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Original poster

Public reaction when Princess Diana died

239 replies

StressedOutSemolina · 10/12/2023 19:00

Who remembers it? I was just turned 13 and I cried upstairs whilst looking up at the sky, I was really upset by it. It was thundering where I lived making the whole sad day even more eerie. BUT that was it. I cried at home, privately and quietly. Then got on with it.

Then I watched the funeral... and saw people literally SCREAMING in the streets. It was just obscene the way some people were behaving in public. I don't think I've ever seen anything quite like it since. Don't get me wrong it was a devastating time and such a tragic event.

I also remember watching it back years later and feeling very sorry for the poor hearse driver who could barely see in front of him for the amount of full bouquets being lobbed directly at the window.

OP posts:
MrsDanversGlidesAgain · 10/12/2023 20:51

but now going by this thread, most people were thinking the same as me- where were you all at the time?

Keeping a very low profile. Not an exaggeration to say that that was the best and safest way to get through it. And a year later there were articles asking OMG what happened to us a year ago that we reacted like that? as if the journalists involved hadn't been complicit in whipping up the hysteria.

SwirlyShirly · 10/12/2023 20:52

I was 14/15. Always rather liked the royals and enjoyed seeing what Diana was up to / wearing etc, so I was very sad that she died, and felt sad for princes William and Harry. Very sad, shed a few tears but not hysterical wailing in the streets.

SwooningCamille · 10/12/2023 20:52

GirrlCrush · 10/12/2023 20:23

I think most people felt ( and many still do) that she had been murdered

WTF? No they didn't.

Lesina · 10/12/2023 20:53

The public who brayed for those two traumatised and grieving children to be paraded in public so the people could see their dispair are in the main the same people berrating Harry for removing himself and his family from the whole unhealthy circus.
it was and is obscene.

Samcro · 10/12/2023 20:53

It was all odd really
we we’re really sad and I even went to a special church service.
BUT that was because we were already grieving a much loved family member. The friend I went with husband has jus died.
it just gave us room to grieve our people.

SwooningCamille · 10/12/2023 20:53

And a year later there were articles asking OMG what happened to us a year ago that we reacted like that? as if the journalists involved hadn't been complicit in whipping up the hysteria

A bit like lockdown, then.

I suspect the same people wept about Diana as were keen on lockdown.

Mojolostforever · 10/12/2023 20:55

Many people were incredibly upset by her sudden death.
The public mourning was neither obscene nor embarrassing, it was a nation grieving for the death of someone who was genuinely loved.
If you were a child at that time, you may not have realized how popular she was.

I was one who felt that the Queen should have been in London. She didn't like Diana and it showed.
If anyone should have been comforting the boys it should have been Charles. The queen was a noticeably non maternal person.

MrsDanversGlidesAgain · 10/12/2023 20:55

SwooningCamille · 10/12/2023 20:53

And a year later there were articles asking OMG what happened to us a year ago that we reacted like that? as if the journalists involved hadn't been complicit in whipping up the hysteria

A bit like lockdown, then.

I suspect the same people wept about Diana as were keen on lockdown.

Lockdown was really reminiscent of the whole Diana thing. Hysteria whipped up by tabloids.

smilesup · 10/12/2023 20:55

I couldn't have cared less that she had died compared to any other stranger. The outpouring of grief was so unnecessary. Total idiots. I was embarrassed about it all as abroad at the time and felt like the UK was mental.

SwooningCamille · 10/12/2023 20:56

MrsDanversGlidesAgain · 10/12/2023 20:55

Lockdown was really reminiscent of the whole Diana thing. Hysteria whipped up by tabloids.

Show quote history

Yes. And with a complete idiot PM running the show.

ActDottie · 10/12/2023 20:56

Topseyt123 · 10/12/2023 19:03

Of course it was a sad and tragic event, but the public hysteria around it was frankly disgraceful, and embarrassing.

This

OldTinHat · 10/12/2023 20:57

I was 26. I was supposed to be going on a work social that day. The message came on the radio about 7am. I phoned my mum and we were all so shocked.

BIossomtoes · 10/12/2023 20:57

SwooningCamille · 10/12/2023 20:56

Yes. And with a complete idiot PM running the show.

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A better PM than any we’ve had since. By which I obviously mean Blair.

ButterCupPie · 10/12/2023 20:58

BeaBachinasec · 10/12/2023 19:24

My mum (who would have been in her 50s) thought she was a twat as well

Your mum should have known better.

Her mum was right.

Mojolostforever · 10/12/2023 20:58

SwooningCamille · 10/12/2023 20:52

WTF? No they didn't.

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Yes they did. She was a loose cannon, with the possibility of having a child who would have Fayed as the grandfather.

App13 · 10/12/2023 21:01

I was 17 and at someone's engagement when I heard , the girls there were crying and hanging each other ... I couldn't really care less.

As I've grown up I have been slightly intrigued by her but nothing near the level people and masses were back then

Original poster
StressedOutSemolina · 10/12/2023 21:02

Mojolostforever · 10/12/2023 20:58

Yes they did. She was a loose cannon, with the possibility of having a child who would have Fayed as the grandfather.

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Agreed. She was causing a potential nightmare for the RF

OP posts:
User14March · 10/12/2023 21:03

There’s an article today on her death/Dodi’s apparent coke addiction.

Reminds me of well connected friends of mine telling me Dodi upset nefarious types, lived beyond means, owed ££ & his death a mere dirty, cheap, clumsy, hit with Diana ending up as collateral damage.

Catinknickers · 10/12/2023 21:03

I live quite near Kensington Gardens and went there a lot with my DD then 2. There were crowds of people laying cards, flowers and tat (toys, love heart sweets) trooping through the area.

The flower sellers did well that week though!

It was bizarre at the time. I remember my friend (who used to mock royalists) queued up at 2am to get a good place on the procession route.

IStartWhereYouEnd · 10/12/2023 21:03

The public mourning was neither obscene nor embarrassing, it was a nation grieving for the death of someone who was genuinely loved.
If you were a child at that time, you may not have realized how popular she was.

🙄 I was an adult and it was obscene and embarrassing. The public didn’t genuinely love her, they didn’t fucking know her!

If some sick weirdos who didn’t know someone I loved that died, were crying for them, I’d want them all to stfu and go away.

IStartWhereYouEnd · 10/12/2023 21:04

First paragraph should be bold as was a quote

Catinknickers · 10/12/2023 21:06

I freelanced for a PR co at the time and knew a lot of journos who had weird stories like she was deffo pregnant, a coke head etc (all likely made up or unsubstantiated rumours)

Justleaveitblankthen · 10/12/2023 21:08

Keepingongoing · 10/12/2023 19:12

Do I remember rightly that there was a walkabout with William and Harry, to look at the flowers and speak to people?

What a thing to inflict on bereaved children.

Yes, they were at Balmoral at the time.

CeciledeVolangesdeNouveau · 10/12/2023 21:09

I’m very empathetic and have severe PTSD with hypervigilance.

I remember it being a “national event” and I think I played with a plastic cat toy and gave it a little funeral in sympathy during the actual funeral airing live. I could see everyone was sad but the reality of death hadn’t dawned on me properly so I was trying to make the toy feel better or something. I was five so it’s one of my earliest memories.

I can understand that level of grief for your dearest friend, parent or guardian and funerals now make me very sad because I can’t help but imagine the sadness of the mourners (singer in my spare time, sometimes get small singing jobs which can involve funerals) but it seems like a lot of people just grasped on to an outlet for the misery of their own lives rather than really grieving for her to that extent. Having said that, the press continue to make profit off Diana-related stories so who knows?

Ambivax · 10/12/2023 21:11

MagentaRocks · 10/12/2023 19:34

Agree with this. It’s one of the things I remember, the princes walking around looking at the flowers and grown women wailing and reaching out to grab them. Totally disgusting. I was 24 I think, and I did find it a bit upsetting, more so for her boys. They did amazingly well to get through it all. I am 50 now and can’t imagine losing my parents now, let alone as a teen or pre teen.

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I was working near Kensington Gardens, and bemused by the craziness of the public reaction, but thought it would be interesting to go and see what was going on in the park. I had just arrived and was leaning against the barrier to look at the flowers when suddenly there was a kerfuffle and the crowd came in behind me so I wasn’t able to leave the barrier. Prince Charles had arrived with William and Harry, and you are completely right, it was grotesque. I’m afraid it was mostly women as you say, sobbing and reaching out to grab two little boys who had just lost their mother. William looked completely frozen, Harry a bit more chatty but going through the motions. Prince C was trying to keep things moving, presumably to get them through asap.
I have sons now and can’t imagine why the family thought it was a good idea - but I don’t really think they had much choice as the tabloids were baying for blood.
I have never forgotten it. It did not reflect well on us as a nation.