Re: Princess Diana - Part 2

[Grace]

Having just watched the so-called "Settelen tapes" in which Diana confides all, including private details of her dealings with the royal family and her sex life with Prince Charles on tape whilst Settelen films her, I can't believe she was SO STUPID as to allow this!  Settelen should not have sold these tapes in any circumstances but, honestly, Diana could be the most naive woman on the planet!

[Constantinople]

Princess Diana was a complicated person with psychological problems and possibly psychiatric problems.  It is quite possible she had something like Borderline personality complex which makes risky behaviour attractive.

[Lindelle]

Having just watched the so-called "Settelen tapes" in which Diana confides all, including private details of her dealings with the royal family and her sex life with Prince Charles on tape whilst Settelen films her, I can't believe she was SO STUPID as to allow this!  Settelen should not have sold these tapes in any circumstances but, honestly, Diana could be the most naive woman on the planet!

Hi Grace,
Is the "Settelen tapes" the ones where she admitted pushing Raine down the stairs?
I know I saw this somewhere and was wondering if what you watched was where she was speaking with her voice coach.

[Grace]

Hi Grace,
Is the "Settelen tapes" the ones where she admitted pushing Raine down the stairs?
I know I saw this somewhere and was wondering if what you watched was where she was speaking with her voice coach.

Hi Lindelle,

Those are the ones, yes, though I haven't watched it all yet (I fell asleep on my couch).  Surely she wouldn't really have pushed her father's second wife down the stairs?  She also said she "slapped her father across the face" when he told her he had married Raine!  Was she exaggerating or was she really that horrific?  I just can't picture it!  She really was foolish though, to allow herself to be recorded blurting out all that stuff.

Constantinople, Diana had her issues but I don't think she had genuine "psychiatric" problems or Borderline Personality Complex.  Some so-called experts stated some time ago she wouldn't have been able to conduct public duties and her general life in the way she did had she had serious psychiatric issues.  I think she was just a person with some very contradictory personal traits, that's all.

[Lindelle]

Grace, I don't know about slapping her father across the face, wether it's  heresay or not, but I'd only heard/read about her pushing Raine down the stairs via the media,  until I actually saw and heard how she explained what she did, I'd never have believed it. I can't think what motivates one to do such a thing. And yes she was very foolish as to blab about it - not something you'd want the public to hear about. I certainly thought differently about her when I realised it was true.

[Constantinople]

People suffer psychiatric conditions to various extents.  And Diana suffered a number of symptons that comprise a number of psychiatric conditions.  She had eating disorders, liked risk and was to some degree promiscuous.  She certainly was known for acting out.  People with borderline personality disorder often as seen to have a high level of charisma as well, which she had.  The tapes that you spoke of earlier and her biographies show someone acting out serious psychological problems.  As well with the number of keepers around her and the somewhat flexible nature of her schedule, it was also possible for her to remain out of the public eye on her worse days.

[Grace]

Not everybody who acts oddly has a psychiatric condition though.  Sometimes people just...act oddly from time to time!

[Constantinople]

Diana did not show these conditions occasionally but consistently and that is a hallmark of psychological or psychiatric problems.

[CHRISinUSA]

the issue of providing a house at Althorp as a bolt hole seems a tad more complicated. I am not defending the Earl as I do not know the full details of what occurred, but the logistics of having probably the most famous woman in the world living on his property and the security considerations and logistics involved when trying to run a stately home as a viable business open to the public, seems to me a little daunting to say the least! ! I always thought that the security issues and balancing privacy and logistics were his prime concern! Perhaps someone here who knows the facts will be able to throw light on this issue!  

I don't know anything about what Diana asked for, and what the Earl's true reasons were for denying her.  But I did just pop onto the Althorp Estate website to see if it was likely the princess' occupancy would have harmed the security or commercial functioning of the estate.

And what I found is that Althorp Estate consists of 14,000 acres in Northamptonshire and in Norfolk.  To put that into perspective, 14,000 acres equals 22 square miles of land.  Included are a large number of houses, cottages and commercial properties, most of which are leased out.

I find it hard to believe there was not a single appropriate property somewhere on the Estate, miles away from the manor house and its immediate grounds, which could have been appropriate as Diana's country home without causing a security risk or interrupting the Earl's ability to generate funds.

Was Diana insisting on a particular property?  Was the Earl just a cad?  It seems reasonable to me that the claims put out in the public (by both sides) were probably not the whole true story.

[Lindelle]

I agree.
If the Earl was being a cad I wouldn't be surprised if it was because Diana wanted a specific place and it may not have been that easy to accomodate her where she wished.
So in saying that, if he HAS denied her a home, it may have been she didn't want another offer?

[Eddie_uk]

Diana apparently wanted the "Garden House" on the Althorp estate. However in "Diana, A Closely Guarded Secret" Ken Wharfe states that Earl Spencer telephoned and offered her the use of the property, she was very pleased and excited. He was dispatched to investigate security, and found it perfect.  Unfortunately, after building up her hopes her brother said he was no longer happy about the idea because he was uneasy about the added security presence.

As some one has pointed out, 4 years later he had no problem bringing Diana and opening it up as a memorial to her and making money, I know a lot has gone to Charity..

[timfromengland]

THAT was a disgrace, burying Diana on some poxy island in the middle of a  pond,
She was an icon of the British people, she deserved to be buried in Westminster Abbey with
statues and an elaborate  monumental tomb.

People who loved her, could have visited her tomb in the  abbey  and paid their respects.

Her tomb would have become  a national monument,
Instead...(.so  we are told).... she was buried on that poxy island on the Earl Spencer estate.



As usual, the great British public lose out in the end.


.

[CHRISinUSA]

While your sentiments are obviously sincere and heartfelt Heavensent, I must disagree for several reasons.

First, members of the public may wish to consider themselves "the people who loved her", except.....none of you ever met her.  And most people who did meet her did so her only for a fleeting moment.

The real people who loved her were those who shared her life.  Her mother, her sisters and brother, and most importantly, her two sons. And all those people decided to bury her at her family home.  Yes, Earl Spencer may be making money from the result, but it was not solely his decision where Diana was buried. 

I can think of many legitimate reasons they decided to bury Diana at Althorp instead of at the Abby under a huge monument - can't you?  And I can't see exactly how the "Great British Public" is losing out?  If someone wishes to mourn for Diana, they may simply do so.  Must they have a slab of marble to stare at?  And, those who simply cannot mourn without something to look at may always go to the Diana Fountain at Kensington Gardens, or travel to Althrop, wander into the beautiful gardens and sit on a bench along the peaceful lake, looking across at the tree-covered island which was approved by William and Harry as their mother's final resting spot.

[timfromengland]

Being in exactly the same position as the Earl , with 3 sisters
and  having lost one sister far too young, I think I have an idea
what the family are going through... of course her close family were devastated.


In medieval times the Cathedrals used to fight and squabble over the remains of
famous people for the right to bury them in their own cathedral for the prestige and
for the  fee paying pilgrims that their grave and monument would attract...

I dare say  we have witnessed a modern version of that... though I cant
really say that the Earl has been making money from Diana's presence on his estate...
nor does he really need any more money.

But was she really buried on the island ?
Don't remember seeing any film or photos of the internment !

Re the Diana Tapes,  found this on  U  tube
go here
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ZhU2eS-bg4

[CHRISinUSA]

You may be right, I am only supposing that ticket sales at Althorp increased following Diana's burial there.  I do not know for sure.

Since the family chose a private burial at the family home, there may not be any photos or film of the event. If there are, I sincerely hope they are locked away in a vault somewhere beneath Althrop House, not to be seen for decades if ever.

As to whether or not Diana is buried on the island or not, I suppose only the government, the immediate family, and any clergy and staff present are the only ones who know for sure.  Frankly, it's none of our business. 

We saw one filmmaker's interpretation of what happened that week in the movie The Queen, but even if it was 100% accurate, it only focused on the adult royal family and Blair, not on the thoughts and wishes of the Spencers or the two young princes.  And frankly, those were the only people who's opinions mattered.  I can't imagine all of the dynamics that were going on that week when funeral decisions were made.  She's the mother of the future King.  She's not a HRH.  She's a public figure.  She's a private person.  The public wants a huge spectacle.  The Spencers want a private affair, and so does the Queen.  The media killed her, we need to protect her.  No, we need to have a state funeral and the works.  No, give her the peace she never got in life.  Depending on who you asked, you got a totally different answer.

As distasteful as the topic is to write about, if I had been a member of the family responsible for making funeral decisions, I would have been very concerned with the short-term and long-term security of her remains.  We all saw how irrational and emotional people were acting that week - I would fear that some crazy person would break into Althorp's grounds and try to steal the remains - for profit, for ransom, for fame, or whatever. 

So I'd be tempted to recommend that the family place her actual remains elsewhere in an unmarked grave known only to those few who needed to know - and perhaps place a marker on the island as a decoy.  Then someday in the future when the emotions had calmed, we could always either quietly move her, or even come clean and hold a formal public reburial somewhere else.

I suppose we'll just have to wait and see - eventually these sorts of things become known when the time is right.