I feel like Diana, Princess of Wales is being shun in death like after her divorce.
In my humble opinion - and it is just my opinion though - I don't think that Diana Princess of Wales is being shunned in any way.
To me, the very fact that Prince William gave his late mother's ring to Catherine, stating that he wanted his mother to be part of his wedding is proof that Diana, Princess of Wales is not being shunned. I am also sure that there will be various touching references to the late Princess at the wedding. The appearance of Diana's earings is one possibility that has been mentioned; there might also be the use of one of Diana's tiaras...perhaps even a sprig of some flowers from Althorp in her bouquet.
In am also sure that in his Best Man's Speech, Harry may well allude to his late mother. I don't think there is any possibility whatsoever that Diana, Princess of Wales will not be mentioned at the Wedding.
The fact that Earl Spencer's placement does not seem particularly prominent does not necessary mean [in my view] that the memory of his sister Diana is being shunned at the wedding. I come to this view on the following basis:
Perhaps the clearest indication is that we are continually being told by Buckingham Palace that
all decisions about the wedding are being made by Prince William and Catherine - in other words, that they have a very hands-on role in the organisation, and the RF is not just riding roughshod over their wishes. I am therefore sure that Earl Spencer's placement is entirely satisfactory to Prince William - in other words, Earl Spencer has been seated where Prince William wants him.
In my own view, I am also not entirely sure how
close Prince William actually is to his Uncle. Obviously none of us is privy to precisely what goes on 'behind the scenes', but from what I have seen [or rather not seen] reported, there has been very little contact between the adult Prince William and his Uncle. For example, there has been no recorded visit at Althorp by the Prince in order to 'show his fiance' off to his Uncle. I also cannot think offhand of any recent visits to his Uncle by Prince William as an adult - for example to stay at Althorp, to shoot at Althorp etc.
My own interpretation - and I stress it is my own view - is that Prince William was probably not terribly happy in retrospect with Earl Spencer's speech at Diana's funeral. Whilst I have seen constant references to 'how marvellous the speech was', could I say here in my own humble view, that I was not entirely happy with what was being said by Charles Spencer. It was after all, a funeral, and it is just my own personal view that sometimes it is more dignified to leave out acrimonious comments, however heartfelt or even justified they seem to be. The gist of Earl Spencer's remarks could have been taken as being deeply insulting to the Prince of Wales - and the two Princes have always had a warm and loving relationship with their father, which to me suggests that the two Princes did not find the Prince of Wales the ogre that Earl Spencer appeared to me to be depicting.
There is another reason to me whilst Earl Spencer's funeral speech seemed to be inappropriate.... and it is this - at the end of the day, Earl Spencer's private life seemed to be no better than that of the Prince of Wales who he was apparently criticising: Later we learned about the allegations of the cruel treatment by Earl Spencer of his wife Victoria Lockwood; we also learned about Earl Spencer's own infidelities when Sally Anne Lasson revealed to the tabloids about Earl Spencer's adulterous relationship with her. In other words, Earl Spencer seemed to have been somewhat hypocritical, and I daresay that this will not have been lost on Prince William in hindsight.
In my humble opinion, these various things do indicate to me that the relationship between Prince William and Earl Spencer is not particularly warm...
Just my thoughts.
Alex
