Princess Diana.
After our Nelson Mandela strand excited such interest earlier in the week - we wondered what memories people have of the late Princess of Wales. Did you meet her?
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My only memory of the lady is the wedding. I was working with an American tour group in London on the day, hadn't planned to go to see it (but many of them had), yet at the last minute decided to shoot down to Buck House and ended up on the railings to witness the balcony moment (and that kiss). As I was direclty in front of the 大象传媒 cameras, my picture was broadcast around the world, and several of my friends living abroad contacted me to say how lovely it had been to see me there. That's a memory I treasure, even though I never saw the shots myself.
I'm not a Dianophile at all, I'm afraid, though I realise she was a troubled woman. But much more privileged than many others, who've had all her problems and a lot more.
Would I have wanted to meet her? - Frankly, no. But I would like to meet the Dalai Lama ....
I realise that this may be unpopular with a lot of people, but it's my opinion. Adjusts asbestos underwear for the flamming that's to come.
Rant begins:
She was a silly girl who initially got carried away with the notion of being a fairy tale princess. She was not adequately prepared (either in herself or by the Royal Household) for the media attention, some would say intrusion, she would generate and couldn't cope. She was not a saint. She was an upper class girl who was thrust into the public eye and an adulterer (like her husband). All credit to her for the charity work she did - especially towards the end of her life regarding AIDS and landmines - but countless thousands of unsung people around the World have also worked for these causes.
I'm sorry that a fellow human being lost their life, and I'm sorry for Princes William and Harry losing their Mother, but again, is that so different from thousands of people around the World every day? Do they get tenth anniversary memorial services?
I'm fed up with this media attention, especially the upturn in coverage in the build up to this anniversary. She is dead, let her rest in peace. And I'm well aware of the irony of using the media in the form of this Frog to decry the media attention, I don't feel that it detracts from my point.
Rant ends.
Oh Eddie, I'd hoped at least you would've left this non-story alone. Really. Yes it is sad when someone dies young, but let's put it into perspective. She died because she was not wearing a seatbelt in the back of a car being driven at high speed through city streets by a man who was over the alcohol limit. This is something that happens to this day on our streets, I'm afraid to say. Beyond that, I think the whole "sanctification" of Diana that parts of the media (*cough* Daily Express*cough*) of a Single mum living in what was effectively akin to a council house is astounding. I trust you will not be speding long on this tonight Eddie, or I'll be bordering on the angry...
Fearless, Big sis, wonko "Here Here"
Cant add more.
Wonko - 10/10 for that. I agree with every word.
Never met her. Most people did not. Yet masses behaved as if it were their sister.
I am still totally baffled. Was this all orchestrated by certain parts of the media who depended on her image to maintain sales? Or was her prospective father in law making sure she continued in the news regardless of good taste.
I appreciate the sons wanting a memorial now they are grown, but not a national fuss! For goodness sake, whatever happened to the Stiff Upper Lip?
Normally I'd ask when something will be aired so I can listen, now I want to know so I can avoid it. Enough already.
I have to echo the opinions of Wonko (above).
From all of the hype and mass hysteria at the time it would be understandable if Diana had been mistaken for a deity, a latter-day, real-life version of her Roman namesake.
She was married into a family of, ahem, "eccentrics" to widen the gene pool before the inter-breeding became even more obvious than it already was/is. She became a mother. She became a serial adulterer. She died at a tragically early age in a car crash.
Did I feel tearful when I heard the news of her death? No - I was more upset that every TV channel seemed to have a picture of her on screen with dreadful music playing.
Did I join in the outpouring of ersatz grief for her funeral? No - I don't allow the media to drive my emotions and almost demand that I comply with their hypocritical gestures towards "England's Rose."
Do I mourn her passing?
No.
Eddie & Team,
I agree with Fearless Fred. I suppose you have to mention it, but please don't dwell. If you feel you have to do something substantial about it, do what you do well, look at it sideways:
Get a psychologist on to talk about mass hysteria.
Talk to a couple of working class lads who lost their mother in a car crash and see how they coped with it.
Talk to a florist about whether the boom in floral tributes is a good thing.
Talk to an environmental health officer about whether the boom in floral tributes is a good thing.
But don't let yourself get drawn into the mawkish, blinkered sentimentality that seems to be swamping the rest of the media today.
Diana, like all of us, was a lost child with both good and bad sides. So it is with Tony Blair.
The 鈥淒iana Phenomenon鈥 just like the 鈥淏lair Phenomenon鈥 had/has little to do with reality and is more about us than the lady in question.
Um, the complaints about coverage are one thing but people are making assumptions that this material is going on air.
The question is - did you meet her?
Yes, I 'met' her once - in the Notting Hill Gate branch of Boots. She was extremely rude - as was her protection officer - when I told her to join the queue at the till and not just walk straight to the front.
Well I saw her from a distance in NZ, & my mother got to shake hands, say hello etc (being on the council of a town they were visiting).
But my strongest memory is going to a city in France with a British orchestra, to play Paul McCartney's Liverpool Oratorio. He was there, & Diana was also a guest at the concert. She came into the hall after everyone else, whereupon the audience en masse twisted round, & even stood on their seats to catch a glimpse of her. All quite strange to see, & to experience the audible buzz of excitement as she appeared.
The real fun was after the performance, when Paul McCarney walked on stage to acknowledge the applause for his composition. The crowd were mad with adulation, some rushing to the front to worship closer. But they were at the same time desparate to see more of Diana, who was still at the back of the hall. Quite a quandary (sp?).
It was an interesting glimpse of the rather terrifying adulation that such celebrity figures must experience almost daily. Even if they've originally cultivated it, the unstoppable momentum of it once started is alarming.
Sorry Eddie - will take my assuming head off. It's a bit like exams isn't it , always read the question properly.
How unexpected and how pleasant.
I thought I'd make an idiot of myself if this topic got posted, by decrying the whole Diana industry. Instead I'm in the majority, for a change.
I can only add my 'hear, hear' to the others backing up Wonko, FFred et al who dare to speak the unpopular truth. I was so determined to avoid the whole mawkish and overblown outpouring of sentimentality at the funeral that I left the country to avoid it.
Well, alright, I got married on the Thursday and went on honeymoon on the Friday. But I would have left the country, honest.......
Can you have thirty seconds or less of this and then drop it and move on to something more relevant? Better yet, after the unremitting grimness of yesterdays edition find something light, inconsequential and fluffy to cheer us all up with.
Si.
Eddie (11);
Direct question, direct answer.
No.
Si.
Eddie - please dont censure the blog. People want to expres themselves....
I agree with Fearless Fred: nice girl - sad she popped her clogs- her own fault though....
She's met my parents and Sister - on separate occassions - and they all said she was lovely.
I would have loved to have met her.
There is little doubt that Diana had a troubled life even before she became embroiled with Farmer Charles and his dysfunctional family. There is little doubt either that the Farmer was less than devoted to his wife - and I wouldn't dream if apportioning blame. However, let's be clear; Diana was not a saint, she reacted badly to her circumstances and, as is common with people in her privileged position, tried to find something to do that was "meaningful". Her campaigning on behalf of AIDS sufferers was no more and frequently considerably less than many "ordinary" people who, seeking no glory, have worked tirelessly to alleviate the dreadful suffering that this disease causes. These people worked and continue to work, unsung, all the hours that God made, not just when it seems that a photo in the press would be a "good thing". Her efforts with regards to land mines were misinformed and, due to this country's government's inability to lead but merely to react, the British Army - one of the few forces in the world that takes care to note the positioning of land mines that it lays - has been deprived of one of the most effective defensive weapons ever invented. The armies that used land mines in such a haphazard and irresponsible way in the Balkans, for example, are the very armies that are least likely to give a jot about international bans. Thank you Diana - an excellent example of how to jump on a band wagon whilst knowing nothing of the song that's being sung.
I was in Rhodes when she died. Thank God for that; at least we were spared the 24 hour coverage of thoughtless people playing to the media gallery with their mawkish displays of affection for somebody they had never met and who had not the slightest impact on their lives. Please, no more. Enough is enough.
No.
Didn't exactly meet her. Almost bumped into her in the shop at the Victoria & Albert museum because I wasn't looking where I was going - does that count?
I was personally touched in an inconvenient way by her death. My wife and I were staying in Claridges for the night (as you do if you live in Glasgow and your sister volunteers to keep your four weans). There was a big hullabaloo at check in and we were asked to wait because a member of the Japanese royal family or equivalent was checking in. By way of apology they gave us this ridiculously large suite on the first floor.
Indigestion (I think it was indigestion) had me up during the night and I turned on Sky News as the story broke and progressed to its sad conclusion. Around 7 the doorbell of the suite was rung and there stood the GM of Claridges. He asked if I had heard the news and then apologised for the inconvenience but requested that my wife and I repair to the bedroom since the only way that Claridges could get its flags at half mast was by going out the window of our suite. Which they did. Personally touched.
Thereafter back to Stansted for the Ryanair flight back home.
In answer to the question - no I never met her, but although I agree with a great deal of the above, I would have liked to; as everyone who did and spoke about it - even some hardened cynics seem to have been totally captivated when they did meet her.
Yes she was a flawed character, but aren't we all? Yes she was rich, priveleged and pampered, but at least she made some use of the publicity that she engendered wherever she went by proving that you don't catch Aids by talking to people and holding their hands, and by tellling the world (as many others had been trying to do before without her advantages) about the evils of landmines. Both of those have to be a good use of her priveleged postions.
But now - please can we leave her alone. I would like to have met Mother Theresa too - and she died 10 years ago as well.
Sorry to go on
Tuppence
No.
My daughter aged about six did - not sure what she thought about it then, but I know she's furious now that her birthday is always remembered as the day Diana died.
I once bumped into the Duchess of Kent in the ladies loo at Harrods - does that count?
Are you going to be talking about her much tonight because I've got some work to do on one of my cars and it would be useful to know so I can decide whether to get on with it and give PM a miss until later..
Point taken Eddie. ;o)
No, I did not. Though I have been to Sandringham Church with HM The Queen. The Duke of Kent read the Lesson.
Eddie
There are clear indications that the vast majority of those people who have expressed a view want little or no coverage of this (non)story, so please give it limited coverage in tonight's programme.
Looking through the 大象传媒's Have Your Say most recommended, the first positive posting in response to the story was after 8 pages and from a girl aged 9 when she died. Let her and the story rest in peace.
Oh, and sorry Eddie, I meant to add my request those of others to keep the coverage short and concentrate on real news.
** Not malicious - just fed up with the whole Diana industry.**
Did you meet her? Nope, met Princess Pushy though, nice bum!
DIY
Just to be on topic - no, I didn't meet her. But I did feel very relieved on reading the comments to this topic.
I tend to feel very isolated when this or similar topics come up because I had basically the same reaction as I would have to anyone I didn't know who died in a car crash - i.e. not much. The constant insistance that the whole nation is in mourning makes me feel actively an outsider (despite the fact that I was born and raised here). It's nice to see that perspective given the lie.
Carlos (17) it wasn't censuring - just a polite attempt to keep people on topic! The Blog is alive with places for people to comment...
Er, is there something wrong with this facility. Tried to post earlier and it wouldn't let me because it thought I was trying too many times (I wasn't). Now most of the comments which were here have disappeared. About to click submit, but not feeling hopeful...
Fair enough Mr M. (11):
The answer then is: no.
I once got a smile in passing from Wendy Alexander if that's any use to you? (And several years earlier, a scowl from Alex Salmond.)
Actually, I'd guess that you won't find many people on the blog today who have met her, since those who did will probably be feeling genuine sorrow today and will be less likely to be surfing the web and blogging. (Only a guess though.)
Never met her, never particularly wanted to - mind you she probably didn't especially want to meet me either. I have to agree with Big Sis Wonko, FF and others, but I must say I'm a bit surprised by the lack of Diana worship in the comments. So, Edward despite everyone assuming that you were going to put this on air, you didn't say that you weren't. So are you going to even in the face of this tidal wave of apathy? Are you? Eh? Eh? Go on - dare you! Double dare you!!
I hope this evenings programme isn't going to be full of celebrity fawning from reporters and people who met the late Princess of Wales.
Don't we hear enough of this dysfunctional family. I would be more interested in the millions of families who no doubt have good reason to be dysfunctional.
No, I didn't meet her.
GROVEL
Sorry Eddie. I should have said: "No, I never met Diana, nor anyone who did." However, you might like the considered opinion of a 70-year-old who has nothing better to do (it seems) than respond to yet another bit of "interactive" 大象传媒 - perhaps as a way of getting something for my license money? (:o) My view for what it's worth is that Diana, like all of us, was a lost child with both good and bad sides. So it is with Tony Blair. The 鈥淒iana Phenomenon鈥 just like the 鈥淏lair Phenomenon鈥 had/has little to do with reality and is more about US than the lady in question. (Just as this posting says much about me.)
Hope this doesn't mean we will have a 20th anniversary, a 25th etc etc.
I've only seen a"royal" once, it was Princess Anne. I was trying to get to the shops to buy my lunch and found my way blocked by the police trying to cross the road.Twenty minutes later a car drove by with Princess Anne in it and a few other cars with hangers on trailling behind, once they passed i was allowed to cross the road. Is this how the manage to get the numbers up and a nice shot for the "telly" of well wishers?
On the day of her death my wife told me the news, I said to her " Telly going to be shite today then" I was wrong it lasted a week.
I know this is of topic ( sorry eddie ) but is the Queen called Queen Elizabeth the first in Scotland?
Me neither.
Wonko, Si et all .. what a relief not to be in the tiny minority on this subject for a change!
As I remember it, immediately before she died the nation was about 50/50 whether she was a gorgeous saintly goddess or a social-climbing airhead with an eye for a telephoto lens. I was in the latter camp.
Oh, and I don't believe it was an accident either. Just for the record.
Fifi
I know this is off topic ( sorry eddie ) but is the Queen called Queen Elizabeth the first in Scotland?
I'm not surprised by the comments - as it's basically a carbon copy of the last time Eddie through a similar discussion about Diana open.
It should however be noted that the PM Blog and - moreover the Radio 4 listeners, don't necessarily represent a demographic view of the United Kingdom.
I just missed meeting Di when she dedicated a new window in St Albans Cathedral. Thank God I was in France at the time. No, not getting a driver drunk.
Here here jonnie!
I did not actually meet Diana, though I saw her once at the ballet.
Many many people seem to have been affected by Diana's death, in this country and abroad. I don't know why this should be.
She did champion several 'unglamourous' causes, and brought AIDS and Mines into wide debate.
I didn't meet her either, but I did once get a postcard from a famous radio news presenter.
I just heard the report. What a bunch of gushy rubbish. Good music though...
PS I did see the Queen twice in St Albanns and the Queen Mother once. Also the present Bishop of London.
Let us face the obvious, if she had not married Charles, she would have been just another faceless Sloane Ranger.
No.
Once I was asked (NOT politely) to get out of a marquee at an agricultural show because Princess Anne was coming over. I didn't look posh enough, I guess.
Anne (not a princess)
well now it has been on and as far as I am concerned the coverage was excessive for what it was. The media continue to hype up the subject of Diana. if her sons wish to grieve and mark this occasion, then they have every right to do so. However please do not continue to impose this onto those of us who do not wish to be a part of the circus. There is no escape. We have had saturation coverage of this event for weeks already. Please do not speak on my behalf. it is obvious that 'the whole country' do not share this attitude of adoring the late princess.
It is sad when anyone dies before their time. However we are all judged when we act in a way that puts our own health and safety at risk and no one life is more valuable than another.
As it's fairly clear most of the Great British Public (TM) have never met a member of the Windsor clan (or should I say Saxe-Coburg Gotha? They only adopted the name Windsor as a PR stunt in the lead-up to WWI - having a Germanic name was not very PC back then...), what's the closest you've been?
To Di: just over a mile - she opened Kidderminster's leisure centre - the Forest Glades (affectionately known by locals as Nipple City due to its unusual roof design). I was at school back then.
To HM The Queen: a few yards - she opened an extension to the National Library of Wales when I was at Aberystwyth Uni, and I saw her leave (and snapped a photo - which appears to show the chauffer smoking a pipe! [1])
-oOo-
As for my reaction to her death, I'd say shock - in much the same way as when I heard 9/11 or 7/7 - but not exactly grief or hysteria. I never quite got the point of the flowers at Kensington Palace, or all the books of condolence that opened everywhere. The Windsor clan's response was predictable - after all, she was estranged from them - but, especially in the light of tabloid coverage of their lack of response, it didn't exactly help their cause, particularly when Dodi's father decided that her death a huge conspiracy...
As I said in another thread, the root cause of her death was a crash caused by the car failing to succesfully negotiate the tunnel bend whilst being driven at a speed well in excess of the limit. Given the quoted speed, that alone may have been the primary cause as opposed to Henri Paul's reactions being slowed by whatever he had drunk that night. It doesn't help that there's been plenty of mud-slinging on both sides of the channel with regards to scapegoats - Dodi's dad we all know about, but the initial mixing up of Henri Paul's blood sample (remember the reports of an unfeasibly high level of CO in his blood?) didn't do much for the French investigation - and a certain UK newspaper deciding that digging up the latest conspiracy theory was a great way to increase sales also didn't help...
Anyway, I think that's enough of a moan for one post - I'm off to relax in a royality/media/politics free zone - The Beach of course!
-oOo-
[1] Interested? The photo's been scanned, uploaded and is online at
Didn't meet her.
The interesting thing is that I have asked and asked and asked about reasons for mourning her, during the past ten years, including asking those who went and stood around for her funeral and signed her book and all the rest of it, and during that time I haven't met a single person who both made a fuss about her and *had* met her, nor one who actually cared about her as a person. If one asks 'then why did you go to the funeral?' they become first defensive, then uncomprehending, and finally angry.
It is a *very* strange phenomenon.
I do know at least three people who met her, and none of them mourns her at all. They disliked her because she prevented them from getting on with their jobs: when she turned up at the hospital, they couldn't use the main building until she had left again, and it delayed the autopsies, in one case, and in another her bodyguards were a complete pain. They are not sorry she's no lomger doing it.
In response to tom (41):
I have never met a fellow Scot who gives a damn whether the Queen is called The First or any other number. But, there again, I do not move in Nationalist circles.
tomi
Sorry Eddy, but the original blog statement says "we wondered what memories people have of the late Princess of Wales". Only then does it say "Did you meet her?" The question is therefore much more open than you appear to be suggesting. My memory is of a day of broadcasting wasted.
tomi
Kevin (12) love that story!
I shook hands with her once when I was a helper at Stoke Mandeville Wheelchair games & took her photo - she was very young & newly married. I also took her photo but I'm not sure what I've done with it. She was roughly my age & I remember thinking what a total scruffbag I must look compared to her 1980's coiffure!
I also sang for her in Seville cathedral in a performance of Mahler's 8th Symphony. Charles was drawing all the way through & she was yawning.
Well, that's answered the question...now my 2p worth to say that I agree with all those above who say that the publicity is way over the top. Why not use the event to say highlight the dangers of drink driving & speeding?
Hey - GM (54) I think we were "almost" in the same concert there! Was that with the Liverpool Phil on a tour of Spain - early 90's? Because I did the tour, playing Mahler 8, but when we got to Seville Cathedral, there just wasn't enough room for 2 harps, so me, a violinist, & the keyboard player were given the night off. We had to spend it at a tapas bar, & missed Charles & Di. Good meal though. I don't remember us being upset. Gleeful rather!
Anna - that's the one!! We were changing in the vestry with about 15 Royal Trumpeters in their thigh-length leather boots! Did you do the other performances then? In which case we must have performed together!!x
Ohmigoodness GM, I'd forgotten about the trumpeters! Weren't they gorgeous! They must have been in the other concerts too, because I remember their outfits so well, yet as I say, didn't do the cathedral one in Seville. I did do all the other concerts - about 7 as I remember. If only we'd known each other then...!
The rumour amongst the choir was that only one harp fitted on the plane from Barcelona to Seville - is that what happened? We did Mahler in Barcelona, in the old opera house (remember Libor Pesek trying to conduct Zadok the Priest in 32?!) then flew to Seville to do MAhler in the cathedral and the Lloyd Webber concert with Michael Ball & Sarah Brightman at EXPO. Then we flew back to Barcelona to do the McCartney Oratorio. I remember it being exhausting cos all the concerts finished so late & we had to be up at 6am!