New book on Diana paints her as schemer

LONDON, April 23 (UPI) -- A new book about Britain's Princess Diana, due out months before the 10th anniversary of her death, offers a bleak look at her marriage to Prince Charles.

"The Diana Chronicles" by former Vanity Fair editor Tina Brown, portrays Diana as a "spiteful, manipulative, media-savvy neurotic" who sought men, including Prince Charles, for status and wealth, the Daily Mail said.

Brown reportedly interviewed more than 250 people, some of whom have never spoken publicly about the princess before. Sources include Prime Minister Tony Blair, whose role in the Princess's funeral was shown in "The Queen," and James Colthurst, a baronet's son who discussed his role in passing the princess' recordings to Andrew Morton for his book, "Diana: Her True Story."

Brown's "Chronicles" delves into Diana's pursuit of the prince, her bout with bulimia and her relationship with Dodi Fayed, who died with Princess Diana in Paris auto crash August 31, 1987.

"I definitely think the portrait of Diana is one that has a lot of human generosity," said Brown, author of a scathing 1985 Vanity Fair article about Princess Diana. "Like everyone she's a combination of things and that's true of all the protagonists in the book."