It's Time To Let Princess Diana Go

By: Dafna Laskin

Posted: 9/7/07

It has been 10 years now since the death of Diana, Princess of Wales, and still the coverage persists. Conspiracy theorists and family members alike insist it was an imperial plot against the princess - an attempt by the stuffy, reticent monarchy to do away with a young woman whose vibrancy and selflessness impeded the royal family's ability to ignore the humanity and plight of the real world. And so the glamorous mother of two was murdered in cold blood on that fateful Parisian summer night, leaving a nation in mourning and the world in shock.

How seamlessly this story is sewn together, flawless down to all the last details: that Prince Phillip thought at the time that Diana was pregnant with boyfriend Dodi al-Fayed's baby, expediting the murder; that driver Henri Paul, the acting security manager at the Ritz, who witnesses claimed did not appear to be intoxicated as he escorted Diana to the car that night, had a blood alcohol level three times the French legal limit; and finally, that paparazzi were chasing the car, inciting Paul to speed into the Place de l'Alma, the underpass in which the car crashed.

It would seem that very few people are able to take Diana's death as the accident that it was - a tragedy sure, but a mishap nonetheless. All of Britain, paralyzed by news of the princess' passing, turned out en masse for the funeral, where an estimated 2.5 billion people worldwide watched the procession on their televisions. The audience was inevitable considering the world's love affair with Diana, who had overcome an embarrassingly public divorce from a cold and unfaithful husband to devote her life to charity work.

Of course it didn't hurt her popularity that in a generally unattractive monarchy, Diana was a beacon of alluring beauty whose genes have thankfully found their way into her two young sons, William and Harry. Indeed, her beauty is often the first thing interviewees praise her for, usually ahead of her work with landmine victims or health agencies. And she was young, a change of pace in a royal family led by an eternally ancient, often ornery-looking queen whose gaze, one imagines, could freeze a room. In short, the Princess was just the right face at the right time.

Not to insult Diana, to sterilize her death or criticize her life's work - but the public fascination with her can, at times, seem cult-like and exaggerated and - though I hesitate to use the word - rather pathetic. A recent survey in Britain revealed that about one-fourth of all Britons believe Diana truly was murdered in a royal plot - no doubt being strung along by Mohammed al-Fayed, Dodi's father, who maintains that his son was the victim of a plot by Prince Phillip and who will be opening up a private investigation later this year. It is hard to fault the elder Fayed, but it would seem to be a case of a grieving father unable to let go of his son, more so than a case of actual murder. The likelihood of a plot seems highly far-fetched, particularly in such an obvious manner.

The conspiracy theories surrounding Diana's death are arguably little more than the public's obsession with an attractive woman and, one can only assume, the desire of thousands of Britons, women and men alike, to live vicariously through the Princess, the images of her 1981 fairytale wedding so ingrained in their consciousness. Diana's obscurity before her marriage to Prince Charles was a trait with which many citizens could identify, and the scandal in which that marriage was mired only made her appear more genuine as a wife and mother.

Princes William and Harry threw their beloved mother a massive birthday party at Wembley Stadium in London this summer, a colossal concert with much of the proceeds headed to charity. They also organized a much-publicized, yet tasteful memorial on Aug. 31, the anniversary of her death, and these high-profile events should signify the end of Diana's era, the easing of a public craze and the dimming of the limelight.

London's Bishop Chartres, who presided over the memorial service for Diana, asked those in attendance to forget their suspicions and "let it end here." Chartres' words, intended for members of Diana's family who continually blame Charles for her death, should be a term by which all Britons abide. Lady Di's death was shocking, heartbreaking and a personal tragedy for her family. But 10 years on, it's time for the public who so vigilantly mourns her to let go - to stop harboring their wild suspicions and fixated theories and, once and for all, move on.

Staff columnist Dafna Laskin is a 7th-semester history and journalism double major. She can be contacted at Dafna.Laskin@UConn.edu