By traditional standards, Diana was neither well-educated nor intelligent, but she possessed an extraordinarily high level of “emotional” intelligence. The term was coined by the psychologist Howard Gardner, who suggested expanding the traditional concept of intelligence to include not only linguistic and mathematical skills but also a range of other “intelligences.” Emotional intelligence can play a far greater role in building oneself as a brand than the kinds of skills that are measured in traditional IQ tests. And a lack of academic education need not be a disadvantage. It can even be an advantage. Diana was admitted to Riddlesworth Hall Boarding School at the age of nine and while her siblings flourished at school, she was an average student at best. She didn’t leave school completely empty-handed - she did win the ‘Most Popular Girl’ trophy and the prize for best kept guinea pig. From 1973, she attended West Heath boarding school. The modest aims of the school were no secret and the only condition for admission was neat handwriting. But even at this boarding school, Diana’s lack of intellectual curiosity was striking. “The groundwork wasn’t there,” said Ruth Rudge, the headmistress. “As with anyone with other things on their mind, she would go off in daydreams.” Diana left her exclusive girls’ boarding school, West Heath, at the tender age of 16, having failed every one of her exams not once but twice. Diana’s schoolmates remembered her fondly, describing her as a helpful person and “awfully sweet” to her two hamsters, Little Black Muff and Little Black Puff. As her biographer Tina Brown wrote: “Turning over examination papers turned her over inside ... She did, in fact, have a talent that West Heath had already noticed. She had a keen emotional intelligence.” Diana’s favourite books were romance novels by Barbara Cartland, an extremely successful writer who wrote no less than 724 tear-jerking stories. By the end of Cartland’s novels, the shy, inconspicuous heroine has usually won the heart and affections of a dashing prince or gallant gentleman. “In those stories,” confessed Diana, “was everyone I dreamed of, everything I hoped for.” Early on she dreamt of marrying a real prince, Prince Charles. And she was quite capable of systematic analysis when it counted most. For example, she painstakingly analysed the mistakes her sister had made during an earlier (failed) relationship with Prince Charles. Diana proved that big dreams can become reality if you focus entirely on a single goal – no matter how “unrealistic” it may seem. But this is just one side of the story. It is also true that her later disappointment was perhaps, at least in part, because in her youth, the saccharine novels she devoured had created an expectation of a fantasy world that reality could simply never live up to. As Barbara Cartland put it: “The only books she ever read were mine and they weren’t awfully good for her.” Reading quality newspapers was also not her thing. At breakfast she read the emotionally charged Daily Mail, she was a “complete press addict” and devoured tabloid gossip about celebrities and royal families. From her point of view, this was entirely rational. Her precise knowledge of these media helped her a lot in what she was to become a master of self-marketing, which included a thorough knowledge of the press that was most relevant to her. She was not only an avid consumer of tabloid news. To her, the journalists and paparazzi that had been stalking her everywhere since the beginning of her liaison with Prince Charles were not faceless snappers or hacks. Typically, journalists and photographers are interested in celebrities, but celebrities are far less interested in journalists and photographers. It was different with Diana. She knew precisely how to win over journalists and photographers. And she knew exactly which stories newspaper THE DISRUPTORS
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