Book: Royals Turned Diana Into Schemer
They're fuming at Buckingham Palace, reports CBS News Correspondent Tom Rivers.
A former aide to Diana, Princess of Wales, accused Britain's royal family on Sunday of turning her into a "scheming rebel."
Patrick Jephson, who was private secretary to the late princess for over seven years, said the Royals treated Diana with indifference instead of reaching out to her.
He makes the accusations in a book Shadows of a Princess, which is being serialized in Britain's Sunday Times newspaper. The Royal Family has condemned its publication.
"The Princess of Wales did not set out to be a rebel," says Jephson. "What in the end was seen as her disaffection was what she did to compensate for a chronic feeling of rejection."
If there are any bombshells in this book, reports Rivers, Jephson is keeping them under wraps. What he describes in the Sunday Times is a complex and confused princess.
But, it's not all one-way traffic. Jephson paints a picture of a Princess of Wales who had a desperate need to draw attention to herself. An insecure person, but one who had endured a lot, which, he says, would have driven most others completely crazy.
Jephson's portrayal of the princess is often less than flattering — he describes a woman who lied, schemed and had a desperate need to draw attention to herself.
"Being content was not a natural state for her," he says. "Given the chance, she always preferred to plot and manipulate."
Diana was killed in a car crash in Paris on August 31, 1997. Her failed marriage to heir-to-the-throne Prince Charles produced two sons, William and Harry, before ending in divorce in 1996.
Earlier this month Queen Elizabeth and Prince Charles took the rare step of issuing a public statement deploring the planned publication of Jephson's book, which they said would be upsetting for Diana's sons and family.
In an interview with the Sunday Times Jephson defended his decision to write the book, saying it was a "truthful and balanced account" of his time with the princess. He went into public relations after quitting royal service in 1996.
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