A new biography on Diana, Princess of Wales reveals that the late Royal wanted to relaunch herself as a documentary filmmaker, and raise awareness about some of the world’s most pressing social causes.
Sarah Bradford, who also wrote a biography about Queen Elizabeth, reveals the Princess’ plans in her book, Diana. Bradford has based the claim on the revelations of a “new, very well-connected source”, who told her that Diana was considering a media training course in New York, so that she could prepare for a presenting role in the documentary format.
The topic that the late Princess had chosen to present, the source revealed, was the problem of adult illiteracy. “Diana didn’t do so well in the academic subjects at school,” explains Bradford.
“Her highest academic achievement was a school prize for best-kept hamster. So she would identify with people who struggled with reading and writing. She wanted to tackle unusual subjects that were usually ignored – illiteracy was not a sexy subject then, and it still isn’t now.”
In her introduction she concludes: “Diana’s plans included making carefully researched television programmes into subjects or causes which interested her – along the lines of the documentary she made on her landmines trip to Angola in 1997.
{{/usCountry}}In her introduction she concludes: “Diana’s plans included making carefully researched television programmes into subjects or causes which interested her – along the lines of the documentary she made on her landmines trip to Angola in 1997.
{{/usCountry}}“She intended taking media training in New York that autumn to enable her to do so. She was also passionate about advancing the cause of the illiterate – possibly stimulated by her own weakness – something which was not on the fashionable agenda a decade ago,” she writes.