I admit to being a bit of a British Royal Family tragic. I adored Princess Diana, I knew that we would be close friends if we had ever met because I just got her. Actually I realise that this was part of her attraction, everyone just felt like they got her – she was the People’s Princess for a reason.
When Kate and William got married my obsession with the royal family deepened. I just knew that Kate and I would do great coffee together, I got her too. I felt a huge gush of pride and admiration for her when she married her Prince and subsequently when I saw pictures of her doing her own grocery shopping and refusing to wear a dress just once. I know that I wasn’t alone in wondering what Princess Di would think and I heard my own thoughts and questions echoed in the voices of the media and the public at large.
Everyone was wistful for Princess Di and I believe that to imagine how happy and proud she would have been is normal, and in some way self comforting. We all want to imagine a happier ending to Diana’s life.
But to create that future? To take that image out of your mind’s eye and put it to the world IN PRINT. I think that’s not just deluded, I think it is creepy.
A mocked-up image of Princess Di walking with Kate Middleton graces the cover of Newsweek to mark the 50th birthday of Diana (1 July) It accompanies an article by Tina Brown about what Diana would have been like if she were alive today.
The picture is bad. Offensive. Dismissive of the feelings of the surviving members of the Royal Family.
But the copy? Here is just an extract: