We’re coming up on the 25th anniversary of Princess Diana’s death. All summer, there have been stories about Diana, books about Diana, documentaries about Diana. It’s been a huge bummer. How I felt about Diana when she died in 1997 is not the way I feel about her now. In 1997, she had already been the most famous woman in the world for the better part of two decades. She seemed so grown-up, so glamorous, so tragic, but (at that point) so free. Twenty-five years later, I think about how young she was when she married Charles, and how young she was when she died, how she was still at the whims of that evil f–king family. I think more about her legacy and memory and how her legacy has been coopted and misappropriated by all of the worst f–king people. So, that’s the People Magazine cover story this week – how her death affected everyone in her life. Some highlights:
Princess Diana was starting a new chapter following her divorce from Prince Charles, but her life was tragically cut short on Aug. 31, 1997, when a car accident killed her and two others, Dodi Al Fayed and driver Henri Paul. She was 36.
“There are very few moments like those in history. I remember where I was in every tiny detail when I heard about Diana,” says royal biographer Ingrid Seward, who knew Diana personally. “It affected everybody.”
Andrew Morton, Diana’s biographer, says that despite Prince Charles’ many achievements as the longest-serving Prince of Wales, his first marriage will “always haunt him.”
“Just as Henry VIII is remembered for his six wives, Prince Charles is remembered for his first wife,” Morton says. “It will always haunt him. His life has been defined by his marriage.”
Harry, now 37, has called himself “my mother’s son,” keeping her presence close through his charitable causes and his own family. “Harry has made it perfectly clear that every decision he has made he refers upstairs to his mother,” says Morton. “His decision to go to America—he felt she was watching over him and giving him the thumbs-up.”
The public’s blame largely fell on Camilla and her affair with Prince Charles. However, the pair married in 2005, and Queen Elizabeth announced her desire for Camilla to be known as “Queen Consort” when Prince Charles takes the throne.
“Her life has turned around perhaps more than anybody else’s,” says Morton. “Diana’s death has put her right in the constitutional center of Britain.”
[From People]
I think Charles would have always married Camilla, but the reaction to his remarriage would have been vastly different had Diana lived. The most affected people would be, without a doubt, her two sons. Royal commentators are always starting sh-t like “Diana would have loved Kate and hated Meghan” or what have you – one of my personal theories is that if Diana had survived, the Middletons wouldn’t have even been in the picture. Carole and Kate wouldn’t have been able to work over William that way, and Diana would have politely told Carole to f–k all the way off. Now, does it follow that Diana would have liked Meghan? I’m not sure about that either, but Diana would have loved the fact that Harry protected his wife in the way no one ever protected her (Diana).
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.
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