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The fifth season of The Crown chronicles one of the most turbulent chapters of Princess Diana’s life—a six-year period over which her marriage to Prince Charles crumbled, against the backdrop of explosive royal biographies, even more explosive TV interviews, and highly publicized romances on both sides. But, as with all dramatizations of her life, from Pablo Larraín’s surreal Spencer to the numerous TV movies that have been released in the 25 years since her death, they leave us with more questions than answers.
Here, we select four eye-opening documentaries to watch now for a fuller and more nuanced understanding of Princess Diana’s life and legacy, from her difficult childhood to her private struggles with her physical and mental health, her game-changing charitable work, and the seismic impact her passing had on her family, the country, and the world at large.
Diana, Our Mother: Her Life and Legacy (2017)
In Ashley Gething’s unbelievably touching ode to the former Princess of Wales, Prince William and Prince Harry come together for the first time to speak publicly about their mother. They delve through personal photo albums and reflect on their memories of her as an always affectionate, fun-loving parent who had a pronounced naughty streak as well as a keen understanding of life beyond palace walls. There are contributions from other friends and family too, from her brother Charles Spencer to Elton John, and an examination of her commitment to the various causes she championed, but most poignant are the moments in which her sons speak about coming to terms with their loss, their voices audibly breaking.
How to watch: Stream on HBO Max, Amazon, Apple TV, or YouTube.
Diana, 7 Days (2017)
The second documentary to have been commissioned by the princes to mark the 20th anniversary of their mother’s death, Henry Singer’s tribute hones in on the week following her fatal car crash in Paris. With both compassion and restraint, it weaves together the recollections of her closest confidantes as they processed the accident and the run-up to her funeral, while also witnessing the global outpouring of grief it prompted. It acts as an affecting companion piece to The Queen, Stephen Frears’s reimagining of the same slice of recent history, viewed from the perspective of Helen Mirren’s grieving monarch.
How to watch: Stream on Amazon.
Diana: In Her Own Words (2017)
While Princess Diana did not grant interviews to Andrew Morton for his 1992 biography, Diana: Her True Story, she did answer the journalist’s questions via a series of secret tapes. These raw, revealing recordings form the basis of Tom Jennings’s account of her life, which take us from her tumultuous childhood to the early days of her romance with Prince Charles and beyond. She speaks with devastating candor about her battle with bulimia and postnatal depression; her confrontations with Camilla Parker Bowles about her ongoing relationship with her husband; and her increasing sense of isolation within the royal family. Though undeniably one-sided, it offers a fascinating insight into her state of mind at the time—and hearing her voice, nervous and halting as she attempts to tell her own story, is guaranteed to give you goosebumps.
How to watch: Stream on Amazon.
The Princess (2022)
Using only archival footage presented almost entirely in chronological order, Ed Perkins’s endlessly compelling study is a Princess Diana documentary with a difference. It opens with a spine-tingling scene in which swarms of paparazzi gather outside the Ritz hoping for a glimpse of the royal and her boyfriend Dodi Fayed, just hours before the accident that would claim their lives. The clock is then wound back to the early ’80s, to show a 19-year-old Diana Spencer being pursued by reporters. We watch as she becomes engaged to Prince Charles; marries him in a spectacular ceremony broadcast around the world; and soon grows into a national figurehead who is celebrated as much as she is criticized. The result is a chilling collage that highlights the unimaginable scrutiny she faced from newspaper editors, royal commentators, and the public, and the role this relentless media coverage—and our insatiable appetite for it—ultimately played in her death.
