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.

Same then can be said about Elvis, John Lennon, Amy Winehouse and many more famous people but it felt like she was a massive part of our lives as in we saw her image every day in different papers and magazines and on TV - she was always there. I was a little bit younger than Diana and it was such a shock and everyone felt for her children and also that she had seemed to be enjoying herself at last and loving life - maybe a few people exaggerated their feelings, but for the rest, whether they were grieving for her or just grieving in general (as a pp mentioned above, people who have struggled to grieve over their loved ones maybe felt 'allowed' at this time) it helped them get through as it was a terrible time and I remember it vividly

She died the day before my 2nd Birthday, I don't remember her and I don't really understand the significance but then again I'm not a huge Royalist :)

With regard to the gentleman who phoned in to say he shed more tears over Diana than his wife - I don't think it takes a giant leap of imagination to think perhaps he had repressed his grief over his wife's death and felt that this was an avenue where he could let go, as it was made 'okay' to grieve because lots of people were doing it. I think that was probably true of lots of people, as a couple of PP have identified.

I watched one of the documentaries and lots of journos were saying it is difficult to explain quite how famous she was, she was the most photographed person in the world. I don't know who would be the equivalent of that now, but I do know if the Duchess of Cambridge died tomorrow in a car accident, regardless of the circumstances, I would feel real genuine sorrow for her children's loss, and I think that was a contributing factor for lots of people back then.

I do agree that the way the boys were treated (as public property) was absolutely horrendous. The queen did the right thing in taking them away to grieve privately. They should never have been made to do the walkabouts and to process behind the coffin like that. I hope we've come a long way since then and some of the public should be ashamed for demanding a piece of them at that time.

However I find it equally distasteful to read some of the comments on here about how plain she was or how she was only beautiful with a load of make up on - firstly it's a shame to see women criticising another woman's appearance, and secondly it comes across as a bit spiteful. If you saw a young woman in the paper killed in a car accident described as a beautiful young mother or two would your reaction be 'she's not all that'?
I also think those saying William and Harry use the loss of their mother to gain themselves sympathy or publicity have no comprehension of what their lives must be like. Yes they have immense privilege. I wouldn't swap with them for all that money and luxury, I don't think many would. They lost their mother at an extremely vulnerable age and I do feel it's very unpleasant to suggest they manipulate that situation at all.

People felt genuine grief for her.. I don't think we will see the like of it again. I still believe she was murdered.. she was a huge inconvenience for the royals. I'm generally not a fan of conspiracy theories, but this one stinks of it.

I was on holiday and was in the middle of reading a newly out biography about her. It's the only book about the royals i've every read and half way through it the subject dies! I was up early and bunged the telly on waiting for the DCs to wake up. I remember being utterly gob smacked!

God, it was weird.

I mean, she seemed nice and all, and it was very sad for all concerned that she died young, but the level of the thing was insane.

I remember my dad being very cross with me for suggesting we stopped watching the news/funeral - he was all for her being sainted when a few days before he was moaning in his usual republican way about royal holidays etc.

It is quite terrifying how this sort of mass hysteria can take hold. I think it might even have been worse today, with social media etc. It really doesn't take that much to push people over the edge, if you know how.

I always thought the Diana hysteria was rather devisive, there's always a big fuss about the people who were loud and noisy in their grief, but there was a lot of us who werent (I was 18 at the time), and the general feeling of those who'd on the morning we'd heard she'd died thought "oh, that's a shame. Her poor boys." and then didnt really think more about it, that we were out of step with the country.

I remember feeling really unsettled that I didn't get it. I didn't understand the public fuss, and worried if there was something odd about me that I didn't really care that someone I'd never met was dead.

Over the next 6 months/year, I had the same coversation over and over, other people who had felt the same, kept quiet and didn't understand why other people were crying for days, and why they weren't.

One thing that struck me at the time - Diana's funeral took place just under a week later on the Saturday - every shop had shut for the time of the funeral (All ofus with Saturday jobs had the day off), sporting fixtures were cancelled or rescheduled, children's sport clubs were cancelled. There wasnt anything else on the TV - all 5 main channels showed the funeral, (few people had sky/other options than terrestrial), it was lauded as the most watched TV event with , with over 56% of the UK population watching it. Yet that left a 44% who didn't watch it - even though it wasn't great weather for most of the UK, there was nothing else on the TV, and whole country shut down.

tickety Yeah as someone used mind control to tell her not to put on a seat belt hey?

Christ no you are not unreasonable...
The mother of my then boyfriend went on and on and fucking on about it, bought all the newspapers, went to London to lay flowers...all over a woman she didn't know, who had a personal wardrobe the size of a detached house and lived in unspeakable luxury...that was the watershed moment that has ushered in this current age of public emotion, where every last fucking thing gets its own 2 minutes silence, and every item of clothing should come with a black arm band pre-sewn on for the shrieking hysterical overblown display of emotion that arrives on a clockwork basis...

YANBU - the whole thing was extraordinary. I was 15 at the time and remember feeling completely baffled by the public reaction. Of course it was very sad that a young woman had died in awful circumstances leaving two children behind, but to this day I still don't understand the personal grief so many people seemed to feel.

It's the worst conspiracy theory ever
She could have foiled it by wearing a seatbelt, leaving by the back door and not taunting the paparazzi, not getting into a car with a drunk driver

I dont think the Queen needed to fly the flag at half mast, Diana was no longer an HRH. They were divorced. Diana was dating Dodi

The flag thing was just a media contract too, i.e let's tell the "people" they are hugely offended then stand back and watch it become reality.

Agree TeaCake

Yes, I think the flag thing was a question of the royal family rather leaden-footedly sticking to what was considered normal tradition/protocol, and that being interpreted very negatively by the red tops/popular feeling, who read the whole thing emotionally. They've got a lot better at PR since (unfortunately, from my perspective as a republican!)

it was like a tsunami wave of grief - we succumbed to it.

speak for yourself! I felt sad that a woman had died leaving two children then got on with my life. how can you feel true grief for someone you've never met? it's BS.

But why pantryboy? You describe her as magical but I just don't get why or how. Can someone put it in layman terms for me

I also thought there was a lot of public guilt about her once she'd died as well.

The week before her death, there were jokes on radio and TV (including on radio 1, which is normally careful!) insulting her multiple holiday and lazy lifestyle. People calling for her to just leave the UK.

On the morning after she died, my dad had walked to get the papers, they'd had time to change the front few pages (she'd died early on the Sunday morning), but the columist inside hadn't been changed, and there was one in the Mirror slagging Diana off as a bad mother, pointing out how little time she'd "bothered" to spend with her kids over the school summer holidays. How much tax payers money was being 'wasted' on security services for her multiple jollies.

She was becoming a figure of hate in the UK, not the people's princess.

I do wonder if a lot of those people howling were motivated by feeling bad about how she'd been spoken about prior to her death....

Does anyone know anyone who is usually quite normal but did this

No, I know no one who cried, which is possibly one of the reasons I found it all so surreal at the time.

However I find it equally distasteful to read some of the comments on here about how plain she was or how she was only beautiful with a load of make up on - firstly it's a shame to see women criticising another woman's appearance, and secondly it comes across as a bit spiteful

To be fair, I don't think it is spiteful reading rhe comments. I thought she was an attractive woman, but honestly I never thought she was a "great beauty", I'd be the first to say if I thought she was. I find the comments that she was rather sycophantic, like the comments on her being saintly or iconic. Just a little over the top and not based in reality.

I agree public opinion would have turned against her if she hadn't died
There is nothing like a young death to create an unrealistic icon

I really like the film, The Queen, it was interesting to see just how awful Alistair Campbell really was (if the film is to be believed obviously).
That Sunday morning through to the next was plain weird. I listened to Chris Tarrant on Capital in those days, there was not one happy tune played all week. It was all everyone talked about and on the Saturday morning our town was deserted by about 11am.
Things did, in fairness, get back 'to normal' pretty quickly after the funeral.
Also the whole Charles Spencer thing, hailed as a hero etc, utter tosh.

It is a bit much, in the documentary last night, they said that they were worried people would try and jump on her coffin. Totally disrespectful to Diana's sins and her family. I was sad a young woman died in tragic circumstances, the level of grief was too much.

I felt guilty!
We had used her life as a cheap thrill. Reading the gossip mags, the stories in the newspapers and watched the TV; and forgotten that she was a real person not some Soap Opera on TV.
Then she died - and there was no hope of a "Dallas" type dream sequence. And how she died just added to the guilt.
If no one had bought those stories there wouldn't have been paparazzi at the Hotel or following her through Paris. The crash probably wouldn't have happened.

And the consequence was two young boys growing up in that family without their mother. So guilt towards them too.

Of course some people just wanted to "join in".

I wonder how the whole thing would have played out if it had happened in the age of social media. It would have been a hundred times worse, I imagine.

I guess people felt like that, because of the way she portrayed herself to the public. People felt sorry for her because of Charles affair with Camilla, and the Queen matching them together because she was good marriage and heir making fodder.