THE THEORIES
Princess Diana, while so loved, was not without her faults. Not so much faults, but lack of wanted perfection. She wasn’t untruthful about her struggles either. Unlike the rest of the Royal Family and many other upper-class British, she didn’t refuse to admit her own issues. Princess Diana struggled with, “bulimia, postpartum depression, self-mutilation, the breakdown of her marriage to Prince Charles” (Elliot and Pederson). Diana was struggling in many ways far passed what the average person that looked up to her could imagine. Her supporters saw her as a surface level, fairytale princess of their dreams - perfect and modest and kind. However, she had her own silent demons. In her interview though, by confronting her illnesses and speaking out about them, she was helping others. Her story, “Undoubtedly, is to help others. In her candid revelations about postpartum depression and bulimia, Diana may do for those crippling, unmentionable illnesses what Betty Ford once did for breast cancer--force them into the daylight” (Elliot and Pederson). While Diana wasn’t seen as perfect any longer, she became something more important – strong and resilient.
Princess Diana, while now has been missed for over two decades, remains a unifying figure in humanity. She possessed great status among the world in not only her position in government and leading citizens, but by her iconic fashion looks. While she was famous for what she wore on her wedding day, she is equally well known for her faults in that said marriage. Her struggles with behind the scenes and her bravery to talk about it, helped others realize they aren’t isolated and invisible. Princess Diana is an influential, brave, and helpful.
In the death of Princess Diana, many have heard of circulating theories. The three theories that are most common: Diana staged the event to live out of public eye, Charles and was trying to remarry/move on with the help of Prince Phillip, or the royal family killed Diana because of the race of her new partner.
The first theory surrounding Princess Diana’s death is that Diana staged a fake death so that she could live happily outside of the public eye. Because the public is persistent and brutal in their approach of meddling in people’s business, Diana was no different. At her funeral, Earl Spencer spoke that she was, “the most hunted person of the modern age”. (Monica Ali). It seems feasible that Diana could have plotted her death, changed her name and her face, and created a new life for herself. However, this theory doesn’t make sense because not only was she pronounced dead, her partner and driver were also dead at the scene. This is too many loose ends for this theory to be plausible.
Another idea to explain the cause of Princess Diana’s death is the notion that Prince Charles was trying to move on and remarry. Allegedly Prince Phillip, Diana’s father-in-law, wrote mean and disrespectful letters to her leading up to her death. Princess Diana had predicted her own death, and “allegedly claimed that she believed Prince Charles was planning ‘an accident in my car”’. She believed this crash would “allow him to marry”. This was all written in “a note to her former butler Paul Burrell, just 10-months before she died in a fatal Paris car crash” (Independent). This theory, while stronger than the first, doesn’t make sense in a character sense. Diana and Charles, while divorced held a somewhat decent relationship with each other. Charles would not have killed off Diana, especially because he would be allowed to remarry with her still living.
Lastly, another conspiracy theory surrounding her death is a racism fueled plot by the Royal family and its Secret Service. Diana’s friend, Simone Simmons, confided in an inquiry of Diana’s death: “Simmons did claim Diana had been threatened because of her attempts to have landmines banned and had given her a note which read ‘if something happens to me (Security Services) MI5/6 will have done it”’ Diana’s partner, Dodi Fayed, had his father suggest to the inquiry himself that the “couple (was) killed by spies on the orders of Prince Philip, Diana’s former father-in-law” (Reuters). With the new information released from ex-royals Prince Harry and his wife Meghan Markle, this theory holds strong. Markle said there were, “concerns and conversations about how dark his skin might be when he was born,” and that her son, “would not be given the title of prince – and would also be denied security protection” (Time). Diana’s partner, Dodi Fayed was a millionaire of Egyptian descent. This theory makes sense. The royal family is strict in protocols – even outdated ones. As fashion protocols remain outdated, it seems its ideas on race are stuck even further in the past. The Royal Family planned this attack to kill Diana and Dodi so they could go on living their perfect royalty dream. This theory holds the most evidence among the theories.
