We — the global public, hungry for every last sensational story, every last prurient snap — were the ones who had driven her to her death.
Speak for yourself. To me, she was a vacuous bimbo clothes horse whose only achievement at school was winning a prize for best-kept hamster. She was Tara Palmer-Tomkinson with a tiara. If she were alive today she’d be on her third or fourth husband, and all of them would have been shady playboys of uncertain nationality with fortunes of mysterious origin. She would in short be even less interesting by now, although she would have seen through Me-Again Markle and hence would probably saved Ginger from her.
I agree, Jon. And if she had been wearing a seatbelt, and hadn’t handed her security over to the Al-Fayeds and their intoxicated driver, she would probably be alive today, with the outcomes you so rightly describe. The nature of the outpouring of grief at her death was worrying as a reflection of our navel-gazing, celebrity-obsessed culture.
Yes – of course her death was regrettable because whatever her faults might have been, she wasn’t doing anyone else any harm. But her judgment, and the company she kept, were shocking.
She died
in a Fayed car
driven by a Fayed driver
on her way from a Fayed hotel
to a Fayed apartment
accompanied by Dodi Fayed.
Mohammad Fayed therefore declared that she had been murdered by the Royal Family.
If she had survived, she would have ended up with someone equally or more dodgy.
Yes, she definitely had many faults – just as we all do!
J Bryant
2 years ago
I must admit to being one of those who found Diana “shallow and manipulative.” The best I can say in her defense is I don’t think she should have married (or allowed herself to be pressured into marrying) Charles. The lack of chemistry between them was painfully obvious from the start.
Yet, as the author argues, she has become a mythical figure. The transformation apparently happened at the moment of her death. But I wonder how many British people still buy into that myth? Many of the older generation, perhaps, who remember her well. What about Britons under 30? I’m sure they know who she was but do they really care? The UK’s national psyche seems to have greatly changed since Diana’s time.
Anyway, she was a young woman who died too soon and that is a tragedy.
She was born into immense wealth and privilege and proceeded to sh*t on her own country that bestowed her with that privilege from a great height and would no doubt still be doing so but for her timely death.
As for all those virtue signalling idiots who went overboard at the time they were simply taking the opportunity to masterb*te in public and they should have been shamed at the time
Make no mistake, not all old people buy into the myth – never did and no intention of starting!
Katharine Eyre
2 years ago
However good or naughty Diana was, whatever she was or may have become – please, let’s lay her memory to rest now. All of this maudlin, saccharine wailing – we haven’t moved on at all from 1997. It’s fine to remember, but it’s unhealthy to get “stuck” in this way.
Chris Clark
2 years ago
Thank you for this. I enjoyed the historical parallels. There have been a lot of sour articles about Diana recently, but this one tried to put her into some sort of historical perspective. I too have always felt there was an almost inevitable arc to her life, and have no doubt she will be remembered long into the future, whatever the cynical and dismissive among us may believe.
Cheryl Jones
2 years ago
Diana. I liked her. But the deification of her, and other celebrities, seems very strange to me. It’s as if in the modern age we’ve largely rejected the worship of gods only to replace it with the worship of people or other earthly things. Weird. I’m an atheist but the religious impulse seems to be hardwired in very large numbers of people, even those who don’t believe in gods.
mike otter
2 years ago
How ironic that in Classical and Pagan societies women (and Goddesses) were characterised as Maid, Mother or Crone. Some times less charitably as Temptress, Working Girl and Hag. The late courtesan Diana Spencer seems to be the marmite test on this, alternately as pure as Diana or as wanton as Lilith. Either way its a risky and dangerous way to earn a living as courtesans from Mayfair to the street corner will tell you. Had to change words to “working girl” as the prurient wannabee Mutawaa didn’y like English for puta. She was not my cup of tea in either personality or looks but the thing that rankles a bit is she road a coach and horses through the discretion necessary to her profession.
Last edited 2 years ago by mike otter
Alan Thorpe
2 years ago
Tom has named one thing we should remember her for except her affairs.
mike otter
2 years ago
InChristian as in classical times
Last edited 2 years ago by mike otter
David Zersen
2 years ago
This well-written article reminds me as a U.S. citizen of another statue recently erected in London as well as elsewhere– a statue that created a myth from unlikely flesh and blood. George Floyd was also no saint– with six felonies and more failures than successes to his credit. However, in death the media reminds us that his family cherished him, the Black Lives Matter movement found in him a hero, and the man who left his knee-print on the story “didn’t get justice with a 22-year sentence”. Such are the ironies. However, after a $23 million settlement from Minneapolis and another $15 million from an online “Go Fund Me” campaign, those who never expected justice got more than their due. No hounds will pursue him again and with time some will remember a moment when myth, as becomes it, was larger than life.
Speak for yourself. To me, she was a vacuous bimbo clothes horse whose only achievement at school was winning a prize for best-kept hamster. She was Tara Palmer-Tomkinson with a tiara.
If she were alive today she’d be on her third or fourth husband, and all of them would have been shady playboys of uncertain nationality with fortunes of mysterious origin. She would in short be even less interesting by now, although she would have seen through Me-Again Markle and hence would probably saved Ginger from her.
I agree, Jon. And if she had been wearing a seatbelt, and hadn’t handed her security over to the Al-Fayeds and their intoxicated driver, she would probably be alive today, with the outcomes you so rightly describe. The nature of the outpouring of grief at her death was worrying as a reflection of our navel-gazing, celebrity-obsessed culture.
Yes – of course her death was regrettable because whatever her faults might have been, she wasn’t doing anyone else any harm. But her judgment, and the company she kept, were shocking.
She died
Mohammad Fayed therefore declared that she had been murdered by the Royal Family.
If she had survived, she would have ended up with someone equally or more dodgy.
Yes, she definitely had many faults – just as we all do!
I must admit to being one of those who found Diana “shallow and manipulative.” The best I can say in her defense is I don’t think she should have married (or allowed herself to be pressured into marrying) Charles. The lack of chemistry between them was painfully obvious from the start.
Yet, as the author argues, she has become a mythical figure. The transformation apparently happened at the moment of her death. But I wonder how many British people still buy into that myth? Many of the older generation, perhaps, who remember her well. What about Britons under 30? I’m sure they know who she was but do they really care? The UK’s national psyche seems to have greatly changed since Diana’s time.
Anyway, she was a young woman who died too soon and that is a tragedy.
She was born into immense wealth and privilege and proceeded to sh*t on her own country that bestowed her with that privilege from a great height and would no doubt still be doing so but for her timely death.
As for all those virtue signalling idiots who went overboard at the time they were simply taking the opportunity to masterb*te in public and they should have been shamed at the time
Exactly!
Make no mistake, not all old people buy into the myth – never did and no intention of starting!
However good or naughty Diana was, whatever she was or may have become – please, let’s lay her memory to rest now. All of this maudlin, saccharine wailing – we haven’t moved on at all from 1997. It’s fine to remember, but it’s unhealthy to get “stuck” in this way.
Thank you for this. I enjoyed the historical parallels. There have been a lot of sour articles about Diana recently, but this one tried to put her into some sort of historical perspective. I too have always felt there was an almost inevitable arc to her life, and have no doubt she will be remembered long into the future, whatever the cynical and dismissive among us may believe.
Diana. I liked her. But the deification of her, and other celebrities, seems very strange to me. It’s as if in the modern age we’ve largely rejected the worship of gods only to replace it with the worship of people or other earthly things. Weird. I’m an atheist but the religious impulse seems to be hardwired in very large numbers of people, even those who don’t believe in gods.
How ironic that in Classical and Pagan societies women (and Goddesses) were characterised as Maid, Mother or Crone. Some times less charitably as Temptress, Working Girl and Hag. The late courtesan Diana Spencer seems to be the marmite test on this, alternately as pure as Diana or as wanton as Lilith. Either way its a risky and dangerous way to earn a living as courtesans from Mayfair to the street corner will tell you. Had to change words to “working girl” as the prurient wannabee Mutawaa didn’y like English for puta. She was not my cup of tea in either personality or looks but the thing that rankles a bit is she road a coach and horses through the discretion necessary to her profession.
Tom has named one thing we should remember her for except her affairs.
InChristian as in classical times
This well-written article reminds me as a U.S. citizen of another statue recently erected in London as well as elsewhere– a statue that created a myth from unlikely flesh and blood. George Floyd was also no saint– with six felonies and more failures than successes to his credit. However, in death the media reminds us that his family cherished him, the Black Lives Matter movement found in him a hero, and the man who left his knee-print on the story “didn’t get justice with a 22-year sentence”. Such are the ironies. However, after a $23 million settlement from Minneapolis and another $15 million from an online “Go Fund Me” campaign, those who never expected justice got more than their due. No hounds will pursue him again and with time some will remember a moment when myth, as becomes it, was larger than life.