What if Diana had lived?

Monica Ali, the best-selling author of 'Brick Lane', explains why, in her controversial new novel, 'Untold Story', she imagines what might have become of Diana, Princess of Wales.
 'Why did you decide to write a book based on Diana?" Since my forthcoming novel was announced, everyone I meet has been asking the same question.

Given that I'd chosen the world's most famous woman as my subject matter, I'd known there would be some interest, but I didn't know how much. Over the years there have been scores of books published about Diana, Princess of Wales, and while a few, such as Andrew Morton's Diana: Her True Story, have become best-sellers, most were instantly consigned to the remainder bin.

There have been fictional representations too, both in film and in novels, so while writing I was aware that I'd be adding yet one more book to an already crowded shelf. When I delivered the first draft to my publisher last July, Diana hadn't been front-page news for a few years. But then Prince William and Kate Middleton got engaged, and she displayed Diana's ring on her finger, and Diana was suddenly back.

My novel, Untold Story, takes Diana's life as a point of departure. Since her untimely death in a car crash in Paris, I had found myself wondering what would have happened if she had lived. When she died she was, on the one hand, trying to cement her public role through her pioneering campaign on landmines. She was also going through personal upheaval and behaving erratically. The pressure on her was immense. How would she have emerged from that period in which she seemed to be at some kind of crossroads? How would she have matured into her forties and beyond?

Although I did my research on Diana and she is very much the inspiration for my protagonist, my princess is fictional. She only exists in my imagination. But it seems to be this aspect that actually engages people the most. As one commentator wrote: "Monica Ali is not alone in imagining the twists and turns Diana's life may have taken had she lived." He goes on to create some "what ifs" of his own. "What if she had married Simon Cowell or Russell Brand?" Diana's troubled relationships with men were often the lens through which she was perceived, so that is an interesting question. If she had married someone "unsuitable", would she have forfeited national affection and her iconic status? Or would she have been deterred by public opinion from marrying whomever she pleased?