Re: Princess Diana - Part 2

[timfromengland]

Its so sad that Diana wont be there for that special day, I think she would
be so proud of her handsome, dashing son  and it would be wistful  for her to see
Kate  take on the role she performed so well on that magic day, 30 years ago....
30 years, can you believe it !
So  much has happened in those 30 years ...

[Lucien]

Oh pl-eee-ze....the lady is dead!All these hyped up emotional nonsense,she won't come back for the wedding.Period.
Lets concentrate on the wedding as of today please and comfort yourself with the thought she will be there in the spirit.s.

[Grace]

Noooo!  This is the Diana thread -- not the wedding one!

[CHRISinUSA]

Well, I wonder... Did Charles ever love Diana or was it all orchestrated by him, the Royal Family and possibly even Camilla...

I've said it before - Charles and Diana were horribly matched, and both went into their marriage for the wrong reasons.  They never had a chance, and if you take away all the romantic notions, the facts bear that out very clearly.

For his part, Charles was emotionally limited, already in love with another woman, and didn't appear to even want to marry.  He had proposed marriage to Amanda K. less than a year before and was rejected - and he only met Diana a few times before he proposed.  That fact alone says it all.  Frankly, he had no choice in the matter, and given the set of rules forced upon him at the time (his wife must be a virgin, royal or aristocratic, sufficiently acceptable to the public, able to shoulder royal life, and above all - able to produce children), there were few options available.  Diana was one of the few that fit the bill and Charles, ever pragmatic, realized that.  He chose Diana by default.

Diana, for her part, was still very much a child emotionally.  A girl of 19 with grand sentiments of love and romance, she had little realization of the very situation she was agreeing to.  And take royalty out the equation, Charles was absolutely not the right man for her, even if she was too young to realize it at the time.  Try to make a list of the things Charles and Di had in common.  Anything?  Nope, absolutely nothing. 

It always seemed to me that once they had set the future in motion, both of them did their level best to try to find a common middle ground and make it work - but it was hopeless.  Today, its quite easy to lay all the blame on one or the other, depending on your point of view.  But the truth is - both were guilty and both were merely victims of their own circumstances - and their own insecurities.

[Kalafrana]

Chris

I agree entirely.

Ann

[Lucien]

Noooo!  This is the Diana thread -- not the wedding one!

Oh,ofcourse dear...but it would be so much nicer to focus on the wedding instead

[timfromengland]

Its  nearly 30 years since Diana's spectacular wedding.... watched by the entire world...
but we forget that poor Diana only lived 16  of those years,
for Diana they were  hectic years,  bitter sweet.... she hardly  had time to think.

[Princess of Cupertino]

Somehow I don't think Diana would have been a great mother-in-law, as possessive as she was ...

Not that I don't admire many of her good qualities.

[Romanov_fan]

People compare Kate and Diana, but it seems to me the comparisons aren't based on much, beyond the fact of Kate inheiriting Diana's role as a beautiful young royal who will very likely one day be Queen- Consort, a role Diana set up a lot of expectations for, to be sure.Different personalities, different life experience, both lovely, but very different types of beauty, is my final thoughts on the Kate/ Diana comparison.Diana only lived 7 years longer than the age Kate is now..that's something to remember It's hard to say what Diana would have been like as a mother in law..who knows where life would have taken her, had she lived, she might have had another child with someone and that might have occupied her attenion,so she wouldn't have been as possessive about her two oldest children.Like any mother, she loved her children and wanted the best for them, so I'm sure she would have been happy for William.Diana would be 49 now (would be 50) this year had she lived..hard to imagine, but not that old, really.Part of her legend is that she died so young, and so much happened to her in the 36 short years of her life.

[Clemence]

People compare Kate and Diana, but it seems to me the comparisons aren't based on much, beyond the fact of Kate inheiriting Diana's role as a beautiful young royal who will very likely one day be Queen- Consort, a role Diana set up a lot of expectations for, to be sure.Different personalities, different life experience, both lovely, but very different types of beauty, is my final thoughts on the Kate/ Diana comparison.Diana only lived 7 years longer than the age Kate is now..that's something to remember It's hard to say what Diana would have been like as a mother in law..who knows where life would have taken her, had she lived, she might have had another child with someone and that might have occupied her attenion,so she wouldn't have been as possessive about her two oldest children.Like any mother, she loved her children and wanted the best for them, so I'm sure she would have been happy for William.Diana would be 49 now (would be 50) this year had she lived..hard to imagine, but not that old, really.Part of her legend is that she died so young, and so much happened to her in the 36 short years of her life.

my thoughts exactly! yet I find kate so much more and better prepared for her life after the wedding than diana ... hope she'll have a long and happy life with her prince)

[Imperial_Grounds]

True...

It is good that the Royal Family has taken some lessons from the past, arranged but wrongly matched marriages, and is finally seeing what has been happening in Europe for years.... That Royalty does not need to inter-marry anymore. I think the Windsors tried to hang on to duty, etiquette and all that for too long. Nothing wrong with it, but one should not mess with love... Had Charles been able to marry Camilla ages before he ever met Diana things might have turned out completely different. The Monarchy as institution might not have been as popular as it was, and is, during Diana's lifetime and with her impact on the institution of Monarchy, but the scandals would have been avoided too. As Charles made his mistakes, and Diana made hers, and Camilla certainy has part of the blame too... The Royals might not have been as popular, as Diana really gave them a boost, but things would have gone gradually. However, that all is speculation. I do think that William has taken some lessons out of his parent's marriage and is determined to make his work, which I am sure it will as they have been 'walking' toward their wedding day gradually and now are really sure about what they want from their marriage... That is where Diana and Charles had gone wrong from the start, and Diana at first did not even realize it, their short engagement, or actually the time they'd been 'dating', if you can call it even that, and this should have been a warning, even for the public... But in the end people wanted to believe in the fairytale, which eventually became a tragedy.

[blessOTMA]

CHRISinUSA , I think you said it very well. The sad part is after all the hurting and fighting, Charles and Diana  seemed to have come to an understanding that last year...at least the start of one . They had nothing in common of course but the boys...and  their sons  seem to bring out the best in both Diana and Charles. This picture taken at William's  confirmation seems to me a picture of hope there would be smoother relations ahead...sadly we'll never know.



But it's my hope the comparisons  between Diana and Kate being made  by the press will fade...Diana was Diana and Kate is Kate. It doesn't serve either to constantly compare them.  I wish the newlyweds the best of luck!   
 

[Grace]

I heard a commentator say that as Catherine didn't leave her wedding bouquet on the tomb of the Unknown Soldier as seems to be fairly customary for royal brides, she and William may have planned to place it on Diana's grave which would certainly be a touching gesture.  Anyone heard anything of this?

[Ian (UK)]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2011/may/10/princess-diana-documentary-cannes   LINK - From the Guardian

   A controversial Diana documentary is to be screened at Cannes. The film includes that picture. Conspiracy ? ........ I don't think so. It will only go to prove just how close

the paparazzi were that night. The very ones who would rather photograph a dying woman than help her. Fortunately this will not be broadcast in the UK.

[Robert_Hall]

That is an odd film.  The writers are saying it is an indictment of the inquiry, not  Diana's death per se.
 And, al Fayed, who is paying for it, has denounced it and and is insisting the death picture is taken out.
 However, that picture has been seen all over the world, first in an Italian magazine. It is also on the net.
 And Grace, I think the story about the wedding bouquet is just an urban myth. I have not read anything other than gossip about it. But, of course, there could have been 2 bouquets.