The Diana Phenomonen

The Diana Phenomenon

The sudden death of Diana Princess of Wales at the end of August 1997 sparked off a massive display of emotion in the world, especially in Britain. The event provided the opportunity for the expression of what appeared to be a short-term and superficial, but undoubtedly sincere, manner by a large number of people. "An emotion felt throughout the countryside was that many people saw themselves in some way connected to this public figure and able to grieve for her as if she were an acquaintance." (Lambert 54) However, there remained clear borderlines between what the public, who thought they knew her, and the immediate family who did.

The Princess's funeral brought together a gathering of the powerful (English royalty) and the beautiful (Hollywood's finest), and the poor. More than a million mourners crowded the streets of London to toss flowers upon her casket. Even as it was happening before their eyes, no one could believe it was real. In the days and weeks that followed her death, everyone was trying to figure out what she had meant and why the world was responding to her death with such grief. Was it her flaws, her failures, her struggles with her weight and her self-esteem, and her refusal to be inhibited by them? Was it her good works and the way she touched the common people, the handicapped, drug addicts, and lepers. Could it have been the way she broke away from her failing marriage and reinvented herself as a single mother but still the "Queen of people's hearts", her courage, standing up to the queen, going public with her troubles. Or was it just the fact that she died so young? " Ð''We don't know" mourners said. "Our grief has surprised us, too. We didn't know how much we loved her.' " (Lambert 50)

Long ago, in 1981 to be exact, Diana Spencer retired her role as kindergarten teacher to become the future queen of England. It was like a Cinderella story right out of the book. But this Cinderella's skirts were plaid, and her hair was chopped short. She had a nervous giggle, and was the tiniest bit plump. She was normal, she was regular, and everyone loved her for it. By the time she was 27 years old, she had been married for eight years and had two beautiful sons. The fairy tale appeared to still be there, but what the press, who hounded her day and night, failed to catch was that her life was in a downward spiral even after the short weeks she was married. She had been bulimic for years, she had tried to kill herself, and she and Charles were living separate lives. "In her telling, the marriage broke up because she'd had the impudence to demand a real relationshipÐ'...in fairness to Charles, he must have felt the fairy tale got all mixed up: He kissed the princess and became a frog." (Gaines 98)

"Diana's enduring allure surprised everyone, including the princess herself. The public's obsession with the smallest details of her smart clothes, her hair and her sons made royal family life far more compelling and exploitable than any TV saga."