To still not understand the Diana "thing"?

[TeaCake5]

As William and harry said they were bewildered by people who didn't even know her acting in the way they did. Yes it was sad that she was killed but to hand around kensington palace for days crying? Ridiculous.

It was pretty full on at the time. I don't think my parents particularly displayed any overload of emotion over it, and i don't think it was necessary. It was an important footnote in this country's history though. I just don't understand looking at footage of the funeral and seeing people lining the streets crying their eyes out. Why?

NormaSmuff Thu 31-Aug-17 08:47:39
I cried watching Elton John singing at the actual funeral.

I cried listening to this song on the radio this morning on the way to work. They did a thing on the radio which was footage from when she died, Tony Blair giving his speech thing on it, The queen giving her bit and quotes from Diana herself when asked in an interview did she think she'd ever be Queen and she said "No I don't.... The Queen of People's Hearts, but not the Queen" or something like that. Then they played Elton. And I blubbed on the Motorway to work. Felt very real all over again.

I don't get it either. Yes she did a lot for charity, and it's sad 2 boys lost their mother. But I didn't understand why all these people were crying outside the palace when they didn't know her.
I was 16 at the time. I remember just being really pissed off that the hollyoaks omlibus wasn't on because of the rolling news!

Yes it is distasteful.
Like the endless "rip" ping and "fly high with the angles"...people can't even be bothered to spell it properly.

I didn't get it then and I still don't. I remember being out weeding my front garden on the day of her funeral and feeling embarrassed that I was the only person outside in the street, so I went and did the back garden instead!

On a lighter note, my husband still giggles when he tells the following story:
He was on a rugby trip to Blackpool with a load of team mates when it happened, staying in a large Guest House. Getting a bit restless under the saturation media coverage and obligatory misery, one of their number decided to urgently asked their hostess "Have you heard the news?!" - wide-eyed "No!?" - "Jocky Wilson beat Eric Bristow at darts!"

Apparently the heartless bastards all pissed themselves laughing.

TeaCake I meant every word and did not copy anyones #style#
I reiterate everything I said with dignity
which is more than you can say about your reply to me

There was also quite a feeling at the time that it wasn't an accident

Not amongst people with any critical thinking skills.

I found the whole mass grieving thing at the time distasteful, and the rehashing of it all now is completely over the top. Those boys lost their mother in a tragic and very public way, why on earth are they expected to relive it for the public's edification?
And Paul Burrell should just get back under his rock, the publicity hungry dickhead.

It was that sense of understanding that swept through the country

That's the thing. I don't think it was. I don't think a nation did grieve or understand. I think a percentage went over the top, like mass hysteria egged on by the media, but it was no more than a relatively small percentage. Everyone else just felt it was tragic and sad.

I remember on the day of her funeral going shopping, and went into house of Fraser and the assistant saying we shut at twelve. Neither I or her could understand it. There really was nothing to do other than go home and watch her funeral.

The worst of it was, those who succumbed to the hysteria, must shoulder part of the responsibility of those boys having to go and look at the flowers and walk behind the cortège to satisfy public demand. It was just awful. WILLIAM was right, it was well over and above the call of public duty. People gawking and crying. It actually bordered on shameful.

I was (and am) no fan of any of the royal family and I found Diana in particular quite irritating. So I was puzzled to find myself getting quite emotional when she died. I didn't understand it then and I still don't now. It wasn't that I suddenly realised how much I liked her, I can only suppose that it was some sort of reaction to the problems I had at the time, or a release of stress or summat.
Under no circumstances would I have gone to London to lay flowers or hang about wailing though.

I wonder how the press feel now about it, i get they were trying to get away from the whole Paparazzi business, which is how Diana died after all, and Blame the Queen, Prince Philip/Prince Charles.
Baying for blood, headlines such as Where are you ? aimed at the Royal Family
www.google.co.uk/search?q=headlines+to+the+queen+after+diana%27s+death&rlz=1C1VFKB_enGB682GB682&tbm=isch&imgil=ksGJT0tWM99iBM%253A%253BsvpiOmkgeSPBwM%253Bhttps%25253A%25252F%25252Fwww.pinterest.com%25252Fmadamsmich%25252Fdeath-of-a-princess%25252F&source=iu&pf=m&fir=ksGJT0tWM99iBM%253A%252CsvpiOmkgeSPBwM%252C_&usg=__eZvH1-xgg7fH5FzvSrJ0pBDGTN4%3D&biw=1366&bih=662&ved=0ahUKEwj_2ZPRi4HWAhUMIMAKHYWsDxMQyjcIPQ&ei=rc2nWb_PH4zAgAaF2b6YAQ#imgrc=x1yvkOVABCCIrM:
Your People are suffering - show us you care Ma'am.

lot of baloney.
How exactly do these editors and journalists feel about this?

I remember just being really pissed off that the hollyoaks omlibus wasn't on because of the rolling news!
I was in upper juniors and was more annoyed that kids TV had been taken off. When I've told my students we only had 4 channels so those few hours of kids TV were precious, they look confused

The radio news just played a recording of the announcement that she'd been killed.

How utterly distasteful and disrespectful.

It was a big shock when she was killed. I was trying to explain to DD3 (19) the other day. I was in my 28 when diana died.

This woman was in the news all the time. She had been in the news a lot (like her or not) for a long time. We'd seen pictures of her in the papers and the news at least weekly since she was 19. Rumors about a girlfriend of Charles. We'd seen the shy teenager with her dodgy fashion sense. We'd seen the engagement speech, seen her get married. Watched her get thinner. Photos of all her engagements - gossip about all her outfits ect. She was an instantly familiar face and most people had an opinion of her if asked. The hairstyles and all that fluff. Then came all the infidelity stuff. The videos and the confessions on the tv. The royal divorce. The Charles and Camila thing. Then she's happy with a man who's from a family of Egyptian billionairs who owns Harrods. Yacht and bikini shots. Is she pregnant? What's she doing now? Love it or loath it - there was no escape from it. Everyone knew about her. Everyone had an opinion.

Then one morning we wake up to hear she's dead.

The soap opera which you might have had one eye on at some points over the last ... however many years had turned very very bad and no one saw it coming. That was how it felt for me anyway.

The wailing and crying in the streets? I don't know anyone who did it. There's a lot of strange people about and there they all were is how i saw it. Does anyone know anyone who is usually quite normal but did this?

I remember waking up to my mum WAILING that morning, it was an awful sound and even at my young age I remember thinking it was OTT. Looking back, that was her reaction to hearing the news and I guess she couldn't help it.

I was also at the time very confused about the wailing and crying. One customer came into where I worked and asked had I cried at the funeral I replied that I hadn't and said there's enough grief in your own life without crying about someone you don't know, she replied oh you must have been jealous of her as she was beautiful and has lovely clothes !! If I had been her one of her children I would have been very pissed off I think they probably just have looked at the crowds and thought what are you crying for its my mum 👿

Mass hysteria, whipped up by the media and by Alastair Campbell. I remember it well and felt like I had suddenly entered some parallel universe that I didn't understand.

The venom directed at the Royal Family over it was appalling, whether you like the institution or not. Suddenly normal people - mostly mothers and grandmothers - seemed to think the Queen should have put the public before her own grandchildren. All these Diana maniacs who felt she was the only "modern" caring Royal suddenly wanted the Queen to NOT be modern and caring and NOT put the boys' welfare first. Bizarre.

Yes Norma I got the feeling the press were trying to deflect the blame. they would have been falling over themselves to buy the pap photo's of Diana and Dodi living it up in Paris if she hadn't died. That's why the paps were there, chasing her down the street on their motorbikes. because photo agencies would have paid them top dollar for the photo's. They should be ashamed of those headlines, but they've probably forgotten all about their role in all this.

Her death was no more tragic than any other person who leaves young children
People attribute lots of characteristics to her but they have no way of knowing if she was really like that
This thread is going that way
She courted the press and we all saw a persona. We do not know the real person

I thought the outpouring of public grief was ridiculous and hysterical. At the time, it was almost impossible to say so without being lynched though. I think in a world of social media where every opinion is instantly voiced, we've forgotten how constrained public discourse used to be! didn't stop me gobbing off though.

And it was all very selfish
No thought for the children

I was 28, with 2 year old twins and living with my batshit, now ex, mil.

She came downstairs all teary and waily and expecting me to join in. Then she called me a 'heartless bitch' because I was just getting on with stuff.