I remember waking up on Aug. 31, 1997 to the news that Diana Spencer, aka Princess Diana, had been killing in a car wreck in Paris. The news was horrifying as a long list of accusations and conspiracy theories were already spreading while her body was still warm. And this was during the early days when the general public began using the Internet. A lot of people still believed that Josh Saviano, who played on The Wonder Years, was Marilyn Manson.
Born into British nobility, on paper she seemed like a perfect match for then Prince Charles, now King Charles III, as it was mostly an arrangement more than a marriage of love and partnership. Diana was from a different breed as it was obvious she wasn’t going to do what other princesses were expected to do. The Cold War was on its last leg. The world was changing in the 1980s and the Royal Family had to change with it.
Diana became popular overnight, which is when a lot of people in the Western hemisphere watched her marriage because of the time difference. She was young, had natural beauty and as many photojournalist would say, was one of those people who loved the camera and the camera loved her. Diana was also going to raise her sons, William and Harry, in a different way. Even though she went after the media for their intrusions, she also took them out more in public and showed them the affection any other mother would.
Diana became the People’s Princess. And a lot of people could understand what was happening when her marriage ended to Charles. While no one doubts that Chares was always in love with Camilla Parker Bowles, now, Queen Camilla, it made him a bad guy. But now we can look back and see Charles’ hands were tied as much as Diana’s.
Diana would do something else in the public that would change a lot of people’s mindsets. She would visit patients dying of the AIDS virus and shake their hands and give them friendly hugs. People still were leery of AIDS as many patients were neglected in hospitals and clinics afraid of what they had was contagious like the flu or chicken pox. However, it wasn’t. From the early days of the epidemic until her death, she was an HIV/AIDS awareness advocate.
Diana had been dating Dodi Fayed, an Egyptian film producer, when the car she was in was being pursued by paparazzi causing it to crash at the Pont de l’Alma tunnel in Paris. Diana, Fayed and the driver, Henri Paul, all died from injuries they sustained. Diana’s death was felt around the world as people paid tribute to her. Her funeral was broadcast throughout the world, reportedly reaching about 2.5 billion people.
If she was alive today, Diana would have been 64.
Zane Says 