Princess Diana

[Zbigniev Hamson]

Just curiousity prompted by yet another news report about how the whole nation was completely distraught when she died. So were YOU particularly in mourning?

[Dave Lewis]

It's sad that two children were left without a Mother - but no more tragic because the mother in question was Diana, Princess of Wales. On a personal level, it didn't affect me in the slightest... perhaps I ought to read the Daily Express more often, instead of buying it specifically to line the cat's litter tray with.

[Rob McCow]

I was shocked, appalled and saddened, but I never felt any special affinity for the Lady Di.

I would argue that she wasn't a saint. She won the public over totally, but does that make her a great person? Perhaps.

[Alex]

Like others I felt sorry for her children, but bar that I didn't mourn at all, and the way the public reacted amazed me. I think she became, as Stewart Lee puts it, an "unwitting receptacle for the over emotional, hysterical, shrieking grief" of people who hadn't dealt with personal losses in their own life. Perhaps this is a good thing, perhaps not, I guess it all depends if it helped them deal with their loss...

I can't help but feel though that she was just one person who happened to live in this country, and if we reacted that way everytime someone who was a good person (and there are no doubt a lot who have contributed to society more than she did) died, the country would grind to a halt.

[Jeff]

I'm not in the UK, but I voted anyway... and no, I wasn't particularly bothered. My girlfriend at the time was upset though, not in an immediate way, but she did watch the specials on tv and talked about her often afterwards.

In my experience, at least over here it was the women who were upset rather than the men, especially those old enough to have watched the wedding on tv, because (at least in my theory) many of them had lived their Princess dreams and fantasies vicariously through her then, and still held nostalgia for that and her.

[SiHart]

It was a funny old day... that peculir sense of melancholy that pervaded the country was quite astonishing. But no I didn't mourn. I didn't know her. It was a strange time with a lot of very unusual actions.

Si xx

[Pip Madeley]

Well I felt sad, but then I was a child.

[Captain Tancredi]

Not really- I must have been one of the few people who wasn't surprised that she died young, because after all the talk of suicide attempts, eating disorders and so on I found it easy to believe she could have been capable of killing herself once people stopped paying attention to her. I was fed up of the media over-reaction by Sunday evening, so much so that on the Monday I went into Waterstones in Leeds and bought a week's worth of reading because I knew that the television wouldn't be worth watching for the rest of the week. To an extent I think she's an example of how it's possible to do good things for bad reasons (wanting to appear to be more virtuous than Charles rather than helping charities because they're worthwhile) and on one level, the standard of living she had for fifteen years of her life balances out her personal unhappiness and early death.

On the other hand, I suppose venerating her memory gives middle-aged cranks something harmless to do.

[Wayne]

Dave & Alex's posts pretty much say it all for me.
Except i'd add that i found her as equally manipulative of the media, as the media was manipulitive of her.
To be frank, i didn't think very much of her at all, but i wouldnt've wished for what happened to her, & i did feel for the boys, but the reaction of great swathes of the public made me want to puke.

[WhiteCrow]

CLUNK-CLICK-EVERY TRIP

Well it's obvious there were no public safety films watched in the Spencer household.

But of course we're supposed to think it was the British Secret Service running a top of the line Merc off the road at 160 MPH using an evil Citreon 2CV (top speed 90 MPH).

I was sympathetically woken up by my then soon-to-be Father-in-Law saying "thats one less of the bloody bastards at any rate". The wife's family are all kind of uber-Roundheads and then some.

[WhiteCrow]

It's sad that two children were left without a Mother - but no more tragic because the mother in question was Diana, Princess of Wales.

A single mother who was always leaving her kids to go on holiday? I'm surprised the tabloids didn't hound her to death!

[Jon Masters]

My wife and I will always remember where we were on the day of Diana's funeral - I was at a mini DW convention, and she was repainting our garage door.
Still, I suppose its better that all these uber-Diana fans have something to do rather than wandering the streets and clogging up the supermarkets tomorrow.

[Andrew Curnow]

This isn't at all interesting really, so feel free to skip to the next post. But, anyway...

The night of the crash, I was in bed asleep, and when Zel came to bed (about 2, maybe 3) I kind of stirred, and Zel said that Diana had been in an accident and was injured. I went back to sleep with that knowledge, and so somehow when I woke up and found that she'd then in fact died I wasn't at all surprised. It was almost as if any potential shock had been got out of the way while I was asleep.

I do remember the day of the funeral we had a guy come round to service our Rayburn, and the roads in town seemed to be very quiet.

[Andrew Curnow]

Quick, somebody reply to this thread please. I've just noticed the front page now reads 'Princess Andrew Curnow'!!

[Wayne]

@Andrew. Where's Gisela when you need her?

[Pip Madeley]

Well I'm not replying, I don't want to be a Princess!









Oh balls!

[Andrew Curnow]

Ha! That'll teach you to be clever Madeley!!







Oh balls!

[SiHart]

I moved into my first ever place of my own the day of her funeral. I've never seen the M25 as quiet as it was that morning.

Si xx

[Larry]

I was shocked, appalled and saddened, but I never felt any special affinity for the Lady Di.

[b[I would argue that she wasn't a saint. She won the public over totally, but does that make her a great person? Perhaps.[/b]

the one important point you miss Steve, is that Diana, genuinly cared very deeply for people she had so much compassion for the sick chilldren she visited and it was her more then any one who destroyed the publics ignorance about AIDS. It's because of that why she was so popular and so much loved by the ordinary pewrson in the street.

The out pooring of grieff and emotion in the days following her death showed just much loved she was loved by the public and the immence anger that people felt when the Queen, not only refused to interupte her holiday but did not allow the flag over Buckingham palace to be lowered to half mast.

I remember waking up on that Sunday, morning and while still in bed turning the radio on being still half asleep it did not register at first what they were talking about and it was not untill the words involved in a car accident that I realised what had happened.

I would not say I was in mourning for her but I was deepoly sadened as though I am not a pro Royalist, I had a huge amount of respect for her and the work she did.

[Thasc]

I felt sad that she had died, but I wasn't in mourning

[Dirk Gently]

I've not voted either way as my feelings are not as black & white as a yes or no vote. I'm sure if there was another option then there would be less 'no' votes.

I was saddened & shocked to hear of her death as she was someone who didn't deserve to die in the same way that I was shocked to hear of Jill Dando's murder. Neither deserved to die but they did & both young as well.
I think it right to have all this news coverage & remembrance of her, that way it will remind the Royals that her way of interaction with the people is the right way to win the peoples hearts.

[Jason Thompson]

I can honestly say that, aside from the vague feeling of sadness that a public figure had died in so tragic a manner, I couldn't have cared less about the death of Diana. I didn't know her, I didn't particularly like her. The relentless self-publicity in the later years really aggravated me, to be honest. Princess Diana watches open heart surgery being performed? All well and good, but of course they had to have a film crew in there too, which I'm sure the surgeons were delighted with. Yes, she did some good charity work, but so did other members of the Royal Family. She was no saint, and I really do not understand the level of public grief that followed her death.

My reaction to it all now is, unfortunately, primarily anger and annoyance, mostly directed at the media. A ten-year-on media event may well be justified, given the high emotions surrounding the event, but I'm afraid I find it all a bit diluted by the fact that she has barely been out of the media for the past ten years, what with demands for inquiries, memorial park fiascos, criticism of the Royal Family, conspiracy theories and so on, all of it published under the pretense that the media are serving the public interest by revealing the truth but actually just to boost sales and ratings. I am fed up of seeing her, and I am sickened by the media for making me feel that way about such a tragic event. At the end of the day, two young men have lost their mother in a traumatic way and have never been allowed to just get on with grieving.

The inquiry into her death will be pointless, because whichever result is found, the people have already made up their minds which side of the fence they sit on and will never change their minds. Those who are convinced she was murdered will remain so convinced whatever any inquiry verdict may be, whatever evidence may be presented, whatever anyone may say.

Strewth, this has become a bit of a rant, hasn't it? Well, thats how I feel about the whole business. I think ten years is enough. Let the woman rest in peace, and let her family get on with their lives and deal with their grief without finding her picture everywhere and having reporters constantly asking them questions. Let that sad old man who runs Harrods carry on living in denial, and stop giving him the publicity platform to spread such rubbish. As a nation, we need to get over it.

I was at a mini DW convention

That wasn't the Fenric one, by any chance, Jon?

[Jon Masters]

That wasn't the Fenric one, by any chance, Jon?

It was, Jason. Were you there too ?

Damn - now i'm Princess Jon Masters

[Jason Thompson]

It was, Jason. Were you there too ?

I certainly was. I remember a few of the guests didn't come because they felt it would be inappropriate. I also got a picture snapped in the churchyard with Sylvester (but never got a copy because it was taken on a friend's camera and he never got round to getting me a print), and had a brief chat with Gary Downie, who seemd like a lovely bloke. I particularly enjoyed JN-T's answer to the question 'if you were a haemovore, whose blood would you drain first?'...

[WhiteCrow]

The ceremony today was on the TV in the gym but with subtitles on. They mentioned about "at last the sun is out and the crowd is applauding". WTF - who really applauds at a memorial service - we're a messed up country.