05/09/2022
This week marks the twenty fifth anniversary of the death of Diana, Princess of Wales, sometimes known as the “People’s Princess”. We heard many moving tributes to Diana from grass roots media during the week, including some great programming from Grampian Hospital Radio in Aberdeen. 1997 was a tumultuous year politically and culturally, and yet Diana’s death knocked society for six. If you were too young to have been there, you may only know of the outpouring of national grief from footage on the television. It was a very rare moment in British history, and one has to travel back to the nineteenth century to see anything similar in our national life. Diana, referred to as the Queen of Hearts, had touched the life of the nation at a very deep level. A flawed figure, she used her weaknesses to build rapport and compassion and her voice she used to speak for people marginalised and ignored in general discourse. The way she changed the manner in which people living with AIDS were perceived is now legendary. A quarter of a century on, her influence is still being felt, and through her sons, William and Harry, she has arguably done more than any one else to reform the monarchy.
