20 years ago, on August 31, 1997, Princess Diana died in a car accident in Paris. However, she still arouses interest in her personality
Journalist for the British portal Belfast Telegraph Chrissy Russell tried to figure out why Lady Di attracts public attention even 20 years after her death.
To mark the 20th anniversary of the death of Princess Diana, ITV released a documentary film D Iana, Our Mother: Her Life and Her Legacy. On July 24, the premiere of the frank film, in which Princes William and Harry shared memories of their mother, was watched by more than 7 million people.
Celebrities such as Piers Morgan and Naomi Campbell expressed their admiration for the film, and the hashtags "Diana" and "Diana Documentary" topped trends on Twitter.
On August 6, Channel 4 broadcast a documentary Diana: First hand story, dedicated unhappy marriage and the divorce of Prince Charles and Lady Di. This picture also attracted millions to their screens.
But why is Princess Diana so popular for so many years after her death? Do Princes William and Harry really have anything more to say about their mother than that they love her and miss her? Are these shiny dresses from the exhibition? Diana: the history of her style can they tell you anything about their owner? Hardly.
Today we live in a confessional society where anyone can find out almost everything about any other person. No personal details or dirty secrets will escape television, the press or social networks today.
Diana Spencer lived in a different era. She died three years before the reality show aired. Big Brother and almost 10 years before the advent of Twitter. To some extent, she marked the beginning of a public outpouring of her soul (it is worth recalling Diana’s interview for the BBC program Panorama), but passed away before the world was engulfed in a wave of stellar revelations.
We will never be able to know Diana the way we did. modern celebrities. We won't be able to follow her on social media, she won't share her iPhone video, we won't see her morning tweet about her fight with Camilla Parker-Bowles. It is precisely for the reason that Diana herself will not tell details about her life that people are so interested in this information on television channels and in the media.
On the other hand, Princess Diana still captivates the world thanks to the image that people remember from the 90s. Would we be interested in a 56-year-old grandmother who would go shopping and help Kate and William with the children? Another thing is the active 36-year-old beauty, who manages to sunbathe in a swimsuit on a yacht in France and do charity work.
In addition, the intense interest in Lady Di's person can be explained by her rebellious and romantic nature. She loved her husband and children, and at the same time she was a real revolutionary: she walked through a mine field in Bosnia, shook hands with AIDS patients, spent evenings talking friendly with homeless people on the streets.
Now we are already accustomed to the fact that members royal family can be ordinary people(for example, Harry played volleyball with war heroes), but a few decades ago, seeing a princess in an amusement park for ordinary people was a pleasant shock.
Unfortunately, Princess Diana's popularity is not due solely to admiration for her personality. Many people are so interested in the fate of Lady Di because of schadenfreude. Even subconsciously.
Diana had a fairytale wedding with the prince, money and power, traveling the world, access to all the fashionable outfits... But all this was lost, Diana suffered from eating disorders, went through a divorce, endured the hunt of the paparazzi and knew that Charles loved another.
One way or another, many of us sometimes feel schadenfreude towards members of the privileged class of society who fail or suffer.
Even Princess Diana's personal bodyguard admitted that he once allowed her to fret for an extra minute in a noisy airport queue before whisking her away to safety.
Whatever the reason, people are not interested in Diana, we will always be captivated by stories about love and loss, relationships and rivalries, beauty, ideals, the impetus of life and other aspects inherent in humanity. Diana's story is a human one, so there is always something to learn from it.
Today marks twenty years since the death of Diana Frances Spencer, whom the whole world remembered as Princess Diana or simply “Lady Di.” On August 31, 1997, the car in which the princess was traveling with her lover Dodi al-Fayed was involved in an accident in the Paris Tunnel. The only one who survived that tragedy - Diana's bodyguard Trevor Rees Jones - does not remember what happened, as he received severe injuries that forever deprived him of his memory. A drunk driver, British intelligence services or just an accident - the exact causes of the accident are still not known. The site's editors recalled five versions of the car accident that could have taken place.
Photo: John Stillwell/FA Bobo/PIXSELL/PA Images/TASS
Paparazzi
The first version of the death is photojournalists on motorcycles. On that fateful day, Diana's black Mercedes was pursued by paparazzi, and one of them may have interfered with the princess's car. The Mercedes driver, trying to avoid a collision, crashed into a concrete bridge support.
However, as it turned out later, the photographers entered the tunnel a few seconds after Diana’s Mercedes, which means they could not provoke an accident. At the same time, the sons of the deceased princess most of all blame the reporters and photographers for the death, who did not allow their mother to live in peace until the tragedy.
Mysterious Fiat
The second version is a car that could cut off the princess’s car in the tunnel itself. Allegedly, it was a white Fiat Uno, which eyewitnesses saw leaving the tunnel after the tragedy. And near the accident they even found fragments of a white car. But, even having information about the car and a description of the driver’s appearance, it was not possible to find either the car or the driver.
There is a version that this car belonged to a certain French journalist James Andanson. Immediately after the disaster, the journalist disappeared, and he was found only in 2000 in the French Pyrenees, dead in a burnt car. His death was regarded as suicide, but when he was found, they found traces of gunshots..
Drunk driver, excessive speed and seat belt
The Mercedes that Diana and her companion were in that night was replaced shortly before the trip. In this car, according to some reports, the seat belt in the back seat where Diana was seated was faulty, although the princess herself was always sensitive to the issue of safety.
It was also later discovered that the car was in terrible condition and had been hastily repaired after an accident a few months earlier. In addition, after some time, the driver of the car, Henri Paul, was made the main culprit of the disaster. He was the chief of security at the Ritz Hotel and also died in this disaster. Investigators accused him of driving drunk and accelerating the car to 200 kilometers per hour.
Royal revenge
Photo: Chris Jackson/FA Bobo/PIXSELL/PA Images/TASS
There is a theory that the death of Princess Diana was planned by British agents and Queen Elizabeth II herself. For several years, Diana lived with the idea that Prince Charles and the royal family were going to kill her.
Her guesses, voiced in a letter to the butler, are not direct evidence, but still the very fact of such a letter is very remarkable. The letter stated that Prince Charles was planning an accident with Diana's car, brake failure and a serious head injury so that his path to remarriage would be clear.
Egyptian enemies
There is a version that the target of the alleged killers was not the princess at all, but her Egyptian boyfriend, the son of billionaire Mohammed Al-Fayed, Dodi.
Dodi's father was the owner of the Ritz Hotel in Paris, as well as the London department store Harrod's and football club"Fullham". That's why possible reason The accident could have been revenge on Al-Fayed, but Mohammed himself believed that his business competitors had nothing to do with it, and that British intelligence and the royal family were involved in the tragedy.
Life after death
After Diana's death, mourning was declared in England, near the gate Kensington Palace A mound of flowers grew, which were brought by many thousands of people in memory of the princess. Diana was buried on September 6, 1997 at the Spencer family estate of Althorp in Northamptonshire, on a secluded island in the middle of a lake.
“Lady Di” did not cease to be popular even after her death - many famous musical performers wrote songs dedicated to the princess. “No-one but you” by Queen, “Candle in the Wind” by Elton John and many other famous hits are dedicated to Diana. To mark the tenth anniversary of Diana's death, the film "Princess Diana. Last Day in Paris" was shot. This year, 20 years after the tragedy, two documentaries were also released: “Diana - Our Mother” and “Diana. Her Story in Her Words.”
The Airplane observer reflects on how from an ordinary aristocratic girl, through the joint efforts of the media and a significant part of the female population of many countries, who passionately desire to have just such an idol, a myth was created, forever captured by a paparazzi flash on August 31, 1997 in the tunnel in front of the Pont Alma on the Seine embankment in Paris...
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It was here that Princess Diana fell to her death 20 years ago. And the whole last week was dedicated to this memorable and mournful date. They talked about it in the news, wrote about it on the Internet, filmed it and showed it to viewers several times. documentaries. The leitmotif of the overwhelming number of messages is “ mysterious death Lady Di cast a shameful stain on the representatives of the world’s oldest monarchy,” “Diana’s happiness was short-lived, she, sincerely loving husband, years of disappointments, jealousy, tears, fruitless attempts to save the family awaited”, “the only joy of the Princess of Wales was her sons - William and Henry”, “Candle in the wind”, as he called Diana in his song Elton John, - a woman with a warped fate and a tireless warrior with the troubles of ordinary people."...
And all this “food for the mind and heart” was greedily consumed by representatives of the “beautiful half” of humanity. Moreover, it seems to me that the Russian ladies did this with no less enthusiasm than the British ones. It's an amazing phenomenon. What is its nature? In the uniqueness of Diana's personality? Or in the unique coincidence of the image of the “Cinderella princess” created by the media and the mass demand for such a character that has matured in society?
I asked my friends: how do you feel about the English princess?
Irina Mekhanoshina, notary:“I perceive Diana as a victim of a tragic coincidence. She was a deeply unhappy person. Because I didn’t get what I hoped and expected. But she was not naive...”
Alexandra Antushevich, TV journalist:“How naive? She was born with a silver spoon in her mouth, into an aristocratic family, blue bloods. She entered the society of the English aristocracy. She knew what she was getting into."
Natalya Grigorieva, journalist:"Complicated feelings and complicated attitude to the legend of Diana. I don't agree that she is a victim. She was a strong and willful woman. What she did wasn't always good."
Natalya Kukushkina, trade union leader:“In a purely feminine way, I sympathize with her. On the other hand, she knew what she was getting into. It was a deal. Nobody deceived her."
Elena Beglyak, editor:"Certainly she was Strong woman. She looked quiet and modest, but she acted completely different. This is what attracted people. I believe that this is a manner of behavior found by some instinct, a natural quality, not calculation.”
Galina Mavrina, entrepreneur:“The Russians have a saying: it’s either good or nothing about the dead.” She was an extraordinary person. Various. Look how many people in the world loved her. To conquer like this public opinion, needed a strong character. What right do those who never knew her personally have to discuss her?
Nadezhda Paramonova, manager:“Everyone is not an angel. All are not white and not fluffy. She was probably not quite the same as they tell us about her. But, by the way, the proverb that is often quoted goes like this: it’s either good about the dead, or nothing but the truth.”
Yes. That's probably true. When a young woman dies (princess or not) it is always very unfair and wrong. What remains are small children, unrealized opportunities, elderly parents... And after each such departure, a fairy tale is almost always born: how kind, beautiful, smart, simple she was... Such a fairy tale is needed by those who remained to live. Another thing is to whom, with what pressure and who tells this tale.
Princess Diana was born in 1961, my friend - the same age as her - died of cancer the same twenty years ago. She left behind a daughter, a husband, inconsolable parents and several friends who remember her. She was kind, beautiful, smart, simple...
I understand that these are probably two difficult cases to compare. Who is Tatiana and who is Lady Di? But for some reason I feel more sorry for Tatyana. And all the “Tatyans” who passed away ahead of schedule. For some reason, I feel somehow awkward when they tell me with great emphasis that Diana was “like a child,” “naive,” “modest”... For some reason, I don’t really believe it...
A few facts from the biography of Lady Diana
Why did Diana break up with Prince Charles?
In 1981, the wedding of 20-year-old Diana Spencer and 32-year-old Prince Charles was watched in live 750 million people. Young Diana saw Charles only a few times before the wedding, but she seemed like a suitable bride for him: from noble family, with an untarnished reputation, beautiful, modest, well-mannered. The formal reasons for the separation, as Diana said, were that Charles treated her coldly, they could not see each other for weeks, and soon after the birth of their second child in 1984, she learned that her husband had resumed his relationship with the married Camilla Parker-Bowles. In fact, the spouses had few common interests, and the significant difference in age also affected them.
Why was Diana so loved?
Diana Spencer bore little resemblance to any member of the British royal family. Quite open, spontaneous and relaxed, not at all like her prim husband or Elizabeth II, who is perceived as a state symbol. In many ways, Diana managed to create the image that remained in the memory of her admirers thanks to her charitable activities. And, yes, the way Prince William’s wife Kate Middleton behaves now is a direct imitation of Diana.
Is it true that the royal family did not want Diana's lavish funeral?
Diana's death on August 31, 1997 led to one of the most serious crises in history Buckingham Palace. By that time, Diana was already divorced from Charles and was not formally part of the royal family (and also did not hold the title). Diana's funeral was watched live by 2.5 billion people - still one of the most watched broadcasts in television history. National flags in Great Britain were flown at half-mast, Diana was buried with the honors due to a royal person.
But everything could have been different. As Britain's Channel 4 reported in September 1997, Queen Elizabeth II wanted Diana to be buried as an ordinary British citizen. According to these reports, on lavish funeral, befitting a member of the royal family, Prince Charles insisted.
How did Princes William and Harry cope with their mother's death?
On the day of Diana's death, Harry and William were with their grandmother at Balmoral Castle. William was 15, Harry was 12. Teenagers were protected from detailed information about a car accident (at first they only knew about the fact of death) - they even hid televisions and radios in the castle. Shortly before the twentieth anniversary of their mother's death, the sons gave several interviews at once. William admitted that he did not understand why so many people were condoling Diana's death - after all, they did not even know her. As he grew older, he realized what important role The Princess of Wales played in British society, and admitted that he was sincerely sorry that Diana could not meet his wife Kate Middleton and see their children. Harry said he tried to “bury his head in the sand” and force himself not to think about his mother. He believed that if he could ignore thoughts of her, he would cope with the loss faster. Almost 20 years after her death, at the insistence of his brother, he turned to psychotherapists, and only then was he able to understand his feelings.
Elena the beautiful
Open printed materials used
Samolet
20 years ago, on the night of August 31, 1997, she died in a car accident in the center of Paris princess Diana.
She was so popular and loved by the people that she earned the nickname “Queen of Hearts”
and her tragic death still haunts the British to this day.
The circumstances of this car accident were so strange that they raise doubts about the official version of what happened.
On the eve of the 20th anniversary of the death of Princess Diana, several scandalous investigations were made public, causing a lot of noise not only in Great Britain, but also abroad.
Princess Diana
The results of the official investigations carried out in France in the UK were identical: the accident occurred for several reasons. Princess Diana and her lover Dodi al-Fayed were chased by paparazzi, causing the driver of the car, Henri Paul, to speed. In addition, alcohol was found in his blood, and the seat belts were faulty. This version was later refuted: the driver was not drunk, and the results of the examination were deliberately or accidentally mixed up with others. It also seemed strange that 3 years after the accident, the same paparazzi who was accused of stalking Diana was found dead in a burnt car.
*Queen of Hearts*
On the eve of the 20th anniversary of the death of Princess Diana, on August 6, the film “Diana: The Story in Her Words” was released in the UK, which became the cause loud scandal– it was immediately called an attempt to make “money from blood.” On video recordings made in 1992-1993. Her teacher of speech techniques during classes, the Princess of Wales spoke extremely frankly about what Buckingham Palace preferred to remain silent about. The tapes were kept by teacher Peter Settelen; he promised not to publish them, but in the end he sold them to television people. He filmed Diana so that later he could sort out the mistakes in her speech, and did not expect that the conversation would turn out to be so frank.
*Queen of Hearts*
Prince Charles and Princess Diana
In the film, Diana said that she was in love with Charles, and on the day of their engagement, when asked by a journalist whether there were feelings between them, she answered without hesitation: “ Yes" And the prince said: “ You can say that" She was very offended by this then. And later she became convinced that her husband had loved another woman all his life - Camilla Parker Bowles. Even the birth of sons did not save this marriage. When Diana turned to the Queen for advice, she only said: “ I don't know what to do. Charles is hopeless" Divorce was inevitable.
Princess Diana with sons William and Harry
She felt like an outcast at the royal court. " I was rejected, and therefore I considered myself unworthy of this family. I could start drinking, but it would be noticeable, and anorexia would be even more noticeable. I decided to choose something that would be less noticeable: harming myself rather than others."- admits Diana. She suffered from bulimia for some time, and then began having affairs. Diana told her teacher that the biggest shock in her life was the death of Barry Manaka, her bodyguard, who, in her opinion, was fired and killed after their affair became known.
Barry Manaki and Princess Diana
*Queen of Hearts*
Journalist Mikhail Ozerov, who spoke with Princess Diana 3 days before her death, claimed that she told him of her intention to go to Paris, despite the reaction of Buckingham Palace, of her desire to build life the way she wanted, and added: “ Don't pay attention to my outburst of emotions. Next time I'll be calmer. Or they will calm me down. It's unlikely that we'll see each other again».
Princess Diana
Special services historian Gennady Sokolov conducted his own investigation and came to the conclusion that it was a staged accident, behind which the British secret services stood. Witnesses claimed that on the night of the incident they saw a bright flash in the tunnel, which could have blinded the driver, after which he crashed into a concrete bridge support. If Diana had been wearing a seat belt, she would have had a chance to survive, but the seat belts, according to Sokolov, were blocked. For some reason, the video cameras were not working in this tunnel that night. Immediately after her death, her body was embalmed - according to Sokolov, in order to hide Diana's pregnancy from the Muslim Dodi al-Fayed, whom she was supposedly going to marry. Therefore, the royal family had reasons to want her dead.
*Queen of Hearts*
Princess Diana
Egyptian billionaire Mohammed al-Fayed also conducted his own investigation, during which it turned out that Princess Diana called this period of her life the most dangerous and was afraid that the royal family would want to get rid of her. Mohammed Al-Fayed is confident that the death of his son Dodi and Princess Diana was a planned murder.
*People's Princess*
Princess Diana and Dodi al-Fayed
The version about the involvement of the royal family in the death of Diana and British intelligence services no one has ever proven it. Over time in this mysterious story More and more questions are emerging, and still no one can say with certainty whether the death of Princess Diana was a tragic accident or the result of a planned crime.
Bridge over the tunnel where Princess Diana died
More than 20 years have passed since Princess Diana died in a car accident, but new facts about her life continue to appear regularly in the press. In the InStyle review - all the most interesting and unexpected things about the “Queen of Hearts”.
1. She was the fourth of five children in the family
Princess Diana had two sisters, Sarah and Jane, and younger brother Charles. Another Spencer child, a boy named John, was born in January 1960 and died a few hours later.
2. Her parents divorced when she was 7 years old.
Diana's parents, Francis Shand Kydd and Earl John Spencer, separated in 1969.
3. Diana's grandmother served at court
Ruth Roche, Lady Fermoy, Princess Diana's maternal grandmother, was the Queen Mother's personal assistant and companion. They were very friendly, and Lady Fermoy often helped her in organizing holidays.
4. Diana grew up on Sandrigham Estate
Sandrigham House is located in Norfolk and belongs to the royal family. On its territory there is Park House, where Princess Diana's mother was born, and then Diana herself. The princess spent her childhood there.
5. Diana dreamed of becoming a ballerina
Diana for a long time studied ballet and wanted to become a professional dancer, but she was too tall for this (Diana’s height is 178 cm).
6. She worked as a nanny and teacher
Before meeting Prince Charles, Diana was a nanny. She later became a teacher in kindergarten. At that time, Diana received about five dollars an hour.
7. She was the first royal bride to have a paid job
And Kate Middleton is the first to have a higher education.
8. Prince Charles first dated her older sister
It was thanks to her sister Sarah that Diana met her future husband. “I introduced them, became their Cupid,” Sarah Spencer later said.
9. Prince Charles was a distant relative of Diana
Charles and Diana were each other's 16th cousins.
10. Before the wedding, Diana saw Prince Charles only 12 times
And he became the initiator of their wedding.
11. Her wedding dress broke all records
The ivory wedding dress created by designer duo David and Elizabeth Emmanuel made history. More than 10 thousand pearls were used to embroider the dress, and the train was almost 8 meters long. By the way, this is the longest train among all wedding dresses princesses
12. Diana deliberately left out part of her wedding vows
Instead of the traditional promise to “obey” her husband, Diana vowed only to “love him, comfort him, honor him and protect him, in sickness and in health.”
13. She was the first royal to give birth in hospital.
Before her, representatives of the royal family practiced only home births, so Prince William became the first future monarch to be born in a hospital.
14. She practiced parenting methods that were unconventional for the royal family.
Princess Diana wanted her sons to live ordinary life. “She made sure that William and Harry experienced everything: Diana took them to the cinema, made them stand in lines, bought food at McDonald's, rode roller coasters with them,” said Patrick Jephson, who worked with Diana in for six years.
15. She had many famous friends
Diana was friends with Elton John, George Michael, Tilda Swinton and Liza Minnelli.
16. ABBA was her favorite band
It is known that Diana was a big fan of the Swedish pop group ABBA. The Duchess of Cambridge and Prince William paid tribute to Diana by playing several ABBA songs at their 2011 wedding.
17. She had an affair with a bodyguard
Barry Mannaki was part of the royal security team, and in 1985 he became Princess Diana's personal bodyguard. After a year of service, he was removed due to his too close relationship with Diana. In 1987, he crashed on a motorcycle.
18. After the divorce, her title was taken away from her
Princess Diana has lost her title "Her Royal Highness". Prince Charles insisted on this, although Queen Elizabeth II was not against leaving Diana the title.
19. She invited Cindy Crawford to Kensington Palace
Diana invited supermodel Cindy Crawford to tea to please Prince Harry and Prince William, who were then teenagers. In 2017, on the anniversary of Diana's death, Cindy Crawford shared a throwback photo of the Princess of Wales on Instagram. “She asked if I could come and have tea with her the next time I was in London. I was nervous and didn't know what to wear. But when I walked into the room, we immediately started chatting as if she were a regular girl,” Crawford wrote.
20. She is buried on her family's island
Diana is buried at the Spencer family estate of Althorp in Northamptonshire. The estate has been in the Spencer family for over 500 years. On small island There is also a temple on Oval Lake, where anyone can honor the memory of the princess.
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