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?

I was 14 when she died; I’m 43 now.

It’s never had any real importance to me.

It was a very strange time, as if the British public lost its mind entirely. I was sorry for the young princes, and for the PoW, and that such a vibrant woman died in such a mundane way. But I didn’t know her and didn’t like the way she courted the media when it suited her. We spent the day of her funeral walking on Dartmoor with crowds of other people escaping the mass hysteria, which seemed to be contagious, especially in London.

I hated all the emotional incontinence and hysteria. But what really bugged me was the stupidity of leaving the cellophane on flowers - which meant they couldn’t be composted. Why don’t people think?

I wish there was an information film/advert or similar to ask the public to remove ALL packaging before leaving floral tributes.

the checkout operator raised it with me yesterday!
i guess the book has reminded people
it was 29 years ago, - it is history

It’s definitely history! But some people see it as their last chance to make money out of Diana and they’ll be the ones we’ll be hearing a lot from!

Diana's death was a long time ago. People have been born and become parents themselves in that time. The only reason she keeps being revived in this huge way is because of people from that era who are still around today using her for their own ends, e.g. Charles Spencer.

She was also "discovered" again by younger generations on the fictional Netflix show The Crown, which also tied in with the Harry and Meghan "freedom flight", which also got mixed up with Black Lives Matter and Epstein and all sorts of other early 2020s Zeitgeist things.

Same here. I felt sorry for the kids, in the same way I'd feel sorry for any kids whose mother had died young. But other than that, no particular feelings. It was someone I didn't know, and wasn't that interested in. Like you say, she courted the media when it benefitted her and tried to turn it off when it didn't. Being in the public eye doesn't work like that!

We'd just exchanged on our house purchase the day before, so I watched a bit on the breakfast news whilst I had my breakfast and then we went to clean the house and start moving our belongings in. After that, we were busy with the house and I don't even think I watched her funeral. I just remember seeing the pictures on newspaper front pages of William and Harry walking behind the coffin - I suppose that's my enduring memory of that time.

About two weeks after it happened, as it already felt the wall-to-wall media coverage had been going on for months.

I don't really understand the question or what you mean, OP. Diana's sudden death shocked the world and was obviously going to go down in history from the moment the news broke.

Most people my age still remember exactly what they were doing on that day. I was going out with someone at the time who worked somewhere Diana frequented. He used to help sneak her out of the place and always spoke extremely highly of her. She as one of the staff's favourite customers, in fact.

20-30 years - is often considered point where things become historic as it's a considered a generation gap. It's timeframe allows primary participants to age or pass away, archives and government records to be declassified, and society to gain emotional and critical distance from the events.

So this is within the normal time frame TBH - probably seems odd as it's first time it's happening to many of us when we perhaps feel less old than previous generations at same ages.

I agree - 30 years is a generation and that’s a significant time period.

RIP Diana.