Elizabeth is a record holding queen. She has been on the throne during two centuries and a new millennium, and her commitment, discipline and sacrifices made her a beloved symbol of the English monarchy. Diana was the princess of hearts, who for a brief but tormented period was stubbornly determined to undermine the foundations of her mother-in-law’s throne. The combination of the charismatic queen and the princess with an extraordinary talent for communication would have had enormous media power: instead their relationship was a disaster. Perhaps just a bit less of one than the relationship between Diana and her husband, Charles. Only by knowing the two women better, we can understand the profound reasons for the enmity that seems to survive even death. Since 1997, Diana’s name may not nor has ever been said by anyone in front of the queen. Young Diana Spencer, beautiful, noble and virginal, seemed the perfect wife for a graceless, fragile and romantic prince. Instead, their tormented marriage opened the royal bedroom to horribly intimate gossip, and their divorce put the queen through the most difficult years of her existence. Diana’s tragic death brought the English monarchy to its lowest point of popularity in its entire history. To understand the real reasons for this extreme conflict, Luisa Ciuni and Elena Mora went back over those sixteen years that Elizabeth and Diana shared as mother-in-law and daughter-in-law, comparing their habits and styles, strategies and follies, marriages and patrimony. Once Diana was gone, the monarchy succeeded in assimilating the lesion of the pop princess, then slowly but inexorably cancelled the memory. So that everyone could celebrate the queen’s 90th birthday with the most traditional and heartfelt “God save the queen.” The authorsLuisa Ciuni, a journalist and writer, is from Palermo but has always lived in Milan where she works as chief editor of culture and entertainment for the newspaper Il Giorno. She has written various books on fashion and the history of fashion in addition to Gossip terapia and Le bugie hanno le gambe lunghe (both with Elena Mora). Her short stories are in the collection Cuori di pietra, Facce di bronzo, and Corpi. Cairo Editore has published her and Elena Mora’s Grace e Diana (2010) and Kate e William (2011). Elena Mora was born in Piedmont and lives in Milan. She is a professional journalist and was editor-in-chief of the weekly mag Diva e donna. She has a passion for writing and has had many books published, among which are Manuale anti-ansia per genitori (with Maria Rita Parsi), Gossip terapia and Le bugie hanno le gambe lunghe (with Luisa Ciuni), Il dizionario dei giochi perduti and Il dizionario dei sapori perduti (with Alberto Mora, Cairo Editore 2012, 2014). Her short stories are in Cuori di pietra, Facce di bronzo and Corpi. She also writes children’s books and cartoons. Cairo Publishing SrlCorso Magenta, 5520123 MilanoItalyTel +39 02 433131Fax +39 02 43313550Represented by:PIERGIORGIO NICOLAZZINILITERARY AGENCY Via G.B. Moroni 22 20146 Milano tel./fax +39 02 48713365