Welbeck acquires Holden's Princess Diana title for six figures

Welbeck Publishing Group has acquired The Princess by Wendy Holden, which will complete Holden’s trilogy about outsiders in the House of Windsor.

Fiction publisher Jon Elek bought UK and Commonwealth rights from Jonathan Lloyd and Lucy Morris at Curtis Brown for a six-figure sum. Berkley will publish The Princess in the US. 

Holden's series fictionalises the lives of "outsiders" within the royal circle. The first title, The Governess, was published by Welbeck in August 2020 and was about the "controversial" woman who "raised" the Queen. The second title, The Duchess, will be published in 2021. It will explore the life of Wallis Simpson, the wife of the Duke of Windsor.

The third and final title, The Princess, will follow the early life of Princess Diana and explore the princess' "painful and complex" route to the royal family. Holden will take Diana's story from childhood to the moment she stepped onto the world stage at St Paul’s Cathedral, when she married Prince Charles. 

Elek said: "We are very pleased to continue our relationship with Wendy, and feel that Diana is the perfect subject to conclude this trilogy. She was the most famous woman in the world, a figure of endless fascination, but what formed her? Where does a phenomenon like that come from? Once again, Wendy has found the story behind the story."

Holden commented: "I am fascinated with these iconic and, frankly, strong women, the paths they took and the choices they made. With Wallis, I was keen to explore how a middle-aged woman with nothing, who came to London knowing no one, won the heart of the world’s most eligible man. Diana’s path to the Prince of Wales was different but no less unexpected and fascinating. I love writing about the House of Windsor. The personalities are off the scale. The historical fiction form provides the opportunity for emotional depth, truth and texture that is hard to reproduce on-screen. They’re a novelist’s dream.

"I am thrilled to extend my partnership with Welbeck, who have quickly demonstrated that they are a force in the land when it comes to high-quality book publishing."

The Princess is scheduled for publication on 18th August 2022.