This story resonated and appealed to me. Two stories, two princesses interwoven into an interesting book. Yes, I knew of Diana and the struggles she had before and during her marriage to Prince Charles but I knew nothing about Charlotte .
The book was beautifully written, based on fact mixed with fiction
I would highly recommend this book to historical fiction readers and royalty fans .
Thank you to Netgalley, Harper Collins One more Chapter and Fiona Harding for letting me read this book in exchange for an honest review

3.5⭐️

Thank you to One More Chapter, Flora Harding and NetGalley for a gifted copy in exchange for an honest review.

This was an interesting and entertaining read. It sure made me think about how glamorous royal seems, yet the reality is likely very different from our perceptions. It made me a bit sad thinking about Diana and how she may have felt while preparing to marry Charles.

I really enjoyed Charlotte’s perspective and found myself more engaged in this storyline. I do love the connection and assistance Charlotte’s life story made with and to Diana’s as she was getting ready to step into her new role as wife and Princess.

Like I said it was entertaining and worth a read. Give it a try and see what you think!

A very interesting read especially the parts about Princess Charlotte’s diary.
Many thanks to Harper Collins UK and to NetGalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

Diana Spencer has recently become engaged to Charles, the Prince of Wales. She dreams that her happily ever after is about to begin. However, her days as Charles’s future wife is not like she imagined it would be. Diana finds herself lonely and rarely spends time with Charles. One day, she sees a portrait of Charlotte, the Princess of Wales. She becomes curious about this princess and discovers her diary. This story tells the tale of both princesses who were trying to find their own happiness.

Charlotte was the daughter of George IV and Caroline of Brunswick. She was the Princess of Wales and in line to inherit the crown of England. Sadly, she died in childbirth before she could become queen. In this historical novel, Charlotte is a very fascinating woman. Her parents are trapped in a loveless marriage and often neglect her. Charlotte is a passionate woman and yearns to find love. She is also rebellious at times to pursue her own happiness. When she enters into a loveless betrothal, she fights against her father to break it. Charlotte also has to deal with the pressure. Charlotte is also in love with a man that does not return her affections. She gives him up and marries another. While she does not love her husband initially, she grows to love him. Charlotte is a tragic figure, and I could not help but wonder what England might have been like had Charlotte survived childbirth and became the Queen of England.

Everyone knows the story of Diana, whose life was a fairytale that had gone wrong. While her story is not surprising and not as fascinating as Charlotte, Diana’s storyline is still very compelling. Diana is portrayed as a sympathetic character. She thought she would have a fairytale romance and live happily. However, she often finds herself alone while Charles is often in the company of Camilla. She often wonders if Charles is truly in love with her. Diana also struggles with the press and bulimia. She wonders if she can be the princess that Charles is proud of. She is intrigued by Charlotte because she finds many parallels with her life. Even though she doesn’t believe Charles loves her, she is willing to marry because Charlotte didn’t love her husband initially, but their affection for each other grew after marriage. Diana believes that while she and Charles are not passionately in love then they can grow to love each other in time. With this reason, Diana is hopeful that her marriage can bring her happiness. Because readers know how her marriage ultimately failed, we sympathize with her and know she is making the biggest mistake of her life. Therefore, Diana is just as tragic as Charlotte.

Overall, this novel is about happiness, decisions, and duty. The novel tells about two tragic princesses who were beloved by the public. All of the characters were very complex. There were some parts of the novel, especially Diana’s story that were repetitive. Nevertheless, the novel is very well-written and meticulously researched. The People’s Princess is a very tragic, heartbreaking, and moving novel. This novel will linger with the reader long after they have read the last page. The reader cannot help but wonder what would have happened to Charlotte and Diana had certain events and decisions happened differently. The People’s Princess is definitely a must read for fans of the British royals! I recommend this for fans of The Other Windsor Girl, The Duchess, and The Queen’s Secret!

I really wanted to love this book- I adored Harding's earlier book, Before the Crown, and Princess Charlotte of Wales is one of my favourite historical figures. However, I found the juxtaposition of Charlotte and Diana a tad forced. The book was about 70/30, weighted in favour of Charlotte; I would have cut the Diana pieces and focused solely on Charlotte. Harding is great writer, this just wasn't a good fit for me!

The People’s Princess
By Flora Harding

Princess Diana is my favorite Royal and reading the blurb I knew I absolutely needed this book – also that book cover is amazing too!

The People’s Princess by Flora Harding is a historical fiction dual time line story set in 1981 Buckingham Palace and in the 1800’s as a diary is read by Diana about Princess Charlotte of Wales.

I found the stories interesting as Flora Harding drew parallels from their lives in the palace as Royalties, and how they both just could not fit the mold. I enjoyed learning about Princess Charlotte and following her life that I have no prior knowledge about.

Overall a very interesting read.

I adored this fictional look into the lives of the respected and deceased Princess Diana. I adored her in life & she is adored in death. This book was a delight to read.

2 stars

Princess Diana stories, even one like this where her story is only half of the novel, are definitely hard. Flora Harding acknowledges this in the author's note of this book, stating that there is so much written about her and yet barely any sense of who she really was as a person. Authors, therefore, get the exciting opportunity to fill in the blanks and create a fully-realized version of this woman that shaped the modern British monarchy.

What we get here with Diana is perhaps the worst example of a one-dimensional character in my recent memory. The Diana in this book basically has three personality traits, one of them being "as thick as two planks of short wood", and her entire storyline is just the same few scenes repeated over and over again. I was actually angry by how aggressively this book infantilized Diana, especially when there were so many other aspects of her personality and her story that could have enriched the story that Harper clearly wanted to tell.

The Princess Charlotte storyline, at least, was more interesting and we actually saw some growth from her character throughout her arc. That half of the book saved this from being a complete dud for me. I certainly don't envy the task that Harper took on by telling a Diana story considering how much available information that we have about her, but I can't help but feel like this did nothing to illuminate the story of Diana. Rather, I felt like it contributed to the storied history of her being diminished, abused, and looked down upon.

Thank you to NetGalley and One More Chapter for an ARC of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review!

A story of two princess, both of who will change the world.
Diana, the future Princess of Wales, is given a diary of Charlotte, Princess of Wales. Both are strong willed, determined to carve out their own futures. Both suffer betrayals and heartache.

I liked the book, but preferred the voice of Charlotte to Diana. Diana was a bit self pitying for my taste. Very well researched and exactly on point.

I really enjoyed this book. It captured a realistic, believable version of Princess Diana. This is definitely a must-read!

I am a fan of all things royal and have always been fascinated by Princess Diana. When I read the blurb, I knew this was one that I needed to read. In the weeks leading up to her wedding to Prince Charles, Lady Diana is given the journal of Charlotte, Princess of Wales. I am a huge historical fiction reader and had never read anything about Princess Charlotte short life. After devouring this book, I had to Google Princess Charlotte to find out more about her life. I highly recommend this book to all historical fiction fans!

I did struggle with this book, it was about two princesses running alongside each other—one our Diana and the other Charlotte.

It is written as though Princess Diana is reading the diary she has found of Princess Charlotte.

The writer's imagination of Diana's life leading up to her wedding to Prince Charles was entertaining. I found the part of Princess Charlotte a bit boring, to be honest, and unnecessary. I would have preferred the whole book about Princess Diana.
But to constantly make her out to be thick was unpleasant, who needs so much knowledge when you have the love, empathy, and care that she had in abundance.

I feel it was a historical book about Princess Charlotte, but to sell more copies the writer added the odd chapter about Princess Diana and named it the title they did?
Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book. xxx

A big disappointment.

A really nice novel about Diana. The writing style was good and it was a pretty interesting read.
I would recommend it to everyone interest in this topics.

This would have been better as a book solely about Princess Charlotte. Hers was the more interesting of the stories. It’s obvious that the author is not a big fan of Diana in the way that she’s described – constantly worrying about her figure, dieting, and whining about when she can spend time with Charles; anything else Diana ever did is rarely, if ever, touched upon. Charlotte’s sections were interesting but couldn’t carry the book.

I read this ARC for an honest review
All thoughts and opinions are mine

An unexpected delight. I thought I knew what this was about but was pleasantly surprised
More about Princess Charlotte than Diana, I learned a great deal

I really enjoyed the 2 timeline premise and appreciated the depth of research here

I really wanted to love this book but it just wasn't for me. It felt a little disrespectful of the real Princess Diana. It was a clever idea but wasn't executed well in my opinion.

I did not read the snippet of what this book was about as I was sure it was about Diana Spencer. I was surprised when II started reading and it was 2 stories set in different times. Diana is walking the halls of Buckingham before her wedding to Charles when she sees a picture of Princess Charlotte. Diana was unsure who that was and asked Charles about her. Charles finds Amelia who is writing about Princess Charlotte and she gives Diana a copy of the journal that Charlotte wrote.. As Diana is spending much of her time alone waiting for the wedding she is happy to have a distraction. I enjoyed reading about Princess Charlotte and the people in her life back in the early 1800's. the Princess was interesting to me and I would love to read more about her. Back to the days before Princess Di's wedding was interesting reading also and I can say if you pick up this book you will enjoy it.

When I first picked up this book, I thought it was going to be another Diana story. I soon discovered that this was really more the story of Charlotte, Princess of Wales, who tragically died in childbirth in 1817. The author weaves Charlotte’s story in with Lady Diana Spencer’s story from her engagement to her wedding day.

Lady Diana discovers a portrait of Charlotte as she is skating through the corridors of Buckingham Palace. Curious, she asks Prince Charles about the portrait. He puts her in touch with a historian who gives Diana a transcript of Charlotte’s diary. Diana carries the diary around over the next months as she plans her wedding. She draws parallels between her life and that of Princess Charlotte. This gives Diana the strength to face an uncertain future.

Though I didn’t learn anything new about Diana, I did learn about Princess Charlotte. If Charlotte had lived, she would have been queen instead of Victoria. If you love reading historical fiction about royalty you will love this book.

The People’s Princes by Flora Harding was an unexpected delight. This is my second book by Ms. Harding. Having read “The Crown” I was very happy to delve into “The People’s Princess”.

Full disclosure, I am a Royal watcher. Diana and Charles married one year later to the day that I married. Yes, I got up before dawn to watch history being made and again for her funeral.

What I adored about this book took place during the short time span between Charles and Diana’s engagement and subsequent wedding. There are two timelines in this story. The second timeline is about is about Princess Charlotte who was the Princess of Wales in the 1800's. The shifting of timelines is seamless. The connection and similarities of Diana and Charlotte made the story very magical.

The reader must remember that this is a work of historical fiction, and I might add, at it’s best. A tremendous amount of research was obviously done. As in “The Crown” Ms. Harding weaves a magical story with actual descriptions and events. The character development is wonderfully crafted. You really feel what Diana and Charlotte are feeling. You watch their characters develop beautifully. I thoroughly enjoyed learning about Charlotte since I hadn't known anything about her. Princess Charlotte was a well-loved princess in her own right. Actually Ms. Harding could have gotten two novels out of this book. I would have loved a more in depth look at Princess Charlotte. However the comparisons that are drawn are remarkable.

As with “The Crown”, this book was most engaging and so fascinating. I couldn’t wait for the next chapter. This was one of those stories that kept me up well past the midnight hour because I couldn’t put it down.
It was extremely well-written by Ms. Harding. My one small complaint was that I wanted more details about Princess Charlotte.

This was an excellent story that gives you an interesting perspective of both women and their experiences. I highly recommend this book. I can hardly wait to see what Ms. Harding has in store for us! Well done.

I did enjoy it. I found I needed a break and then dipped back in. It was lovely reading something from Diana’s perspective somewhat and that’s what sold it to me.

Everything I had thought about her was developed further in this book. I did enjoy it.