Today, twenty-five years since Diana's death, seems the right moment for a reassessment of this remarkable woman. Did the Royal Family learn lessons from her life, about protection and privacy, about how to incorporate 'outsiders' into their ranks, about how to manage scandal? Did it take any lessons from her death, and the public's reaction not only to that, but to the behaviour of, in particular, the Queen and Prince Charles, in the aftermath? Or have the family and the Palace - 'the men in grey suits', as Diana called them - continued on the same track, unchanged, repeating many of the mistakes made with her, from her first nervous ventures in royal circles to her later defiance of traditional protocols?

These and many other questions are explored in this authoritative book, written by two people closely associated with Diana: Inspector Ken Wharfe was the Princess's police protection officer for six years during the most turbulent period of her marriage to Prince Charles. Ros Coward was chosen as author of the official book by the Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Trust. Their book is both an examination of the people and events of the time, and an elegiac tribute to one of the most iconic figures of the late twentieth century.