How Lady Diana reinvented the role of princess
23 years after her tragic death, the influence of the princess is still being felt.
Diana Spencer was only twenty years old when she married Prince Charles. In the eyes of the 750 million viewers who watched her wedding in 1981 on television, Diana was a charming, head-on-her-shoulders princess who had earned her fairytale marriage. However, ten years later, she will sadly describe this day as "the worst of her life".
Affectionate nickname Lady Di made the confession during a series of taped interviews with journalist Andrew Morton, who was writing his autobiography. She speaks without filter of her chaotic marriage, her struggle with bulimia and her difficulties living in the limelight. Most of these confessions have never been broadcast. On Thursday, August 31 at 8:40 p.m., you will be able to listen to these recordings in the documentary Diana: a mysterious icon, broadcast for the first time on National Geographic.
This never-before-seen documentary airs 20 years after the dramatic death of the princess in a car accident. Although divorced from Prince Charles at that time, she had remained an international icon very present in the media. On the anniversary of her disappearance, we spoke with Tom Jennings, executive producer of this new film, about the humanitarian causes championed by Lady Di and how she has transformed the role of the royal family. .
How was the news of his disappearance received?
When Princess Diana died, the whole world stopped. It was an incredibly sad series of events. His funeral was broadcast live around the world. In the UK, locals used to place flowers at the gates of Kensington Palace, so much so that it was impossible to access the palace gates for several hundred yards.
Was the public still under the spell of the princess?
She fascinated the audience, to begin with. We grow up lulled by the dream of fairy tales, princes, princesses and castles, when suddenly it becomes reality for this very young and beautiful woman. In the space of an instant, she became more popular than Prince Charles himself.
In the 1990s, the constraints of her marriage began to weigh on her. Following the release of Morton's book, she became something of a polarizing figure. According to some, a member of the royal family should not speak about his private life in public. Other people who believed in her and were already die-hard fans turned into staunch supporters.
Her humanitarian work was also divisive, especially when she shook hands with AIDS patients in 1987.
There was this unfounded fear that shaking hands with someone with HIV or AIDS was enough to pass the disease on to you; Diana didn't believe it. People who liked her at the time liked her all the more because she used her status as a public figure to show the world that these individuals too needed attention and affection.
Also at this time, in the late 1980s, she tackled the problem of homelessness, particularly in the United Kingdom. Images show her walking around and talking to homeless people who live in tents under bridges. There are many who could not believe their eyes. She insisted that no one should have to live like this in today's world. Just before her death, she took up the issue of anti-personnel mines in war-torn African countries, particularly in Angola.
She had a realization: "Even if it means having the cameras constantly pointed at me, I might as well use this publicity wisely". And that's what she did. She knew that going to hospitals or to minefields would immediately draw the world's attention to the problem.
How has her humanitarian commitment and her willingness to talk about her personal life transformed the royal family?
Princess Diana had an immense influence on the Royal Family and on the British, including what the Royal Family meant to them. In my opinion, his two sons, Princes William and Harry, continue this all the more. At the end of the documentary, she says she transforms the monarchy in subtle ways, especially for William, the eldest of her sons, through her actions, the causes she defends that the royal family does not usually tackle.
Some people attribute to him the modernization of the royal family, due to a major commitment. It has undoubtedly taken a much more modern turn, turn of which Lady Diana is at the origin. No one else before has transformed her like she has. I think the Royal Family is now seen as a much more accessible British institution. It is common for the two princes to interact with the public in the same way that Diana did. She has never hesitated to go and shake hands with people.
