gives every Diana fan the chance to look in on her day-to-day adventures and get the behind-the-scenes details of some of her particularly trying times during the last years of her life. It is the most portentous book about Diana, Princess of Wales, to hit the bookshelves yet.

Jephson has a winning way with words, an ability to be both self-deprecating about his own trials and travails --- of trying to keep Diana happy with her work and organized in her life --- as well as funny but touching when reliving some of the crazier times he spent with the Princess. It is just this openhearted and loving tone that makes SHADOWS OF A PRINCESS a lot of fun --- we know that we are reading a book in which the writer had both the best front-row seat to the adventures of this imperfect but endlessly fascinating woman and a lapdog's ability to see through the not-so-nice stuff to encounter the loving, creative and searching woman underneath the public persona. P. J. does Diana justice here, and his combination of good and bad anecdotes about life with her makes for interesting reading.

I would suggest this book over the ones written by Diana's nay sayers, because it is the only one (and believe me, I've read them all) in which she is portrayed as both devil and angel yet ultimately human. SHADOWS OF A PRINCESS would make a great holiday gift for your favorite royal lover.