Princess Diana’s bulimia battle depicted in new children’s book which explains she developed an eating disorder when she learnt her husband’s heart ‘belonged to someone else’

Princess Diana’s battle with bulimia has been depicted in a new children’s book which tackles the topic of eating disorders.

A new book in the Little People, Big Dreams series, which is due to be published on September 7, will tell young readers about the late princess and her life in the Royal Family. 

The children’s book, written by Maria Isabel Sánchez Vegara, describes Diana’s life and the private suffering she faced, including her struggle with bulimia and how it manifested itself.

The book will describe how Diana’s eating disorder developed when she learned her husband, King Charles, was in love with another woman.

A line in the text reads: ‘She soon realised that the prince’s heart belonged to someone else… Over time that sadness grew into an eating disorder called bulimia.’

Princess Diana first opened up about her eating disorder in 1995 during a now-controversial BBC Panorama interview with Martin Bashir. In the same interview, she revealed she had been self harming in the years following her split from Charles.

She told the disgraced journalist: ‘I’d come home and it would be very difficult to know how to comfort myself,having been comforting lots of other people, so it would be a regular pattern to jump into the fridge.’ 

Diana added the eating disorder was a ‘symptom’ of the marriage problems she had been having – and argued she was ‘crying out for help’ but didn’t receive the support she needed, instead being branded ‘unstable’. 

The new children’s book will detail how Diana would find time alone to go into the royal kitchens and eat lots of cake to try and feel a sense of comfort, The Telegraph reported. However, when the feeling disappeared, she would make herself sick.

Eating disorder campaigners have said the content of the book may well help young people identify the signs of bulimia more quickly, but warned the issue must be tackled with sensitivity.

The late mother-of-two revealed her bulimia battle in a now-controversial BBC Panorama interview in 1995 with disgraced journalist Martin Bashir

Tom Quinn, director of external affairs for eating disorder charity Beat, told the newspaper: ‘We advise that writers avoid going into detail about eating disorder behaviours, calories or weights as this can worsen symptoms for somebody who is unwell, or contribute to an eating disorder developing if someone is vulnerable.’

In 2017, Diana’s friends opened up about the late princess’s bulimia battle, which had been sparked over concerns about Charles’s relationship with Camilla, plus a constant worry that her children might be taken away from her.

Former ballet teacher Anne Allan revealed Diana poured out her heart to her, revealing that her husband’s affair with Camilla made her feel ‘very sad, devastated’ and that she ‘wasn’t enough’. 

Ms Allan told the Sunday Express: ‘I know that she did ask Camilla to leave her husband alone. I thought that was quite brave of her actually because I know how much that must have taken for her to do that.’

She also noticed that Diana had lost weight, with the princess later revealing that she had bulimia.

Dr Colthurst, who had known Diana since she as 17, said the eating disorder was having a worrying effect on her.

He said: ‘You could see her fading physically. It was clear to all those who knew her that the bulimia was a reaction to the circumstances she found herself in.’

If you are struggling with an eating disorder, you can find help and support through Beat