The Story of Diana

By Zarna

One of the most influential and popular woman (and person) of her time , “Lady Diana Spencer”, “The People’s Princess”, “Princess Di”, “Diana, Princess of Wales”  had a striking role in defining the 80s. Women all over the world wanted to have the same hair as she did, follow her every move….it’s like they somehow wanted to BE her. 

Not only was Diana extremely beautiful, she also had a very strong presence and a smart brain. And she knew it. She knew that she was born a star like no other. She knew how to play with the media to her advantage. Diana would often look at the cameras flirtatiously and pose for the paparazzi. Everytime she would be on the front page of any tabloid, it would sell out in great numbers. The people loved her. They loved her because she was different than the other royals. She didn’t just go visit the citizens but she let them touch her, she talked to them, she genuinely showed interest in their lives and their sufferings and had so much love to offer to everybody. And the media covered it all. All the glamourous dresses, her campaigns and literally every single thing she did both publicly and privately. 

While the media was boosting Diana’s popularity (along with their own ofcourse), their obsession with her led to her marriage falling apart and her mental health deteriorating at an alarming rate. They would follow her on vacation, while she’s going to drop her kids to school, visiting the bookstores and literally everywhere. They even started tapping her phone calls and paying insiders from the palace heavy amounts of money just to know what’s going on in her life. Her marriage fell apart because they would ONLY cover her and barely anybody would pay attention to Prince Charles who was the future king of England and being royalty and a man, he could not stand any of it and so he distanced himself from Diana and went back to Camilla, his ex girlfriend (and mistress). He barely stayed with Diana while she was pregnant with Harry. And with people backstabbing her all the time, she became immensely paranoid. The photographers would take pictures of her while she comment was pregnant and in swimsuits and bikinis and feel entitled to on her body. This resulted in her developing an eating disorder, more specifically bulimia and with Charles telling her she’s getting chubby did not help her in any way. She was getting miserable. 

The relationship between Diana and the media was very erratic. They both needed each other, they fed off of each other. The tabloids were getting a loyal audience and Diana got validation by being on the front pages of the newspapers after the divorce. The media helped her with her popularity- being the humble princess, a fashion icon and a very strong influencer at the time. The media amplified her voice when she decided to open up about her struggles (bulimia, multiple suicide attempts, privacy issues etc) to the world and what really went on in the royal family. They gave her a voice but Diana had to pay a huge price for all of it. The media and the people were hungry for her and wanted to know her every move without caring about how she was feeling. She was like heroin for them is what has been said in the documentary. They leaked her affairs and private conversations and pictures which would make not only her but anybody insanely paranoid. And changing the narrative of the situations is something that they did like that time when Harry was labelled as impolite for sticking out his tongue while in reality the journalists were the ones sticking out their tongues at him and he was only a kid. In conclusion, media can be advantageous but all the fame they help you build/create is not for free. They suck you out mercilessly for their advantage. They do not care. What made Princess Diana is what killed her. The royal family, people of England who bought all those newspapers and very importantly, the media will always have her blood on their hands. The people did not realize that their infatuation with the life of a royal drove them into this fantasy world and blinded them from seeing the struggles of constantly being in the public eye and the sacrifices it took for her to be where she was.  Yes she was very likeable and caught their attention but people really just wanted to be her. As mentioned before, they even started getting the same haircut as her and that just proves how obsessed they were which was okay till an extent since it helped Diana with popularity but again, the fantasy took over their senses. 

By Zarna