The death of Princess Di, 20 years on
For many people she was the People's Princess and for many media the coveted object of thier reporting. Princess Di made a lasting impression on British society. But some commentators lament that 20 years after the princess's death Britain still spends more time mourning this icon than discussing the future of its monarchy.
Time to discuss the future of the monarchy
The anniversary should have prompted the British public to reflect on the future of the royal family, The Guardian admonishes:
“Twenty years ago, the royals came in for criticism for their role in the aftermath of the death of Diana. Twenty years on, the monarchy is unassailable and rarely debated. This could have been a moment in which we tried to consider, as a people, what kind of a monarchy is appropriate to 21st century, post-Diana, post-Brexit, digital-era Britain. If we remembered our constitutional history better, more of us would recognise that this is, and ought to be, a question for parliament and the public, not for the Windsors. But that moment is being missed, to our shared loss.”
Sentimentalism has become a civic duty
The British lost their healthy reserve in the aftermath of the tragedy, The Daily Telegraph complains:
“The legacy of that week [after Diana's death] is a country in which it seems everything now must be emoted, and to look askance upon excessive sentimentalism is to evince Blimpish tendencies that are no longer to be tolerated. Anyone in public life who refuses to play along with the new post-Diana dispensation is risking their career. Expressing how they feel matters more than what they have achieved. 'Just sum up your emotions as triumph or defeat (delete where applicable) happened' is now the default question of every interviewer.”
When death is not the end
Princess Di's sudden death turned her into a mythical figure, La Stampa points out:
“If Diana had married the rich Egyptian playboy Dodi Al-Fayed her popularity would have plummeted in no more than a few hours. She'd have suffered the same fate as Jackie Kennedy when she married the Greek shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis. The princess's sudden death, by contrast, turned her into a myth, as happend with James Dean, Marilyn Monroe, Jim Morrison and Amy Winehouse. For some people death comes so unexpectedly that it doesn't mean the end of life. These people remain among us and their words are heeded more than those of the living, even many years after they have departed.”