A Brief History
On August 31st, 1997, Princess Diana died in a Paris hospital after being involved in an accident in which the car she had been riding in had been chased down and harassed by paparazzi before crashing into a wall and pillar of an underground tunnel.
Digging Deeper
This article discusses less the actual circumstances of the crash and its aftermath and more the impact Diana’s death had on the author of the article.
Just a teenager at the time, the author had grown up with Princess Diana being omnipresent. From the time Diana got married as the author was a baby to the time Diana died when the author was in high school, the author had witnessed the progression of the marriage from a fairy tale wedding to an open farce resembling the War of the Roses. Especially as the 1990s were progressing, all the salacious details of eating disorders, suicide attempts, infidelities, taped phone conversations, separations, an impending divorce and ploys for public sympathy were making the headlines. It was the absolute best soap life had to offer at the time and it combined everything Americans typically fall for – royalty, romance and a young wronged woman. It was also the first time the public got an intimate look into the private world of the royals, and it acquired a taste of it that has not yet been quenched; in fact the public still hungers for all news related to the royals, in particular the younger Windsors.
So, growing up with all this royal intrigue and scandal, seeing Diana’s face on every other magazine cover was nothing new to the author. Diana was after all the most photographed woman in the world. In the age that immediately preceded the advent of the internet, magazines with her image on the cover were sure to sell out. Furthermore, Diana had a beauty and innocence about her that the cameras managed to catch. Everything came together with her, but these same aspects also came to haunt her as she became the favorite target of not just photographers but also of paparazzi who stalk and hound their prey.
When the author heard that Diana had been involved in a crash, it was on the evening of August 30. She stayed awake all night watching the news, hoping and praying that Diana would make it. Then in the early morning hours, a news flash came in that Diana had indeed died. The author screamed and cried and ran to hug her mom who had also stayed awake, both women falling into each others arms and sobbing uncontrollably. She then ran to her father’s bedroom and woke him up to tell him the news. He seemed more annoyed than anything that the author should wake him for something so unimportant in his eyes. The author could not understand this but ran to her room to begin drawing posters and banners in remembrance of Diana, which she then taped to the windows of her car. The next day she received some perplexed stares from classmates in the school parking lot, but she did not care. She had grown up with Diana. Diana was like a sister to her, and she wanted to honor and commemorate her. What the author experienced was true grief, loss and despair – for the first time in her life.
In the many years since then, the author has learned many more details of the life of Princess Diana and that she may have not been as sweet and innocent as the media loved to portray her. Still, as the author herself is now older and has had many of her own life experiences, she understands how Diana might have felt in her circumstances and why she might have felt compelled to do the things she did, perhaps it was desperation, maybe even immaturity. After all, she was practically still a teenager when she got married and she did grow up in the public eye so to say.
With Diana having been such a prominent cultural figure and icon in the author’s youth, it came as a tremendous surprise to her when she realized that today’s youth really do not know much about her, in fact some do not even know who she was. For example, three years ago, the author was tutoring a high school student of about 17, which made the student about 3 at the time of Diana’s death. In one lesson, the author used Diana as an example. You should have seen the author’s confusion and bewilderment when her example was countered with a blank stare and vacant expression – the teenager did not know who she was! And it was a female student, the same age the author had been when Diana died. Of course many people in history are forgotten with time, but for the once most famous woman to be forgotten so quickly came as quite a shock. This does not apply to all of today’s youth but probably to a good many. At any rate, they did not catch the media carousel and circus ride. For that you would have to be at least 30 or better yet at least 35. This goes to show that the best history is related by those who lived it. It is personal experience and involvement that makes something worthwhile and memorable. The legend of Diana belonged to the author’s generation and to the two ahead of her. For these reasons, the author felt compelled to share her story, so that others may know what the “Diana phenomenon” was like because history is not necessarily just always what is recorded after the fact, it is also what one felt while living it.
Question for students (and subscribers): If you have any memories of Diana, please share these in the comments section below this article.
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Historical Evidence
For more information, please see…
Buskin, Richard. Princess Diana: Her Life Story, 1961-1997. Publications International, 1997.
Diana: Queen of Hearts. Rhi Entertainment, 2008. DVD.
