Former New Yorker editor Tina Brown has signed a major deal to write a book about Diana, Princess of Wales, and her impact on the monarchy and the media, U.S. publisher Random House said Wednesday.
Random House spokeswoman Suzanne Herz declined to comment on reports the deal was worth $2 million, but said the book would be published in 2007 to coincide with the 10th anniversary of the princess’s death in a car crash in Paris.
Diana’s death in 1997 sparked an unprecedented outpouring of public grief in Britain and sparked a backlash against the royal family, which was accused of being aloof and out of touch.
A string of books have been written about the late princess, often with deeply personal revelations about her unhappy marriage to Prince Charles, her bulimia and her affairs with other men.
“Tina Brown will examine the effect that the princess had on the monarchy, the public and the press,” Herz said.
British journalist Brown became a media darling when she moved from Tatler magazine in London to New York, taking over at Vanity Fair and then The New Yorker. But her star waned with the demise of her Talk magazine.
Brown left The New Yorker in 1998 to start Talk with Miramax co-founder Harvey Weinstein. Despite much fanfare, the magazine folded in 2002.
Brown returned to the spotlight in May 2003 with a cable television talk show.