Wednesday, December 7, 2016

The Unhappy Fairy Tale Princess by: Marilynn Weaver

Image result for Princess Diana
            In the past, the world has seen or read about many horrific car accidents, from personal love ones to celebrities.  One of the most well-know and devastating car accident that made the world stand still on August 31, 1997, in Paris, France.  Princess Diana, along with boyfriend Emad El-Din Mohammed Adbel Moneim (Dobi) Al-Fayed, the Harrod’s heir, and their driver Henri Paul, was killed in a car accident in attempt to escape from the paparazzi's, or were they (Whitney 1)?  Weeks after the event, there were and still are today, many speculations or conspiracy theories in regards of the accident.
1.      Was Princess Diana killed on the orders of the royal family (“Princess Diana-The Conspiracy Theories 1)?
2.      Did Princess Diana faked her own death (1)?
3.      Was Princess Diana’s death a freak unexpected accident (1)?
For well over a decade, conspiracy theorists have research and analyze information over the death of “the people’s princess” and haven’t come to a conclusion.  Now, let’s examine these questions to discover the truth about one of the most beloved princess that the world ever seen.
Princess Diana was “the people’s princess” who felt unwanted in her personal life with men.  On July 1, 1960, the British aristocrat Spencer family was desiring a much wanted son, but instead Diana Frances Spencer was born; a third succession daughter into the family (“Diana, Princess of Wales”1).  The British aristocrat family lived in East of England with the British royal family as one of their neighbors (1).  All her life, Diana had a sense of rejection from people who were close to her (1).  “When I was born, I was not wanted, they wanted a boy.  When I was married to Charles, I was not wanted because of his love affairs, and when I went to the royal court, I was not wanted by the royal family”, Diana said to her long time personal friend, Lady Elsa Bowker (1).
Even though Diana was close to her mother, she loved and longed for her father’s affection when her parents divorced at six years old making her feel alone and abandoned (“Diana, Princess of Wales” 1).  Long time nanny, Mary Clarke, picked up Diana from boarding school for a holiday break and had a conversation about Diana’s biology class topic on rabbit reproduction; the conversation lead up to love and marriage (1).  Diana told Clarke “She was quite for sure she was going to marry for love, love alone before she will end up in divorced (1).”
After returning home from finishing school, her older sister Sarah, was one of many dating Prince Charles (“Diana, Princess of Wales”1).  Prince Charles was being pushed into finding a bride by the queen mother (1).  Even though Prince Charles was dating many women and had an intimate open relationship with the married Lady Camilla Parker-Bowles (1).  It was Lady Diana who caught his eye for a potential bride (1).  Over the seven months of their courtship, Diana felt very overwhelmed; due to the media constantly hunting her down (1).  On February 24, 1981, Prince Charles and Lady Diana announced their engagement (1).  Six months later, on July 29, 1981, the couple was married at St. Paul’s Cathedral (1).  Diana was finally loved, and at the time she thought she was wanted.
Image result for princess diana weddingPrincess Diana once said, "The public side, they wanted a fairy princess to come and touch them and everything will turn into gold and all their worries would be forgotten.  Little did they realize that the individual was crucifying herself inside because she didn't think she was good enough” (“Princess Diana-Secret Tapes” 1).  Diana had a lot of demons she dealt with from the time of her courtship to her untimely death that public did not knew.  Diana had severe bulimia issue, that started weeks after her engagement and throughout her entire life (1).  Five months into their courtship, Princess Diana lost five and half inches (1). Her mental health was very unstable.  Throughout the course of their marriage, Princess Diana had suffered from severe depression, loneliness, insecurities, neediness, and was immature to express her thoughts (1).  In an interview, she openly admitted on audio tapes she tried to commit suicide and self multination several times during the course of her marriage due to her unhappiness in her life (1).  She also admitted on the audio tapes, Prince Charles was very inconsiderate of her desperate cry for help when she would act out (1).  The constant public appearance, media frenzy, the British monarch rules and regulations, Prince Charles love affair, and her unhappiness were the cause of Diana’s volatile health.  Eventually, fifteen years of a strained marriage; Princess Diana and Prince Charles ended in divorce (“Princess Diana Biography”1).  Once again, she was left unwanted by the man in her life.
Princess Diana, “the people’s princess”, had dealt with the feeling of being unwanted by the men in her like; she was a beautiful woman inside and out.  She carried a certain kind of grace and dignity when she was in public.  She was a very caring, lovable, charismatic woman.  Being five foot ten and slim, her beauty was singular, especially her big blue eyes, the most expressive of all facial features (Smith 1). "They look so wondering and modest (1)", a Norwegian photographer once remarked (1).
Image result for princess diana familyDiana was a caring and loving mother and once said, “I will fight for my children on any level so they can reach their potential as human beings and in the public duties (“Princess Diana Biography”1).”  Princess Diana gave birth to Prince William on June 21, 1982 and Prince Henry on September 15, 1984 (1).  Unlike her predecessor’s, she paved a new way of parenting for royal children (Wallace 1).  Prince William was the first heir to be born outside of the palace walls (1).  There were reports she was more than likely to be the first to breast feed the future King of England (1).  She took Prince William on his first tour to Australia (1).  “She made sure that they experienced things like going to the cinema, queuing up to buy a McDonalds, going to amusement parks, those sorts of things that were experiences that they could share with their friends (1)", said Patrick Jephson, Princess Diana’s chief of staff.  Also, she sent her children to public school (1).  Princess Diana always thought about her children’s well-being while they were growing up in the royal monarch.
Image result for princess diana landmines            Princess Diana was sympathetic and showed compassion to the sick and the suffering.  In Princess Diana’s teenager years, Muriel Stevens taught her how to interact with people from volunteering at a hospital (“Diana, Princess of Wales” 1).  From that experience and guidance, Princess Diana loved and had a knack for interacting with people on personal level.  She was the first high profile person to be photography touching Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome victims (“Princess Diana Biography”1).  Some of her other charities were Centerpoint, a London group that aids homeless youth, the Leprosy Mission, various cancer benefits, Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome and was an advocate to ban land mines with the International Red Cross (Neiboer 1).  
“I would like to be a queen in the hearts of people” (“Princess Diana Biography”1), said Princess Diana.  Princess Diana was the queen of people’s hearts; she interacted with the public and her children like no other royalty did.  Even though she dealt with the internal feelings of not being wanted by the men in her life, and her personal demons with her overall health, she was truly “the people’s princess” and dealt with her issues with dignity and grace.
Image result for princess diana car accident            In the unfortunate death of the beloved princess, there are three popular conspiracy theories that are still circulating today.  One of the most popular theory is the royal family had a hand in the princess’ death.  The second theory is she faked her own death.  Lastly, and most logical theory, is it was a freak and unexpected accident that was caused by the paparazzi chasing them, and the driver Henri Paul was intoxicated.
The first conspiracy of Princess Diana’s death theorizes that the British monarch had a hand in her death for several possible reasons.  First, the royal family had her killed because of her current boyfriend Dobi.  Dobi’s father, Mohamed Al-Fayed, has attempted to preserve his version of the ill-fated death of his beloved son and the people’s princess (Ellison 1):
Mohamed, a self-styled enemy of the British establishment has long maintained that Dobi was murdered by the British secret service, as part of a conspiracy involving members of the royal family, because he was a Muslim about to marry the mother of a future King of England and Princess Diana was pregnant with his son’s child.(1)
Second, it’s been proposed that Prince Charles wanted her killed because he wanted to clear the path for him to remarried (Rayner 1).  Ten months after the announcement of the royal couple’s separation, Princess Diana wrote a letter to her butler, Paul Burrell (1).  In the letter, it stated:
I am sitting here at my desk today in October, longing for someone to hug me and encourage me to keep strong and hold my head high.  This particular phase in my life is the most dangerous – My husband is planning “an accident” in my car, break failure and serious head injury in order to make the path clear for him marry Tiggy…(1)
At the time of Princess Diana’s and Dobi’s inquest that was held at the Royal Courts of Justice in 2007, there were mixed opinions about the letter.  Lucia Flecha Da Lima, a close confidante of Princess Diana stated, “the princess had never expressed fears for her safety” (1).  Lima also mentioned during the inquest “Paul Burrell was perfectly capable of imitating Princess Diana’s handwriting.  I don’t believe she was fearing for her life, especially from Prince Charles’, the future king of your country” (1).  But, at the same time, the inquest had already been told that in October 1995, Diana told Lord Mischcon, her solicitor, and that “reliable sources” had informed her of the prince’s plans “that she and Camilla would be put aside” (1).
The last notion is the royal family (the establishment) could not control and did not approve of Diana’s public attention.  It’s been documented by Princess Diana in the 1995 interviewed with Martin Bashir, a British journalist, that Prince Charles department and the establishment was the enemy because she always got more publicity about her work and was much more discussed than he was (“Diana’s, BBC interview”1).  Lawyer Michael Mansfield, who was involved in the inquest of Princess Diana’s death, had similar speculations.  His thoughts were, “after the divorce, Princess Diana didn’t fade into the background, she was not only in the news, she made the news” (“Conspiracies-The Royal Family”).  He also mentioned in an interview, eight months before her death Princess Diana spearheaded a campaign for international ban on landmines in Angola, a place where people like Princess Diana feared to enter (1).  He continued to explain, some from the establishment saw this as a princess out of control (1).  A political royal acting on a world stage became a threat because of her political activities (1).
            The second conspiracy offers that Princess Diana faked her own death.  In videos and photographs of Princess Diana, she was seen being uncomfortable through her non-verbal expressions.  From the time of her courtship to Prince Charles, it was obvious she showed discomfort of the media constantly following her.  She expressed to British journalist, Martin Bashir:
The most daunting aspect was the media attention, because my husband and I, we were told when we got engaged that the media would go quietly, and it didn't; and then when we were married they said it would go quietly and it didn't; and then it started to focus very much on me, and I seemed to be on the front of a newspaper every single day, which is an isolating experience, and the higher the media put you, place you, is the bigger the drop. (“Diana’s, 1995 BBC interview”)
Another fact that would support this theory, six hours before she died, Princess Diana let slip to Daily Mail reporter, Richard Kray, that she was about to withdraw completely from public life (“Princess Diana-The Conspiracy Theories”).  This is not the first time she said those particular words.  In 1993, Diana announced that due to exhaustion from the intense media scrutiny, she would be withdrawing from public life, though she would continue her charity work (“Diana’s, BBC interview”).  For the next two years, with a few exceptions, she kept a fairly low media profile (“Diana’s, BBC interview”).
            The final and logical theory, Princess Diana death was an unforeseen accident.  The facts of that horrific night were: Princess Diana, boyfriend Dobi, the driver Henri Paul, and her bodyguard Trevor Rees Jones, were being chased down by the paparazzi when they left the Ritz Hotel (“Conspiracies-The Royal Family”1).  The Driver, Henri Paul, was traveling at high speeds under the influence of alcohol when he lost control when they entered Place de l'Alma underpass slamming into the thirteenth pillar (1).  French officials said Henri Paul’s blood alcohol level was over three times the legal limit, and all the occupants were not wearing their seat belts at the time of the crash (1)(UK Government Web Archives).  Princess Diana died around 4:00 a.m. on August 31, 1997, at La Pitie-Salpetriere hospital due to chest injury, laceration within the left pulmonary vein and the immediate adjacent portion of the left atrium of the heart (1).  Immediately after her death, rumors began to circulate that it was much deeper than an accident (“Conspiracies-The Royal Family).  Dr. Raj Persaud, consultant psychiatrist explains:
Because conspiracy thinking and theorizing is about the idea that everything is connected and everything has a meaning.   Major figures can’t die from trivial events.  They have to die because some major casual mechanism has to be in play. (1).
The death of Diana had an impact that was felt across the world.  For many the idea that she could have been killed in an accident seemed impossible.
            In a recent survey of twenty people: 50% of people believe the royal family had a part in her death, and 35% believe it was a tragic accident.  With the facts and speculations that surrounded Princess Diana death, many would believe she was killed by the royal family or it was a tragic accident.  Interestingly, only 15% of the people believe she faked her own death.
Many people from around the world loved Princess Diana; the shocked of her death was sudden and grim.  Many forget that even though she was a princess and many seen her as “the people’s princess”, she was still a human being who can have the same ill-fated death just as anyone else can experience.
Princess Diana was a beautiful woman inside and out, who had a lot of personal demons she dealt throughout her entire life.  She made an impression all around the world and will never be forgotten.  There are three conspiracy theories about her death:
1.      Was Princess Diana killed on the orders of the royal family?
2.      Did she faked her own death?
Image result for princess diana
3.      Was Princess Diana death a freak unexpected car accident?
Her death was shocking and unexpected; it will always be known as the most well-known and devastated car accident that the world had ever seen.  Many believed she was a major figure of the royal family, and a person of her status was immune to tragic events.  Sadly, this is not the case.  From the facts and evidence that was surrounded that dreadful car accident; her death was a freak unexpected car accident.


Work Cited
“Conspiracies-The Royal Family” Conspiracy | Netflix, www.netflix.com/watch/80119087?track=1470286&tctx=1%CO%2c77aadbf5-78fe-4ee2-8c09-323d3f77e28-127375863
“Diana, Princess of Wales.” Bio.com, A&E Networks Television, http://www.biography.com/people/princess-diana-9273782/videos/diana-princess-of-wales-full-biography-2243188576.
“Diana's 1995 BBC Interview.” PBS, PBS, www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/royals/interviews/bbc.html.
Ellison, Sarah. “Diana's Love for Hasnat Khan-The Only One Who Would Never Betray Her.” Vanities, 14 Aug. 2013, www.vanityfair.com/style/royals/2013/09/princess-diana-love-hasnat-khan.
Nieboer, Sue. “Diana, Princess of Wales.” Learning to Give, https://www.learningtogive.org/resources/diana-princess-wales.
“Princess Diana Biography •.” Biography Online, http://www.biographyonline.net/people/biography_princess_diana.html.
 “Princess Diana - The Conspiracy Theories.” LondonNet, 24 Sept. 2012, www.londonnet.co.uk/ln/talk/news/diana_conspiracy_theories.html.
 “Princess Diana - The Secret Tapes.” YouTube, YouTube, 20 Oct. 2013. Http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCBfzOKtlDoZweXIobmq446w. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=okqxxmfxszw.
Rayner, Gordon. “Princess Diana Letter: 'Charles Plans to Kill Me'.” The Telegraph, Telegraph Media Group, www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1573170/Princess-Diana-letter-Charles-plans-to-kill-me.html.
Smith, Sally Bedell. “Diana in Search of Herself Portrait of a Troubled Princess.” The New York Times On The Web, http://www.nytimes.com/books/first/s/smith-diana.html.
“UK Government Web Archive – The National Archives.” UK Government Web Archive – The National Archives, webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20080521144222/http://www.scottbaker-inquests.gov.uk/hearing_transcripts/verdict.htm.
Wallace, Rob. “'Rebel Royal Mum': Diana's Legacy as Parent.” ABC News, ABC News Network, 26 May 2013, http://abcnews.go.com/international/rebel-royal-mum-dianas-legacy-parent/story?id=19241646.

Whitney, Carl B. “Diana Killed in a Car Accident in Paris” http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0831.html

No comments:

Post a Comment