Your thoughts on Princess Diana.

I admired her for her humanitarian work - she applied her fame and star quality to promote good causes she believed in. She seemed to have a "glow" about her once she extricated herself from that awful royal family. What are your thoughts on the 10th anniversary of her passing?

Beautiful and left in our minds and hearts as a mark on our time.

A human but also one of many symbols of the Reaganeighties

I'm sorry she lost her life so tragically. However she did hobnob with the Callous Reagan family during the Reaganeighties.

I wonder how she viewed the Reagan family and Republicans in general. I recall that the Queen did not like Maggie Thatcher very much.

I agree with your thinking re Marilyn Monroe --
I thought one of her most believable roles was a Roslyn in "The Misfits" --
I was particularly impressed with Marilyn's courage in speaking out --

And, of course, Diana did all humanly possible, as far as I can see --

I think the Royals are trying to rewrite history to end the Diana worship --
it may work?

Its really sad that the boys were so young -- especially Harry when Diana died.

Why Britain still supports "royalty" is a huge question in my mind -- Very odd!

But coming back to my thinking . . . .
goddesses were only human -- and I think as we rebalance gender roles, that they are arising again.

Certainly, Diana was one in that sense.

Extremely sad.

But nary a word for Mother Theresa, who did more for the sick and the poor in this world than just use them for photo ops. She also died 10 years ago this weekend, but I bet you won't hear a thing about her.

that was a funny right?

of the United Kingdom and elsewhere felt when she died.

This is a woman who could hold AIDS-stricken infants one day and hobnob with Henry Kissinger the next. Quite a range if you ask me.

She appeared to love her two kids and they have borne her loss as bravely as I imagine it could be carried, and this with the slobbering media hounding them left and right.

Did anybody see THE QUEEN with Helen Mirren? If not, rent it this weekend and treat yourself to a very polished glimpse at the government of GB in the wake of Diana's death.

I was impressed not only with Helen Mirren's portrayal of the queen, but also the guy who played Tony Blair was amazing - a spot-on impersonation. Pretty much everyone who appeared in the film did a superb job.

between the frosty higher-ups in the Royal famiy and the rank-and-file British citizenry who missed their princess.

Great stuff.

it was SO fascianting. When Tony Blair rants at his staff about the Queen not having had any choice in the matter either, I felt so sorry for her, too. The whole thing with the Elk, magestic, hunted, dying. Powerful metaphore for the Queen's life...or of tradition and royalty.

After we left the movie I wanted to know more about Queen Elizabeth and looked her up on "the Internets" when I got home. The page I pulled up had a portrait of her and I remember thinking "that doesn't look like the Queen to me". Helen Mirren HAD become the Queen for me. (ha ha)

My parents lived in Scotland not far from the place where it was filmed...or supposedly filmed. They said for miles around the royal property it is illegal to stop your car. There are guards and signs posted throughout. Royalty is so alien to us but we as a species don't give up trandition easily.

Anyway, if you've not seen the movie, do.

And, I will admit that I went to bed the evening she was in the accident thinking she would be fine and woke up to her death. I cried as if I knew her, and seeing those boys walking behind her casket was extremely sad.

It was such a shock because Diana had been all over the papers throughout that summer.
I was nine when she got married, she was a real life fairytale Princess to me.
It was heartbreaking watching the Princes walking behind their Mother's coffin, it showed so much character, nothing they will ever do in life will be as hard as that moment, with the whole world watching.
The moment that undid me on this day ten years ago, was when her coffin was brought home, the plane landing with the BBC playing a hymn as the sound track, it was devestating, the soldiers that carried her looked devastated.
The other moment was days later, when Princes' William and Harry were looking at the flowers outside
Balmoral and Harry reached for his father's hand. It was such a natural thing to do, so reassuring, I knew at that moment that Prince Charles would do everything he could for his sons.
And today his Sons were men that arranged the Memorial Service and for all the bad press they have got, they are their Mother's sons.

I went to Kensington Palace that week and it was the strangest atmosphere I have ever felt, the air was electric, candles burning and so many people.

like a teenager hundreds of miles away from them?

She was a spoiled aristocratic brat. Nothing more.

You know nothing of the human condition.

She was a nothing. A pretty nothing who dressed well. By all accounts a pretty dimwitted, adulterous nothing.

She was given many things because of her status. Not her work, not her achievements. Because she was "royalty": someone who thinks a mysterious person in the sky (God) likes her and thus the free things given to her by the taxpayers is her right.

People like to talk about her charity work. Attending black tie balls and traveling by private transport is not exactly hard work.

We do not worship royalty in this country. Find a new heroine, one who actually did things other than get colonics and listen to her publicist. By any reasonable and logical standard, the things that came out of her during the colonics more worthy than the sum of her life.

What grown-ups do after the younguns have gone to sleep ain't other grown-ups' beezwax.

Her charity work lent a high-profile celebrity energy to causes that deserve global support. That doesn't sound so bad to me.

She was supposed have them back with her on the Monday..

I just saw it a couple of weeks ago, and it was a great movie. I loved how they interspersed actual television footage in the movie.

Not to mention SGT. PEPPER'S LONELY HEARTS CLUB BAND by those inventive lads from Liverpool.

and I like them despite their origins. I guess it's the same way that they like me despite my being of French descent :)

can't wait! Loved Di, she raged against the Royal machine, leaked tid bits, loved her kids, wonderful spokesperson for Aids and land minds. Her death was tragic and untimely.

flame lit and always will.

She will always be young and beautiful in people's memories, and history will treat her kindly.

who died young enough to make her a legend.

I was in Greece when she was killed - I missed her by a couple of days in London. I saw her a few times on my trips through Europe and she was angelic in some odd way. I just liked her and the way she was NICE to everyone.

(Unlike some of the snarky comments here about her... she was nice.... I mean really more than Have a nice day nice, she came across as a good soul.)

(Sheesh! Two agreements in the same year. Weird.) :evilgrin:

Nothing but a distractogram from corpomedia

Though I would have tried to work in "unimportant" somehow.

but who doesn't?

I never understood the adoration she inspired :shrug:

ended up trying to find herself on a world stage. Not the innocent she is always made out to be, but all in all a good person put in the wrong position.

:boring:

Romeo, it was under your arm that he slew me.

Marry, 'tis enough. YOu've made worm's meat of me!
Come for me tomorrow and you will find a grave man.

She did not deserve to die being chased by a pack of vile paparazzi scum. Those scum better be glad I am not William or Harry. If I were I would wait until I came fully into wealth and power. Then every single one of them would pay a horrific price for what they did. As the saying goes:

"Revenge is a dish best served cold." :nopity:

at nineteen and the most photographed woman in the world by 20. She wasn't perfect, but none of us are, either.

I wonder what she would have done if she'd had a few more years.

Julie

I just love her. I have her commerative books on my coffe table. She was gifted and used her special gift to nurture and love the sick, her aura glowed. She had issues like all of us and we watched her grow up in front of our eyes. I miss her to this day.

Even if Mohammed al Fayed is weird, even the weird can be right.

All Prince Phillip had to do was pick up the telephone and make a call. and POOOF! No more Blondie, mocking The Family with all those pesky tv interviews.

The straw that broke the camel's back -- she was having sex with a "wog" (Phillip's word, no doubt.)

the fear that she was going have information extracted was too scary for a lot of Establishment people.

People forget about Dodi al Fayed in all this.

If she was murdered I do not believe that Prince Philip was involved, I do not believe he could have walked with his grieving Grandson's behind her coffin. That is the kind of secret that would kill a man and is an old curmudgeon but not an assassin.

and blamed the Irish.

it's impossible to think this was anything but an assassination.

Another ridiculous myth of an official story!

used and then discarded by a prince who chose her to be the mother of his children, but who was never in love with her.

She was taking on interesting causes and generating a lot of publicity for them in her last year, starting to come into her own just as her life was cut short. Her death was one of the few times in my life I can remember exactly where I was and what I was doing when I heard. I felt so bad for her sons. Still do.

of the worst kind.

From pretty girl-next-door turned fairy-tale Princess, to loveless sham of an abusive marriage. She was a little girl in way over her head who came apart, then put herself back together to come out the other side with a good heart doing good things.

That's the real fairy tale because it seems so many get to that stage of success and just become trapped by the success and greed of what they have attained. She fought her way back.

I liked her, faults, kookiness (a little) and all. I doubt many would have held up with the grace she did. I know I wouldn't have.


(I wish somehow the mostly-myth of the American dream could be shattered for the sham that it is, in such a high-profile way. That's unlikely to happen as all of American culture and media is devoted to creating that mythology on a continuous basis. Anything that doesn't comport with the American Dream is seen as an aberration, when in fact the exact opposite is the truth.)

very true and very sad. Rest in Peace Princess Diana

She was the daughter of an EARL. Not of some guy named Earl who lived in a trailer park, but an actual hereditary peer... an EARL... she was related to half the royal families of Europe and could claim direct descent (laughably through a bunch of honest to god bastards) to a variety of English and Scottish Kings.

I don't know why everyone seems to buy the horseshit surrounding this petty assclown.

As I've said earlier, she KNEW what she was getting into. She ran in the same circles the royal family did.

She wanted to be the Princess of Wales. I don't think she loved Charles. She loved the idea of being the Princess of Wales.

She did do a lot of worthwhile charity work.

People wouldn't be nearly so fixated on her if she hadn't been young and pretty.

Going from being the daughter of an Earl to the Princess of Wales is a huge leap for anyone, especially a 19 year old. She had to produce and raise an heir to the throne, that was her job.
She did not know that she would become the most famous, most photographed woman in the world, that she was by followed everyday until her death by Papperazzi.
She didn't even know what marriage was supposed to be like because she her parents were divorced when she was a little girl.

the royal family has had maybe 3 happy marriages since the time of Alfred the Great. Their marriages are almost always arranged to near relatives and other acceptable people.

PS being the daughter of an Earl is a hugely big deal.

PPS of course she knew what she was in for. she was an idiot, granted, but not that big of an idiot. she brought all of the shit down on her own stupid head.

say such a horrible thing?

She was a human being who really did care about other people.

To call her a "Petty assclown" is really mean spirited and shows you for being worse than petty... It makes you a schoolyard bully.

It makes you a real bastard.

and grew up a couple of miles from one of the royal country estates. She used to go swimming with the royal kids. If you think she's the girl next door, you must live in a damn nice neighborhood!!

we should let the women alone, she wasn't all that to begin with......

That had the potential to reform the British monarchy. She came from the people, not from the royal house, and never forgot it.
R.I.P. Lady Di. You did well.

> She came from the people, not from the royal house, and never forgot it.

That's bollocks ... she was about as much "from the people" as G.W.Bush
(i.e., a rich pampered twat from a long line of rich pampered twats).

What she *did* do well was support the anti-landmine campaign along with
other childrens charities and for that alone she should be remembered with
a kind word - not because she was an angel (she wasn't), not because she
was some kind of Cinderella (she wasn't), not even because she was a
princess who died in a drunk-driving accident (true but irrelevent),
but because she used her fame to good purpose on a few occasions.

There's certainly no need for the media-fest that comes up whenever
they're short of distractions for the sheep.

A simple minded woman?

She spoke several languages. She really did care about people who had less and suffered.

She was not mean...

Not mean like the people here who profess to care about the downtrodden...

You know, "liberals."

It is not okay to speak of a dead mother of two as if she was some piece of shit.

I am disgusted.

...kind of explodes my long naively-held belief that liberals are better than conservatives because they have an extra kindness gene. WTF was I thinking? DU members in the last few months have shown me the error of my ways.

I've always heard she was a mediocre student at best. Can you cite documents concerning her powerful intellect? :eyes:

Better a pampered twat that does good things than a spoiled prick killing millions of people, just to see his ego reinforced. Don't lecture me on Diana, Nihil. I'm capable of making up my own mind, thanks.

> Don't lecture me on Diana, Nihil.

I wasn't intending to "lecture you" but also wasn't prepared to let your
"She came from the people, not from the royal house" rubbish go unchallenged.

I'm quite certain you are capable of making up your own mind - your opinion
is worth exactly the same as mine anyway - but making up your own facts calls
for a response.

:shrug:

could have done more but for her untimely death...very sad. :-(

too soon. I feel badly for her family but otherwise, meh.:shrug:

Her anti-landmine advocacy was stellar.

Her anti-landmine advocacy was stellar.

When it comes to the subject of monarchy, I am a republican.

Born into an extremely wealthy family,
functioned on position and privilege,
used as a brood mare by the monarchy,
could not live by the "code",
became mentally unstable,
tried to find a role and did some good work,
used by the al Fayeds to further their position,
died as a result of that last entanglement.

The people's princess.

I cried like a baby 10 years ago when she died. I don't know why or where those emotions came from but it was real. My husband thought I was nuts!

She was a shallow simpleton, a media whore. Half, if not a quarter the person that Charles is. I don't miss her even a little.

Thank you for having the courage to speak the truth. She was an ignorant twit who afflicted her emotional immaturity on her sons and maligned her betters. I lost all interest in her when I read about how her older son used to slip tissues under the bathroom door to her while she had her dramatic hysterics. The persons I respect and have sympathy for are Charles and Camilla. They are the adults here and deserve the good will of the people. I am very tired of eternal adolescents. Bah!

She did something right with them. Try have worked really hard to celebrate her life and to give her a Memorial Service. They worked hard to show the world how much they love and miss her.
She made them queue in shops, she took them in secret to visit the homeless and sick, so they could see how people really lived. I remember a scandal when she smacked Prince William for misbehaving when he was a small boy. She tried to give them a taste of normality and not to bring them up as Princes.
I had a mother that was emotionally immature during my childhood, I always had to take care of her but I love her and now she was still a good mother. I believe that Princess Diana was a good mother too, because of how her children have grown to cherish the memories of her.

I like Prince Charles alot too, because he was there for his two sons, without him I can only imagine the problems that Prince Harry would have right now. And I like Camilla too, I think is the Princes' can accept her nobody else have reason not to.

she was a hideous, self-centered camera whore, who made it a habit of posing, for god's sakes, during the middle of operations, battling her eyes at the poor, staging idiotic little media moments mourning for her relationship in front of the taj mahal etc. she was a first rate idiot.

PS The very last thing a parent of a future king should do is to try to give the young prince a 'normal' upbringing. A normal upbringing is fine if you're planning to be normal, but if there's anything that history has taught us over the last 1000 years or so... the life of a British monarch is never 'normal.' Instead, Wills and Harry should be actively prepared (as heir and spare) to be king.

You can't stand her. You made you point. Over and over and over. Jesus Christ. Have a cocktail and try and kill that bug that's up ass over her.

:thumbsup:

:thumbsup: :thumbsup:

Sorry for that.

Any preparation for their royal duties would have come later and from their father and The Queen.
That is why they have worked overseas and joined the army.


Yes she learned to use the media for her own gain but she was followed everywhere anyway, she was stalked, she was photographed so much it upset her children. She played them at their own game and she made mistakes. I don't see her as faultless but I see how her sons have turned out and she did something right. The way she brought them up and encouraged Prince Charles to has paid off, they are
fine young men, she would be proud of.

Read the about history of The Prince's Trust, both parents installed the values of helping people that need it.

Want to be proud of a king? Then try to be Henry V? Or Elizabeth I? Or Victoria? Or George VI? These people are to be judged on a different set of criteria than commoners. And this is not a slight on commoners. With their incredible privilege comes horrific responsibility. Their lives are simply not their own. They are the unelected representatives of the entire nation, and they only have the power to quit. They are our servants, actually, pretty much our slaves (by our, remember that I'm Canadian).

Upset about being photographed? Jesus, grow some balls. How the fuck are you going to be king? Even at 12. If you want to protect them from that... you have about a dozen motherfucking castles. With arrow slits and moats and whatnots. Keep them in there and bring in private tutors. These children are not going to have a normal life under any circumstance and giving them some foolish fiction that they will is perverse cruelty.

Honestly. You want a royal family? Maybe they should start acting like them. You wouldn't have gotten this level of whiney bullshit from Richard I. Maybe from Richard II...

now that they are mid twenties and STILL elitist party boys.

What has this woman done in life than being, like her great-grandmother before her, a self-centred, uppity whore?

Edited for smileys.

;) :hide:

With properly funded government programs, charity is utterly unnecessary. I don't believe in it, and with very few exceptions, I do not support private charities.

My view is that we need both. A good Welfare State, *and* private charities. Charity should never replace government work, but are you really opposed to such organizations as the Save the Children Fund, Oxfam or the Red Cross?

Moreover, Diana was involved not just in 'giving' work but in 'campaigning' work, notably against landmines. If you expect governments to do that, you'll sadly have to wait a long time.

I don't think that Diana was a saint or martyr or genius; but I think she did some good work which deserves respect.

I support doctors without borders for example, but really I'd be much happier if our government took care of the people who need help. I don't like religious bodies getting involved, I don't care for private charities (the great majority of which spend more money on themselves or on advertising than they distribute). Charities, likewise, tend to spend money on MSM concerns. The only way to do it properly is through taxes and the government.

Oxfam is a BINGO and it has fucked up with some anti-semitic bullshit in the past. The Red Cross has an extraordinarily tarnished reputation (re: tainted blood). And as for Save the Children... well, they're pretty cool. But it all shows that you have to be so careful.

The landmines campaign didn't really work, you know. It was a lot of noise and no real result. No PRC, no India, no Russia, no USA = failure.

She was not martyred. The dumb woman didn't wear a motherfucking seat belt and got in a drunk driving accident.

Actually, I find your post very saddening. To be so angry and filled with hate that you automatically assume the worst of others, including those who so obviously wanted to help people, must be a terrible way to live.

Did she like the media attention? Sure, what 18 year-old wouldn't? As she got older, she learned to manipulate it to advance her humanitarian work, so she still needed it.

To only see the world with such negativity must be horrible.

You Americans didn't get half the bullshit story.

PS all you Diana lovers have suckled at the rancid teat of the MSM for a little too long, eh? You totally fell for the MSM version! HA HA!

(newspapers, magazines, television, radio, books not published here, etc) I'm pretty sure I got everyone's input on her from both sides of the Atlantic. I also have two good friends as well as family who live there - all of whom I'm in touch with frequently and always badger them for all overseas news. But thanks.

Again...good luck with your dismal outlook. Hopefully one day things will turn around for you.

At least COWMILLA the bitch will not sit on the throne of England over my dead body. COWMILLA will never been Queen.
She is the reason, Princess Diana is where she is today. I think that Charles will not be King either, I think the Queen will outlive him or pass it on to William when she dies and before he is cowned which usually takes around a year, I have this horrible feeling that William will be murdered by middle eastern groups because of what Tony Blair has gotten the UK into and Harry will be King. This is what I think. The motive - to spite England and it would devastate England.

And it's always a tragedy when someone dies so young. RIP Diana.

However, I don't tend to glamourize royals, including Diana, and think that some parts of our (British) culture are a bit too obsessed with them. Still, it's better than worshipping people with real political power (as Bush would LIKE to have happen to him.)

and his family - chosen because she was young and compliant enough that they could use her for their purposes rather than regarding her as an equal worthy of honest dealings.

And in the face of that, virtually alone against the far more powerful family, she managed to find her own way to be her ow person, and was the unlikely hero of the whole debacle.

....when I heard about it all. I was watching a Saturday Night Live rerun (Rob Lowe, Spice Girls) when it got interrupted by an NBC Special News Report. At first, I didn't think the terrible news of Diana's car crash was even real. :(

I remember on Sunday walking by a woman in a cafe, with an open newspaper in front of her, crying with her face in her hands.

And, in fact, I think the outpouring of the British into the streets for so long a period was unprecedented --

Almost as though they were propelled by their hearts --

:)

Such a shame.

They are a dime a dozen

She was a mother.

She was a good woman.

She was doing what she could to change the bad things that she saw going on.

She thought she was safe going out with Dodi.

She was killed in an accident.

She wasn't driving.

She was a passenger.

Have a little heart.

Feel some compassion for a liberal woman doing some good on the planet who was killed.

tragic that she died so young.

Every person needs a hero or two, and she filled that role superbly for millions... certainly better than a celebrity sports figure, or the trendy, angst-ridden, flavor-of-the-month singer ever could.

My stream of consciousness on her: Pathos, Beauty, Tragedy, Stoicism, Empathy.

In the 80's she would visit hospitals to see AIDS patients. She would take their hands and sit and chat with them just like she was an old friend. These men were shunned. To have a princess sit down and treat them like an old friend and laugh with them was extremely helpful to their well-being. It made them feel like a part of society again for a few minutes. No member of the royal family would even visit an AIDS hospital let alone touch a patient at that time.

Surely she was the only real human in their family. The world must have become a colder, lonlier place for them when she was gone.

Julie

I marvel at how hateful some DUers are. Judementalism runs rampant here.

Julie

her own just before she died. Too bad we didn't see more of Diana in control of her life and less of her victimhood. Nobody is great when they are victimized.

She was an over-privileged person who was part of a aristocratic system.

She married into a royal, monarchical family that was dysfunctional.

She was quite pretty.

She died in a fast car with another rich person of privilege.

Her funeral spoke volumes.

She was hardly some "innocent victim".

I was never as enamored of her as others were.

I'm sad her life ended so tragically, but she was not some innocent victim in life.
People talk about her as the only Royal to EVER reach out to the poor, the sick, and the downtrodden. Hardly.

I'm glad she exposed the Windsors for who they were. (their lineage is illegitimate in my view anyways)

I think she was, well, human. More good than bad obviously, but no saint.

and rove up from all the hurt and pain.

She turn her celb status into something good. She was one of the first public persons to address AIDS. She had a spirit that the royals couldn't tame and that was part of the problem. But she passed that spirit and love of life to her sons.

Her death came at a very low part of my life. I look back to those days with great sadness for not only her death but dealing with my own personal sadness.

She was a person that caused emotions of all sorts. The proof is in this thread. From loving tributes to heartless childish remarks to foaming at the mouth rants.

RIP Diana. You'll always be in my heart.

I think people forget about the message it sent for someoen of her status to visit AIDS patients in that day and age. She treated them like they were normal and showed that at least one person cared for them.

She was a deeply flawed person just like the rest of us, but for that alone I admired her.

Always calling me up in the middle of the night, wanting me to come over... tiresome, really.

:P

that was quite bizarre.

The whole situation was just wrong from the start.

And finally Charles has fulfilled his wish to be a tampon.

It's the first (or is it the second?) step on the way to the Canonization of St. Diana the Overprivileged.

The Media just adore someone like Diana. So pretty. And SO RICH.

Meanwhile, how many poor Iraqi children died today?

And how many deaths of poor Iraqi children did MSNBC cover?

No, MSNBC wants to keep the rich and the privileged and the pretty before us.

And her legend will only grow with time.

I barely had a thought about her until she died, and now we talk about her regularly.

They did a beautiful job of the Memorial Service for her. Prince Harry made a speech about her
that was moving, honest and brave.. people forget how young he was when she died.
Whatever you think of Princess Diana and Prince Charles, they did something right in bringing up
those two boys. They could have so easily gone off the rails after their mother died and they haven't.

Went to college... changed majors a couple of times... joined the military... managed to get out of going to Iraq. Well, I guess that's something.

Get the fuck over it.

Some people admired her and some people don't. And SOME PEOPLE jump up and down throw fucking shit fits.

...and some people resent being ruled by the aristocracy. Hence, the French Revolution, the American War of Independence and other "shit fits".

That's all well and good, but posting over and over attacking Diana and people for posting postive things about her IS a "shit fit".

They don't rule our country, The Queen has ceremonial duties and I don't dislike her.
I was very proud of her after 7/7 when she gave a speech on the open to the people of London.
As long as the majority of the British want to maintain and keep the royal family, I have no problem with them.
They have money and land but so do the big corporate bosses in America and they have far more influence on the our country than The Queen of England. It wasn't the British Royal family that elected Dubya, it wasn't the British royal family that flooded this country with the American culture of fast food, Disney and consumerism and it isn't the royal family that deny and ignore global warming.

I didn't like Diana and I thought that she damaged the monarchy. I think that the monarchs have their place, and that place is to serve the Commonwealth. They are effective ambassadors. Charles in many ways serves as the conscience of the UK on environmental issues (including urban planning). I think that they certainly have a massive cross to bear, but that's their business. They should tuck in their skirts and be stoic about it (something that the idiot Diana never did). She knew the deal. If they can't take it, then abdicate and give up those responsibilities. It worked for Edward VIII.

I don't think they should have special privileges, and, if anything, they should always be the first to volunteer for the really horrible things. Elizabeth and her mom and dad stayed in London during the War, and that earned my working class family's undying loyalty. My dad still loves George VI. He never thought he'd be king and yet when he was thrust into the role because of his worthless brother, he rose to the occasion and became a great monarch.

Monarchs should be stoic, cold, detached. But they should be aware and conscious of the state and its politics and its relationships with other nations and with the earth itself. They should be selfless, nearly anonymous. Take George VI. That wasn't even the poor fucker's name. His name was Albert.

Read Shakespeare's Henry V. Read the speech about ceremony. If Diana hadn't been an uneducated waste of space, perhaps she would have taken her massive responsibilities a little more seriously.

This is just a conspiracy theory, but that was one of the "reasons" the Windsors wanted her to marry Prince Charles.
Albeit a descendant illegitimately. (from King James II)

The present Queen is the de facto monarch, not the de jure.

What have her sons done? Apparently Harry's nothing more than a drunk, and no respectable woman in Britain wants to marry William for some reason.

They have a lot of growing up to do. Respect has to be earned.

and have drunks/gold-diggers for girlfriends. Oh, and they WHINE about how HARD their lives are.

;)

Diana would be pretty proud of that, eh, Harry?

Harry made a speech about her that was honest, brave and beautiful. One that was broadcast across the world about the worse moment in his life. Once again broadcast across the world moving everyone that saw it. What mother wouldn't be proud of a son like Prince Harry at a moment like that. It is unprecedented for a member of the royal family to make such a personal speech. He wrote it and chose to give it, he could have just done a reading but he did something very special.

She would be proud of the fact that Harry is a well mannered, fun, brave, well-adjusted man, who could have easily gone of the rails, become withdrawn and needed rehab for drink and drugs, but he didn't despite the endless innuendo that is still thrown at his mother and his family. Most people would have been driven over the edge by the last ten years.

There was no chance that Prince Harry could have gone to Iraq, I believe that he would have but they are right about security. It would have been a disaster for the British if he had gone and got maimed and killed, because he is Diana's son, it would never be forgiven. His not going has helped make the case to withdraw and British troops are slowly withdrawing now. Remember the British have never supported the war in Iraq and Harry not being allowed to go for security has increased the pressure on the government to get out because it was proof of how much danger our troops are in.

reading a prepared speech at a funeral--NOT. jesus h. gobstopping christ. Reading a speech--even if you wrote the damn thing--at a funeral is not a matter of pride. it's just what you are supposed to do. it's no big deal. why should anyone be proud of someone for doing the fucking obvious?

this is a huge problem in this stupid country. Pride in things that should simply elicit no shame. No one should be proud of doing what they're supposed to do. Pride should be saved for something special.

This whole pride in someone for no real reason burns my boat. For god's sakes america, save being proud for an actual honest to fucking god accomplishment. If you're proud of someone for graduating high school or for passing their driving test or for jogging 10 km... (unless they've got a serious impediment to jogging that is)... you're an idiot. Those sorts of things are simply NOT WORTHY OF PRIDE. For that matter, nowadays, graduating from college isn't even worthy of pride. It's the standard thing to do. It's what you're supposed to do. If you don't do these things readily and easily (unless of course, you have some disability)... then FEEL SHAME.

If your kid gets a Silver Star? FEEL PROUD. If your child is on the team that finishes sequencing some disease? FEEL PROUD. If your child builds a home for the poor with their own bare hands and their own money? FEEL PROUD.

Our ordinary condition in life should not be pride. It should not be shame either. It should be a state of neutrality. If we succeed at something that is out of the ordinary--say your kid graduates magma cum laude... that's something for pride... say your kids gets drafted first round for MLB... that's something for pride.

Regarding the drugs and alcohol? Have you read any stories about Harry? It's hardly innuendo. There are photographs. Seig Heil, Harry! Have another pint.

They did not organize the concert... that was done professionally. They merely put their royal warrant on the fucking thing. Huge difference.

So you're defending a different set of rules for the aristocracy? That's the least progressive thing I've ever seen on DU.


PS If I were King of America, I'd make the distribution of participation trophies a capital offence.

First off, you seem to be confusing the two sons. Harry never went to university, he's career military (and what's wrong with that?) and he wanted to go to Iraq (well, not Iraq specifically but his attitude was essentially "If my lads are going, I'm going"), it was the MoD that stopped him. Incidently, it wouldn't be the first time the Royals have been deployed to a combat zone: Prince Andrew served as a helicoptor pilot during the Falklands War.

William only changed his major once (from Art History to Geography). He does hold a military post (as do most of the Royal Household) but that's largely a sinecure.

within the Penn-Dragon gene pool, to me she was caring person :cry:

Diana was honest -- striving to remain real

Striving to help the world --

and to try to teach her boys to do the same.

She went through alot to reach that point and it was a sad day when she died , it was a great loss .

She married a sick, inbred pervert from a line of degenerate usurpers.

And overrated. I never got what the big deal was about her.

Just a human being, the same as the rest of us.

To me, she is proof positive of how effective the media can be at manipulating people's opinions and emotions.

She was a great humanitarian and all DUers can do is piss on her grave?

:puke:

but you're right. There are some outright shitty and childish rants in here. Some people aren't happy unless they have something to complain about.

I can think of a lot of other people who it would be far more apprpriate to hate than Princess Diana.

You are SO right.

There is only one way to think about St. Diana The Overprivileged.

It's the way the media tell us (and tell us and tell us and tell us again) how to think about the rich member of the British Aristocracy.

Why, to think the Diana was just a rich, spoiled, overprivileged member of an archaic aristocracy who had pretensions to becoming a monarch, why -- that would be just "hateful".

Conformity in thought amongst all. That's the ticket.

:sarcasm:

... then why did you start this thread and ask for them? Or did you just want to hear from people who agree with you?

I adored her work with AIDS patients back in the days where we treated them like lepers in-and out-of the hospital.
I adored watching her with her children that she obviously loved so much.
I adored her humanitarian work.

She could have simply sat back and lived a Royal life as a Princess but she chose to make a difference. And she did.
I actually got up and watched her funeral that early morning AND I taped it.

I think if she were alive, she would be so proud of the men her little boys became.

Rest in Peace Lady Di.

I Admired her since I was 12 and watched her fairy tale wedding .

Di was a pre-school teacher, before she became a Princess. I work
with pre-schoolers , I guess she was a role model of sorts for me .

When I heard of her accident, I thought for sure she would survive. Like one of the other posters said, when I woke up the next morning I learned she was gone.
When she was alive, I must admit I didn't have any strong feeling about her either way, didn't really follow what she did, who she saw, where she went. I do think she was a person who did not actively seek the limelight, but she did use it to bring attention to the causes she cared about. When she passed I was broken hearted for her boys and thought how well mannered they both behaved with the grieving masses even though they were little more than children at the time.

and because of her high profile, she brought attention to those causes. She was a troubled young woman in many ways but she clearly had empathy and sympathy and used her talents, such as they were, for good. I admired her then and I honor her memory.

She wouldn't have been so miserable on holiday at Balmoral...

She wouldn't be so dead.

:shrug:

The old "I really don't care but I care enough to post about it" meme is getting pretty shop-worn.

having much in the way of Diana thoughts. So I'll produce one for you: I hear she liked to make herself barf.

Diana barfed.

You like to daydream about Diana barfing.

I feel like barfing after reading your post.

It's a perfect trifecta.

Well played.

I don't know why the web site it was on changed the picture.

Somehow seems symbolic for the way this thread turned out.

You should quit your day job and write jokes about dead people. I think you'll go far.

for having the audacity to have lost their mother when they were just kids.

Class envy.

Failure to appreciate a good deed.

Failure to understand human failings.

And, above all, pissing on the grave of someone who has in no way harmed a single human being on the planet.

The hatred for this dead woman....I wish I could say I am surprised by it but I'm not.

some of the sentiment in this thread is ridiculous. "Worm Food." How disgusting.

that was oblivious to who she was and what she needed.

I'm British, by the way. I can still remember the hysterical, totally over-the-top paroxyms of grief the populace whipped itself into when Diana originally died.

This is not to say I'm happy she died. She seemed like a decent person, did some admirable activist work and I'm sorry she died especially the way she died but my country seems to have lost any sense of perspective when it comes to Diana. Between people suggesting that schools get in grief counsellors (seriously) and books of condolence in every town hall, it was like we were competing with ourselves. Remember just after 9/11 when it seemed the entire US was competing in who could be the most patriotic? Same thing only we were competing in who could out-grief the other. The Royal Family (I'm a monarchist, by the way) were villified in public and the media for not mourning publically enough. Now, we might expect the monarch to lead the nation but when the hell did we suddenly gain the right to tell others when and how they should mourn?

And then there was Blair dubbing her the "People's Princess". Now, Blair's always been a guy who put soundbite over substance but this really was nauseatingly slushy even for him. Elton John, rewriting "Candle In The Wind", he and Diana were actually close friends so I can forgive him the mawkish sentimentality as poor judgement brought on by grief. Again, please don't misconstrue this as some celebration of her death or as some comment that a period of mourning that death wasn't appropriate but for a while there, it was like Diana became Britain's answer to Elvis (yes, complete with sightings). Her face popped up on all kinds of knick-knacks from lighters to towels. All this over a woman who, nice as she may have been, was a Royal princess who most of us never met, never spoke to (I waved at her once, I was about nine at the time). Certain commentators have remarked (hopefully in jest) that Elvis is on the way to becoming a religious icon. If that's true, the claims that she "touched my life" from people who never knew, spoke to or even were affected by the work of a woman whose main claim to fame was marrying into the Royal household, puts her streets ahead of Elvis.

My thoughts? I'm sorry she's dead, I'm sorry anyone dies like that. She seemed decent, she seemed like a decent mother and she did some worthwhile work but she wasn't Mother Theresa, she didn't cure cancer or make the next scientific breakthrough. It's even questionable how much effect her humanitarian work actually had. Yes, she was a decent person and she should be mourned for that alone but let's not pretend that the majority of us had any insight into her life.

*sits back and waits for flames*

Definitely not going to flame you.

What I don't understand is the really tasteless vitriol on this thread. She was a young women who suddenly captured the limelight - harsh and merciless - at 19 years old and never got out of it. I guess once she realized there was no escaping it, she tried to manipulate it to her own uses. Didn't work. Never works. Because she was the most famous woman in the world, many people on every continent felt they "knew" her - we saw her go from a painfully shy girl to a bride, princess, mother, unhappy wife, divorcee, all without a single lapse in publicity. It's not so hard to believe that people identified with her, she was photographed and filmed everywhere she went. And her personal magnetism, whether you liked her or not, doesn't seem debatable. How any of us would handle that public intensity I don't know, but the hatred of her on this thread is kind of shocking for someone who only wanted to take that celebrity she hated, turn it around, and help other people - and yes, herself. I thought we as liberals were better than that.

I think celebrity, especially on that scale, can create an illusion of "closeness" with the subject but really, it is just that, an illusion. When combined with someone of Diana's charisma, it runs the risk of becoming a cult of personality through no fault of hers.

Again, she was a good person, I'm not denying that for a second. I'm just unsure whether the level of hysterical grief I saw in the days afterward is a measure of genuine feeling or a kind of self-sustaining cultural hysteria. One for the sociologists, I guess.

Oh, and I do wish people would stop taking it out on Charles. OK, he was a prat but bad judgement is hardly in short supply.

I really never have understood the undying affection people have for her. She was a moderately attractive, extremely rich, extremely privileged woman that had a good PR team. The charity work that she did was a method the extremely rich and privileged use to legitimize their wealth and privilege in the eyes of the unwashed masses.

She really wasn't anything special, and definitely wasn't the selfless saint many like to believe she was.

and I hope that one day the destroyers who have taken so many truth tellers from us will be held accountable ---

HATE is a strong word and I see it here. I also see lots and lots of comments that are just cruel, INHO.

Charles isn't a flick of the person she was. He's a spoiled, immature dolt, and hopefully his mother will live a long LONG time and William will be King next.

Diana was a naive 19 yr old when she married a prince she actually did love. She really believed marriage was between TWO people who loved each other. And like she herself said there were THREE people in that marriage.

After the divorce, she needn't do a damn thing, but go into hiding, live the high life. But she didn't, she took up causes she believed in and made the royal family look like the spoiled, icy cold, emotionless lot they really are. As far as 'why was she out partying'? comments. Her and Charles had joint custody and they were with HIM for summer holidays in Balmoral. She was to 'get them' the next week. She was an adult, and allowed to have a social life.

I admired her because as stated, she needn't do a damn thing, as a 'retired' princess, but she did. And did constantly. She was genuine in her causes and didn't do it for fame, she already had that. The press hounded literally to death. Yes, she used them on occasion to get HER message across, but Good LORD, I've never seen anyone so hunted for chrissake.

I remember exactly where I was when I heard she was in an accident, but then they said she was dead, it was such a shock, I burst into tears. She did alot of good, and millions if not billions of people loved her, admired her, and thought a helluva lot more of her than that inbred lot at Buckingham. Ugh. Enough.

RIP, Diana, you deserve it.

This culture of celebrity has got to go. We're talking about this women who really didn't have anything to do with how most people's life functioned. She had no real impact on this world, and we're still talking about her ten years later. It's ridiculous.

Tragic. But thousands of tragedies happen everyday in the REAL world.

She's someone I never met who died a decade ago.
She isn't on my mind much, y'know?

At the time of her tragic and horrific death, I adored her and was probably at best what you would call a Diana devotee. She was someone who I'd always profoundly admired and respected as a human being and a humanitarian and I felt that she had experienced an unfair deal at the hands of the royals and especially Prince Charles. It was also my teenaged years and, yes, I confess I had a crush on her. When she died, I literally couldn't stop thinking about her for days afterward and mourning her loss. I remember I had a very sleepless night in the aftermath of her tragic passing just thinking and reflecting on her

Ten years on, I guess I have become very cynical in my perspective on issues -influenced by world events, not just Diana. But I must concede that the whole Diana industry sickens me -the endless fascination which her in the gossip magazines and newspapers, people trying to make cash out of revealing their stories about their time with her and just the endless obsession and idol-worship with Diana that plagues the media, TV and entertainment industry. In fact now I tune out most of the time when I hear the word Princess Diana -I'm honestly fed up of hearing about it. And all the various characters who have sold their stories to the press and exploited Diana for every penny she was worth -including James Hewitt, Paul Burrell -do not take my fancy:puke: :puke:

I think Diana was effectively a very tragic figure in many ways. She didn't perhaps know what she was getting herself into when she married Prince Charles and she was overwhelmed by the trappings of public life and responsibilities of office. Maybe some of her actions were foolish and maybe she wasn't a saint Despite all she went through and despite all her troubles and setbacks, she still kept her social conscience and compassion and humanitarianism and she used her position of influence to do much good in the world and to try and make it a better place.

My attitude toward Prince Charles has softened in recent years, although I still don't personally harbor much affection for him. It's easy to call him a wimp and a coward for not pursuing and marrying his true love Camilla and sparing a whole lot of peole (including himself) a great deal of unnecessary trouble and sadness. I think he was a weak character in his youth and he allowed people to make decisions for him or to push him into decisions that he didn't want to make. I also think he essentially grew up in quite a cold and emotionally detached environment and perhaps that reflected his personality in later years. I do wish though that he had followed his heart instead of his head and just gone with Camilla in the first place.

Just writing this post has actually brought back a whole lot of feelings about how much I loved her and respected her as a human being. I do miss her immensely and wish she were alive today -not least of all for her sons. As someone who has experienced the loss of my own mother while I was still quite young (although a decade older than William and Harry), my heart aches for the two princes.