When did British people feel like Princess Diana’s death was a long time ago?

[Femusia]

How long after Princess Diana’s death, did it take for people to view her death as historical rather than recent?

Like how now, Diana is constantly brought up as a figure from the past and it seems like the notion of her being dead is so normal since it’s been so long.

But, when did that happen instead of her death being seen as fresh in people’s memory and the notion of “I can’t believe she’s not here anymore” still prevailing?

Say what?

is that meant sarcastically? I apologise if I’m misinterpreting your comment, but it’s an odd thing to say if meant sincerely - he was 15, shy and bereaved.

I was still at uni - that didn't seem as long a go as it was till our DC started going.

Old is now older then the kids who are late teen and early 20s.

Time perception is odd area really it does change with age and circustances.

There seem to be quite a lot of threads asking 'how british people' feel about the royal family - which I always imagine come from US posters.

Saw quote a few documenatraies around anniversary of USA independance and the no kings idea/slogan - came up during it and then became a fundamental part of the whole mythology of it all - wasn't there at the start.

So seems to confuses them it's just background noise for many brits now and they often seem unaware of other constitutional monarchies becuase they think they had to fight a war to be "free".

What? Obviously I am saying he is handsome now.

A tinfoil hat type person might suggest a US upsurge in royal interest is all part of preparing them for King Donald "rule by proclamation" Trump the First ?

Thanks - I thought you were having a dig, which some people do just because he’s lost hair. There are some horrible comments about that, just as some people think “Ginger” is an insult to H, which it shouldn’t be.

Sorry for getting it wrong.

No it's alright 😄 x

I do think he is handsome - he works the bald well now, he's very much a hot dad

I was 28 and my daughter a few months old. My husband went out to get the Sunday papers and came into the bedroom and in a mock whisper said princess diana is dead, I was like what? How? She was so so much in the press due to her private life that it was a real shock.

however the public mania was just awful so ott, I see people doing it when pop stars die. Grief vultures and attention seeking.

I went shopping on thr day of her funeral, clothes shopping, as I guessed the department stores would be empty. I guessed semi right. They were empty but only as they closed for the funeral, so I did go home and watch it.

i also don’t get the whole I luffs harry he walked behind the coffin. So did William and there is only two years between them . The royals do that as a mark of respect.

Over the 30 years there have been numerous versions of Why did the boys walk? One version was that William was determined to walk so Harry said Well, if he's doing it then so am I, another was that Philip said it was up to them but, in years to come, they may regret not doing it and he, Philip, would walk with them if it helped them. The only truth is that we'll never know, every version is tailored to fit personal agendas. On the day I recall commenting that maybe they would have been better joining when the cortege passed Buck House rather than walking all the way.

Yes I suspect they wanted to do it. As a mark of respect for their mother.

The question I guess is should they have been stopped. But we need to remember walking behind is the norm for royals. It’s just alien to everyone else. The issue wasn’t thr fact they were walking it was they had lost their mother, that’s whay upset them. Both boys were brought up on the public eye since birth. It wasn’t alien to them.

I just don’t get the whole oh poor Harry shit. William was only two years older. And I’d have hazarded a guess neither boy was forced.

The 1990s was “my” era - 1990s London as a young professional adult was an amazing thing. I feel goosebumps when certain songs by bands like the Stone Roses and Blur come on the radio, or wistfulness when someone mentions the supermodels or “Friends”.

Because the 1990s are mine, I still think of them as 20 years ago maximum, not 30. 😆

So, Diana’s death for me doesn’t feel historical. But of course I understand the sensible argument that it is indeed historical.

Agree with this. I’m sure that it was a nuanced situation. It’s quite possible for 2 things to be true simultaneously - that the boys wanted to do it, and that it was also the hardest thing they’d ever done. I’d also heard that PP said to them: you don’t have to but you might regret it if you don’t. And if you do decide to, I’ll walk beside you.

Also agree with the pp who said - this is what the Arafat’s do - the boys had been brought up to cope in the public eye, horrible though the situation was. I think seeing the massive crowds would have been the most difficult and unsettling aspect for them.

Arafats?? Ruddy autocorrect!

This is what the RF do.

'Why have you woken me up to tell me that! Go back to bed'

Mum, is that you?

Probably about 5 years. Until this recent book publication I hadn’t given her more than a passing thought when she is mentioned on the telly or similar for years.

I did go and stand on the hard shoulder of the M1 to watch the coffin go by, but only because it was nearby and on a weekend when not at work, a moment in history but not one that really sticks out in my mind now.

As an aside, I am amused that Saturday Night :Live UK have picked up on Jack Sheps rather uncanny portrayal of Princess Di

"Oh no, we've lost control of DIANA !"
"That's what happened last time ...."

Yes, the reference to arafat did take me surprise😅.

The thing that made me realise people had gone completely over the top about Diana dying was a friend, whose wedding was planned for the day of the funeral, was asked if she was going to cancel it - wtf!?
No, for anyone still wondering, of course she bloody didn't.

Seemed historical after a few months, I didn’t know her (of course) so apart from the shock that an accident is it’s not a big deal. For her family, especially her sons it’s a lifetime of grief because she hasn’t been there for them, quite different

I wonder if any funerals were cancelled for the Royal Wedding July 29th 1981 ? By way of symmetry ....

A colleague was bridesmaid at a wedding in Herts and she told me that the bride had been asked that.

Different wedding then, but I wonder how many people were actually asked if they were going cancel something expensive and meaningful, that had been arranged for a long time?
My friend also turned down prayers for Diana being added to her wedding service.
Remembering that, I was really worried when my niece's wedding was just after the late Queen's death.
Luckily, no such madness prevailed. The best man - at the behest of the couple - finished his toasts with one for "The King!" which was very well received.

I found it all unnerving - I couldn’t bring myself to join the hysteria which seemed to be taking over the previously sensible British. I felt sorry for the princes too, because I’m sure they must have found it more frightening than comforting.

It went on for ages and I remember reading about an office worker who’d been sacked for crying all day, every day for literally months after the event. I don’t blame her employers!

it really was a very strange time.

My manager was overwrought about her death. I got into trouble with him for a joke I made some months later when someone mentioned about Diana dying and I said "Diana died? blimey, the royals kept that quiet, didn't they?" and he snapped at me that I Wasn't Being Funny.

Ludicrous. The whole thing was ludicrous. Weddings being cancelled, shops and pubs shut on the day of the funeral, people queueing all night to sign condolence books.

@MrsDanversGlidesAgain

Yes- for anyone too young to remember, it really was as if the country had gone mad. And you had to be careful what you said, too.

To be clear - i was shocked at her tragic death and watched her funeral with respect, but quite frankly, the mawkishness which gripped the country was very disturbing - there was a sort of “mob”:undertone.

And you had to be careful what you said, too.

I seem to recall people appointing themselves guardians of her memory and physically attacking any person or business not deemed sufficiently respectful and demanding that businesses shut on the day of the funeral.

https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2007/aug/13/britishidentity.monarchy