Today, August 31, marks the 25th anniversary of the death of Diana, Princess of Wales, who was killed at age 36 in a high-speed car crash after being chased by paparazzi in Paris. Her death unleashed an outpouring of grief, and her funeral at Westminster Abbey drew a television audience of 2.5 billion people. It also sparked one of the first and most enduring conspiracy theories, that the British Intelligence Agency, MI5, or even the royal family themselves, had ordered a hit job on her to prevent her from marrying an Arab, her boyfriend Dodi Al-Fayed. The conspiracy theory was pushed by none other than Dodi’s father, Mohamed Al-Fayed, owner of Harrod’s Department store and a big chunk of London, who had a long-standing conflict with the British government over citizenship issues. He alleged that “that Britain’s royal family was behind the crash”.
In the aftermath of the tragic accident, caused in part by the paparazzi car chase, the public overlooked the fact that the driver, Henri Paul, was driving under the influence of alcohol—well over the legal limit. The outrage over the paparazzi, the Royal family and the general grievance that she had been treated badly by the Royal family and Charles, her cheating and now-divorced husband, superseded any attempt to bring reality to the forefront of the narrative.
A quarter century after her death, she is as much a fixture in popular culture as she was during her lifetime. In just the last year, she’s been the subject of an Oscar-nominated film, (Spencer starring Kristen Stewart as Diana), a Broadway musical (Diana), a TV miniseries (season four of The Crown), and most recently, an HBO documentary, The Princess.
Highlights of this anniversary currently include recycled revelations from a former Al Fayed bodyguard who first shared them with the Express in 2005 and again at her inquest in 2008: that Diana asked, after the murder of Gianni Versace, if she might be targeted and was considering moving to the US. These tired “revelations” are transparent attempts to keep the legend alive—to the benefit of the media.
One of the most ambitious commemorative exercises of this anniversary, the 25th, is Britain’s Channel 4 series Investigating Diana: Death in Paris. Under guise of still investigating the accident and mining it for new revelations, the documentarians have also showcased, with sensationalistic flourishes, some of the wildest theories that had already been previously discredited: an assertion that her pregnancy by Dodi led the Queen to hire a hitman, that she was going to convert to Islam, or that she was going to move to the US. In the process, the media once again promotes them, perhaps convincing a new generation of gullible viewers that yes, indeed, the inebriated driver was not at fault, it was the paparazzi, the Royal house, nameless agents from MI5–anyone but the drunken driver. And let’s not mention that Diana was not wearing a seatbelt and that medical experts have determined that had she been wearing it, she would almost certainly have survived the crash. The truth is often inconvenient.
Why is the public still enamored with Diana? The tribute site Diana’slegacy.com has this to say: “Diana didn’t just accept the world around her for the way it was and she used her role in the public eye to help causes that many others overlooked. She also believed in the power of young people to change the world and that young people should be supported to make sure they reach their full potential.”
Diana was a marketing genius who knew how to create her “brand”: caring, inspirational, demure, long-suffering victim of adultery mistreated by the entire royal family. Her publicity coups—like the infamous interview with Martin Bashir, where she aired all her grievances—her secret anxieties, her depression, her bulimia, and her suicide attempts–created enormous sympathy for her. Even now people leave comments such as: “The raw vulnerability she displayed in this video is so astounding. Depression, self harm and bulimia even more-so, are still so taboo. She was very brave to do this, and the awareness that this interview brought to mental health issues was probably massive. All hugely misunderstood things, and she decided she would be the one to talk about it, instead of keeping it locked up with shame. rest peacefully Di.”
Or: “‘Well there were three of us in this marriage, so it was a bit crowded.’ Her face after she said that broke my heart. She was hurt by so many people yet loved by the entire world. She deserved better.”
Diana was every little girl’s Cinderella dream—a girl-next-door who married a prince. Never mind that she comes from a family that is older and more aristocratic than the Windsors—the public likes its illusions. She was the victim of Charles’ scurrilous adultery—never mind that she herself had many affairs. She was ceaselessly pursued by the paparazzi—never mind that she herself leaked information to them if she was out of the news cycle for a couple of days. She was so savvy about getting her version to the public in that she has been called “Queen of all media.” Indeed, it was she who “tipped off some photographers of where she would be on vacation with Dodi on the yacht, leading to the publication of pictures of swimsuit-clad Diana embracing and kissing Dodi, [and] it caused a sensation in the U.K. three weeks before her death.”
Like other legends, heroes and saints, in her end was her perpetuation. Dying young and tragically is the best way to become immortal. On the 25th anniversary of her death and forever more, it seems, she will always remain “the people’s princess,” beloved for the image that she herself had so cannily helped create.
