From the Publisher

By Elizabeth P. Valk

THOUGH THE TROUBLED MARRIAGE OF THE PRINCESS OF Wales and Prince Charles has been the subject of intense scrutiny by the world's media, the gaudy theater accompanying it often complicates the task of discerning fact from fiction. In Britain especially, dailies, television and books feed the public's seemingly insatiable appetite for news of the secretive House of Windsor with the barest scraps of private information.

Senior writer Martha Duffy found herself doing extraordinary work to get at the truth for this week's cover story on the royal family. "The first law of life is no one wants to be quoted or have a quote attributed to them," she says. "People are terrified about losing their connections." Duffy's Law of Royal Coverage holds true even down to the restaurants, dress shops and commercial establishments that Diana frequents. "There's so much money to be made," Duffy says, "it's not worth it to a restaurateur or a designer to talk."

Chiefly, she tapped the expertise of two groups that observe their subjects from distinct vantage points. Constitutional experts and royal historians, many of whom have written books, provided historical context. But it was photographers who had the most to tell, even if they didn't want their names seen in print. "If I want gossip, I don't go to a gossip columnist. I go to photographers," Martha says. "There're a number of them making a living from shooting the royal family. With their sharp and trained eyes, they know a great deal about personal habits."

Above all, she relied on Buckingham Palace for entree. A "royal rota pass" granted her temporary access to view the prince and princess in action. Such observations only reinforced Duffy's respect for Diana. "If someone tells me she's stupid, I stop the conversation," she says. "Diana is not; she is as savvy as she is incandescent." Palace aides helped fill out Duffy's firsthand impressions so long as her inquiries skirted personal matters.

Small wonder Martha considers this her most challenging assignment since she pursued the reclusive writer J.D. Salinger in 1961, her second year at TIME. "On one level, the royal routine is truly an exotic life, one particularly English, which I, like millions of others, am fascinated by," she says. "On another level, it's like a soap opera in which you never find out the conclusion." Her persistent yet delicate digging has paid off with a story , that puts the British monarchy into compelling perspective at a crossroads in its history.