The Gray Monk

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November 10, 2003

Pavanne for a dead Princess?

Is it only me that feels that it is high time the late, and in some areas seemingly overly lamented, Princess of Wales, the Lady Diana, was allowed to slip quietly away from the public scrutiny? I have to say that I am heartily sick of the hype that surrounds this otherwise unremarkable woman whose sole talent was to manipulate the media and those around her to a really remarkable degree. No miracles have as yet been reported at her grave, she was not a particularly strong believer in anything as far as we are aware, and the Pope is unlikely to subscribe to her elevation to the same status as our Lord's mother! So why won't her fan club let her lie? Why is she accorded in some quarters the same status as a goddess?

This one is as bad as the mania associated with the late Elvis the Pelvis. The only reason I can see for keeping them both going is that someone,
somewhere, is making money out of it. Interesting, that - I see from various press reports that the Earl Spencer is doing quite nicely out of the pilgrimage to the graveside of the Princess, and I guess the Presley Foundations must be doing very well out of their promotions.

As far as I can see Diana was a very strange lady, nice when she wanted to be, as nasty as all get out when she didn't feel it worth being nice and not terribly intelligent in between. No I am not a Diana fan, and I am even less of a fan of the mob who keep trying to make out that her death was something extraordinary. She was out for a romantic weekend with her latest flame and he was a pretty spoiled playboy type as well.

What has triggered this rant? Well, partly its down to having to listen to some new "revelation" about what the Prince did, or didn't do, how badly he treated Saint Diana, and how her seemingly endless tape recordings of private conversations could sink the monarchy - or not as the case may be. Since all the tapes have turned out to be somewhat less than damning or to have ceased to exist since they were supposedly made, I find myself somewhat less than excited about them. Besides, you do have to ask what she planned to do with them. Blackmail seems to have been the only motive here, and even for the sort of Machiavelian behaviour she seems to have adopted, that is going a bit too far for my liking.

OK so she was the mother of the future King William V, but she doesn't rate the hype and she surely isn't going to return from the tomb to mend all the worlds ills. From the look of the people who seem to go to worship at her tomb, I would guess that many of them are just trying to find the meaning of life. If orgainsed religion isn't their bag - then get on with looking to the living. If you need spiritual guidance there are many other ways to find the road, the dead Princess isn't one of them.

For my part I hope that she has found rest, like all of us she was a flawed human being, as subject to the temptations of the flesh and the weaknesses of the mind and body as any of the rest of us. May she rest in peace, and may her children cherish the memories of the best times she shared with them. For the adherents of her Cult - get a life!

Posted by The Gray Monk at November 10, 2003 04:37 PM

Comments

Posted by: Ozguru at June 9, 2005 11:39 PM