Nelson, Hitler and Diana

Clinical psychologist Richard Ryder approaches three iconic celebrities - Horatio Nelson, Adolph Hitler, and Diana Princess of Wales - as though they were his patients and presents a short psycho-biography of each. Beneath their obvious differences he finds striking similarities in their backgrounds and early experience, especially being deprived of their mothers' love. In a short Epilogue the author asks what lessons might be learned for the future from these three famous figures of the past.

Keywords: Celebrity, Horatio Nelson, Adolf Hitler, Diana Princess of Wales, psycho-biography, psychiatry, biography, psychology, psychodynamics, maternal loss, culture, history, narcissism, dictators, fantasy