Different Facets of Diana

[Mermaid1962]

It's wonderful that you have those memories of seeing Diana to treasure, GillW.

Originally Posted by GillW

I consider myself one of those non-zealot supporters of Diana, however, I have spent over 20 years trying to put a rational and balanced view to those extremists and quite frankly I'm getting a bit tired of it all.

Yes I still very much admire her & enjoy reading discussions (for the most part anyway) BUT I just feel I'm running out of steam repeating over & over all the things that can be found in the public domain if only people would take the time to read anything other than sensationalist headlines.

Don't just buy/borrow a book - try reading one - indeed several - and form a more rounded opinion. But the world (OK - forums!) seem full of people who never read more than the flash across the front page of some less-than-trustworthy mag in a supermarket, and then base their whole picture on those five or six words.

I was around throughout the "Diana years", and saw her for real a number of times. I also read at least 5 or six daily newspapers every single day, every magazine I could get hold of which featured Diana , and have a collection of over 100 books just about her (yes - I HAVE read them...) I watched the national and local news & recorded every time she was on a broadcast (however many times each day, just in case they used a few different frames)

I have also read the Paget Report, many of the Inquest transcripts (from the website) and all of the Judges summing up.

But, I find it exhausting trying to explain to a closed minded extremist as to why there may be another side to their opinions. It's very rare that they move even in the slightest, so I tend to hang back & let them rant (while I treasure my memories instead....)

[GillW]

Originally Posted by Mermaid1962

It's wonderful that you have those memories of seeing Diana to treasure, GillW.

I'm always happy to share those too, for the right occasion or if they fit into a discussion....

[Elspeth]

Gill, did you manage to take any photos of Diana? We're always looking for photos to illustrate our articles, and we have quite a lot of Diana articles in the works, one way and another.

[Elspeth]

Originally Posted by GillW

But, I find it exhausting trying to explain to a closed minded extremist as to why there may be another side to their opinions. It's very rare that they move even in the slightest, so I tend to hang back & let them rant (while I treasure my memories instead....)

I know how you feel - I also post at discussion forums on creationism-evolution and climate change issues, and it's quite common to come across people who Know the Truth and aren't remotely interested in anything like facts or reason. It would be a complete waste of time to post at those forums if the intent was to get these people to change their minds, because this is a fairly textbook case of not being able to reason a person out of a position he didn't reason himself into. However, those people aren't the real audience. When I'm posting in those discussions, I'm mostly doing it because other people are reading along in the background, and if there isn't someone to put the other side of the argument - or, even more importantly, to explain the moderate position that's in between the emotion-driven extremes - then the undecided or ignorant readers-in-the-background might not realise that there are other opinions other than, in this case, that Diana was a flawless paragon of perfection or that she was stupid, self-centred, and vindictive.

[GillW]

Originally Posted by Elspeth

I know how you feel - I also post at discussion forums on creationism-evolution and climate change issues, and it's quite common to come across people who Know the Truth and aren't remotely interested in anything like facts or reason. It would be a complete waste of time to post at those forums if the intent was to get these people to change their minds, because this is a fairly textbook case of not being able to reason a person out of a position he didn't reason himself into. However, those people aren't the real audience. When I'm posting in those discussions, I'm mostly doing it because other people are reading along in the background, and if there isn't someone to put the other side of the argument - or, even more importantly, to explain the moderate position that's in between the emotion-driven extremes - then the undecided or ignorant readers-in-the-background might not realise that there are other opinions other than, in this case, that Diana was a flawless paragon of perfection or that she was stupid, self-centred, and vindictive.

You make a very good point there and I'll try to bear it in mind next time I'm tempted to "tut" & move on! I shall try to contribute instead....

[Skydragon]

Originally Posted by maidmarion

I also heard that during a special security training with the British Special Forces, (while newly married) that her hair caught fire but was immediatley put out and from that day onward she kept it realtively short.

MM

This article, (posted by Elspeth elsewhere) rather puts paid to that rumour.

One of Diana’s hairstyles — at the State Opening of Parliament in 1984 — caused a huge furore which left her mother-in-law the Queen distinctly unamused.

Scots bachelor Richard had created a chignon for Diana — a swept-behind-the-head bun — which grabbed all the headlines the following day.
He recalled: “There was a big hoo-ha afterwards. Diana was horrified when the hairdo eclipsed the Queen and it completely altered the way we approached changing her length and styles.

[jcbcode99]

Was the Queen really upset about that? She seems like such a no-nonsense person to me I can hardly believe that she was upset about it.
Personally, I think the look suited Diana quite well, and wish she had worn her hair fuller than she did.

[Mermaid1962]

This is my opinion on what happened. Diana and her hairdresser decided to do her hair "up" because it was long at that time in November 1984. Longer hair worn down with a tiara just doesn't look right. Diana goes to the State Opening of Parliament and the papers go ga-ga because she has a new hairstyle. Then the story goes around because the Queen was supposed to have been upset by it. I doubt that HM was upset because her daughter-in-law decided on a new hairstyle; if she was upset at all, it was because the Speech From the Throne, which outlines upcoming government policy, wasn't reported properly. So I think the upset, if there was any, didn't happen because of Diana's hairstyle; it happened because of what the papers chose to publish.

Originally Posted by jcbcode99

Was the Queen really upset about that? She seems like such a no-nonsense person to me I can hardly believe that she was upset about it.
Personally, I think the look suited Diana quite well, and wish she had worn her hair fuller than she did.

Perhaps a sleeker dress would have suited the new hairstyle more. I thought that the combination of the tiara up-do and the puffy dress didn't work together well.

[TheTruth]

Originally Posted by jcbcode99

Was the Queen really upset about that? She seems like such a no-nonsense person to me I can hardly believe that she was upset about it.
Personally, I think the look suited Diana quite well, and wish she had worn her hair fuller than she did.

I agree. I really doubt the Queen was touched by any of this childish competition created by the press and by Diana at times. She's far beyond that and she was used to not take whatever happens personally. The only moment where HM was upstaged by Diana was at her death.

[georgiea]

Originally Posted by GillW

You make a very good point there and I'll try to bear it in mind next time I'm tempted to "tut" & move on! I shall try to contribute instead....

Please keep posting. I love when you talk about Diana, Princess of Wales. I have about 30 books on her and have read each one.

[Mermaid1962]

I still miss seeing Diana at big Royal events, and it's been over 16 years since the separation. In a way, she was "mad, bad, and dangerous to know", but she was fascinating in another way.

[Elspeth]

Oh, she was. Considering that the Queen had three sons and a not very glamorous daughter, and Princess Margaret and the Queen Mother were both getting on in years, Diana brought the whole fairy princess quality that the royal family really hadn't had for a while (apart from the Duchess of Kent, I suppose). It's a shame it didn't last, but she did bring interest to the royal round.

[Mermaid1962]

And the sad thing now is that any girlfriend or fiancee of a British Royal is claimed in the media to be "the new Diana" and has all those expectations put on her right away. The individual abilities of these young women aren't really brought into consideration, and they're expected to have tremendous style and grace in public without any experience.

Originally Posted by Elspeth

It's a shame it didn't last, but she did bring interest to the royal round.

[normalil]

I hesitate to post this, in case I offend or go off topic. However, I do have some sympathy with Al-Fayed. Diana was a real loose cannon. She actively persued Married Men, whilst making a hue and cry against Charles and Camilla, who were trying to conduct a discreet and old relationship.
Her behaviour in the France with Dodi was beyond the pale to me, and do any of you remember, just a few days before the crash, she swam over to the reporters and said, "Just leave me alone, I am about to give news that will shock the world." Does anyone else remember that? I wonder what that news was, it just makes me think that she was about to announce her engagement or her pregnancy, and that she thought she was above all....thoughts for her own children went out of the window. It was enough to make the Powers That Be, (of which the Queen spoke to Burrell,) take action.
This is not meant as a critisism of Diana, (although I never liked her,) just a plea for recall of that newspaper headline. I remember it SOOOOO well. At the time, I was working in a nursing home, and the residents were eager and agog for each new day's newspaper...

[Mermaid1962]

By the time of her relationship with Dodi, I had already become somewhat disillusioned with Diana. I do remember her teasing the reporters with "You'll be surprised by the next thing I do"...or words to that effect. I've had the feeling that the last year of her life in particular was pillar-to-post. She was telling so many different people so many stories that it's hard to know for sure what her plans were or even whether she had any definite ones at all.

I like to remember Diana best as someone who did good for many sick and wartorn people during her time with us and brought happiness to the people she dealt with in public.

[TheTruth]

I understand both of you, Mermaid1962 and normalil.
But I wouldn't say I had less sympathy for her in the later years. I never looked for the perfect princess in Diana (perhaps because I was still a child when she died). All her lies, manipulations, etc. she did in her life are part of her character and that's what fascinates me. I'm not a Diana fan who wants to see her as a saint or the most wonderful woman who came on earth or whatever. She magnetizes my interest because even if she was close to people, I have the feeling that they didn't know her. It's the mystery of her personality that keeps me captivated. Loose cannon or not.

[Mermaid1962]

I still find her absolutely fascinating, and I still look for rare pictures to add to my collection. So I guess that I'm a little schizoid in a way; I'm literally of two minds about her.