Isn’t It About Time We Let Princess Di, Die?
Oh, Diana – the Cinderella of our time, the Sleeping Beauty who will never wake up, straight out of a Disney fairy-tale. Growing up, I believed she was the epitome of class and goodness, a true-blue pin-up princess. She was born into the elite class: the Spencer family have a bloodline so distinguished they were actually richer and more powerful than the Windsors for most of history). She sealed the deal by marrying royalty.
But her saga has been reported on so extensively that she's become the eternal figure who just can’t catch a break. Especially since she’s been removed from the mortal coil for nearly thirty years. Yet she still makes a contemporary news article. Surely it’s about time we let our dear Diana rest in peace? Shouldn’t we just let her die?
From countless exhibitions of her most intimate clothing at Kensington Palace (cringe) to the latest instalment of The Crown (double cringe) on Netflix, they won’t stop parading the People's Princess.
Nowadays, it's all about 'bringing up the bodies'. Perhaps this is a symptom of blandness in society. Perhaps, in a landscape where all the celebs must drink green juice and publicly kowtow to every mainstream movement like promoting body positivity whilst remaining tight little size 0s, we are bored to death and desperate for a badly-behaved rock star (someone, somewhere, please smash a guitar!). Or is it purely a mercenary operation?
Squeezing every possible drop of liquid currency while you can still high kick or cartwheel around the room seems to be the trend. And when it comes to Lady Di, there's no stopping it. There's absolutely no limit to how many times her talents are trotted out, even though she faced her final curtain decades ago. From countless exhibitions of her most intimate clothing at Kensington Palace (cringe) to the latest instalment of The Crown (double cringe) on Netflix, they won’t stop parading the People's Princess, propping up her up and pulling the strings like she’s the corpse in Weekend at Bernie’s.
But why stop milking the cash cow, you may ask? Well, let bygones be bygones, I say! History has its place, and creative license is a marvellous thing, but seriously, when will we let sleeping dogs lie? When a figurehead has met their demise in such traumatic circumstances, the truly respectful response would be to let her rest in peace. To avoid putting words in her mouth and intentions to her movements that slowly erode her into a murky, melancholy caricature of the blazing light she once was.
There’s no such thing as honouring the dead anymore, no matter how much we claim to love them.
And let's not forget about films centred on historical figures, like the recent ‘masterpiece’, Napoleon. Creators seem fixated on dusting off the history books, interpreting the lives and legacies of yesteryear's VIPs. Whether they stick to the facts or go out on a wild limb, the question lingers—should we scrutinise these renditions or just enjoy them as a new story imagined in a modern brain?
Either way, those whose tales are being retold must be either turning in their graves knowing they're still in the spotlight and haunted by the clicks of the paparazzi cameras. There’s no such thing as honouring the dead anymore, no matter how much we claim to love them.
The Crown can be seen on Netflix
Napoleon is in all major cinemas