DIANA CHRONICLES: Life before Charles + 1936 abdication | Ep.152 | The Scandal Mongers Podcast
The SCANDAL Mongers PodcastShow Notes
In the build up to the 30th anniversary of the death of Diana, Princess of Wales, Phil is launching a new regular feature - his Diana Chronicles. Based on his unique published - and unpublished - work on her life, he's going to re-examine all of the most important things you THINK you know about his remarkable and controversial woman in real detail. Starting with two statements that have become commonplace: that Diana had an unhappy childhood which damaged her in some way, and that she grew into an innocent ingenue, unaware of the sophisticated, decadent life of her future husband. Are either of these statements based on any real evidence? Do they fully explain the development of her character? And why did we come to believe them?
Phil is then joined by Sian Evans, whose new book on the 1936 abdication crisis is a refreshing take on a much examined story. Sian’s main thrust is political, and she argues that Edward’s romance with Wallis Simpson (who never truly wanted to marry him!) was but an excuse for the political establishment to rid itself of a man who was always going to be trouble.
Phil’s TV biography of Diana can be found here... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U--XrOrNgNE&t=2928s
There’s information and extracts from Phil’s own book here. It’s about to be published in paperback too... https://sites.google.com/view/1945thereckoning/home
You can order his book on Amazon UK and Amazon Australia, India and NZ - and it is available all around the world as an e-book and an audio book... https://www.amazon.co.uk/1945-Reckoning-Empire-Struggle-World/dp/139971449X/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=#
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More from The SCANDAL Mongers Podcast
In the build up to the 30th anniversary of the death of Diana, Princess of Wales, Phil is continuing his new regular feature - his Diana Chronicles. Based on his unique published - and unpublished - work on her life, he's going to re-examine all of the most important things you THINK you know about his remarkable and controversial woman in real detail. In this episode he delves into Diana and Charles’ courtship.
In the last episode Phil explored one of the darkest chapters of the ‘War of the Waleses’, the post mortem ’thrashing of Diana’ by some of her ex husband’s closest advisors. He didn’t know then that this story would, within a week, become headline news all around the world because of the new book by Diana’s brother, Earl Spencer. With extraordinary claims flying around, and an apparently open war between the Spencers family and King Charles, who are we to believe, is it even right to air such allegations now, and what does it all mean for the ongoing family rift over the recently returned Harry and Meghan?
Phil has discussed his feelings about ‘The War of the Waleses’ many times. But he’s never before gone into detail about the remarkable documentary project he made with Patrick Jephson over 20 years ago. Now, with Patrick's permission, he will do. The highlight is the story behind an astonishing interview with Penny Junor and what it revealed about efforts to trash Diana just a few months after her death, as part of an operation designed by the then Prince Charles' most trusted advisors to boost support for him and Camilla.
Yes, six years after MEGXIT, the dynamic duo are headed back to Britain and - whisper it softly - maybe a return to some royal duties too. But will bygones ever be bygones and what’s really going on behind the scenes?
Phil thought that the controversy over Professor Jason Arday - allegations of plagiarism and a somewhat inflated resume - was simply a sad story of lowering standards at his old University. But then it was revealed that the UK police got involved to investigate a senior education correspondent just for sending the Prof questions in an email. Now Phil think’s this is a full blown scandal, with much wider ramifications.