Angelica Stone
Final Essay
ENGL 1301.222
Fall 2015
In fairy tales, the princess in distress is often seen as a threat to the throne, was Princess Diana’s death a fairy tale gone wrong? Princess Diana was Princess of Wales while married to Prince Charles. She continued to be one of the most adored members of the British royal family after her divorce in 1996 (Editors). The next year she died in a car crash. Although it was a tragic loss for both the royal family and the country, there are suspicions that there is more to the story of the beloved princess’s death. “I’d like to be a queen of people’s hearts, in people's hearts, but I don’t see myself being Queen of this country. I don’t think many people will want me to be Queen,” (1). Some say her death was fake or the crash was targeted for her new lover at the time Dodi Fayed, but with the quote given, let’s look more into another conspiracy theory where MI6 was claimed to have killed Princess Diana.
Princess Diana was widely know as the ‘People’s Princess’ because of her generosity to the people. She was famous for using her position and power to help those in need and to start and fund many charities. She worked tirelessly for charity and spent much of her final days working on behalf of AIDS and landmine victims (Editors). After finding her second love, Dodi Al-Fayed, it would seem that the Princess may have finally found her happily ever after. She decided to go on a get-away with her new love and her two sons, Princes Williams and Harry, in Paris. But it all ended so quickly in a tragic accident that left the whole world in shock.
Diana had many fine traits that were evident both in public and in private: warmth, sweetness, affection, femininity, grace, sensitivity, reserve, wit, instinctive sympathy, thoughtfulness, kindness, courtesy, exuberance, energy, self-discipline, and courage. "The nice side of her was fresh and unspoiled and almost childlike," said Nicholas Haslam. "Her nature was spontaneous" (Smith). But, Diana also had darker traits that were largely hidden from the world. "Her dark side was that of a wounded trapped animal," noted her friend Rosa Monckton, "and her bright side was that of a luminous being." Diana's inability to see past her intense emotions and her failure to understand consequences often overwhelmed the better part of her nature, harming family and friends and creating misery for herself. As one of her relatives said, "She had a perfectly good character, but her temperament overtook her " (Smith). Could it be her temperament that got her in trouble, causing her death?
But it seems that Diana wasn’t just a women with bad mood swings, it seemed she had a physical illness that was never taken care of. Her unstable temperament had all the markings to the most puzzling psychological disorder: the borderline personality. Characteristics of this disorder are: an unstable self-image; sharp mood swings; fear of rejection and abandonment; an inability to sustain relationships; persistent feelings of loneliness, and emptiness; depression; and impulsive behavior such as binge eating and self-mutilation (NIMH Researchers). Throughout her adult life, Diana experienced these symptoms severely and chronically. In the months before her death, Diana's erratic behavior and anguished outbursts showed that she needed help more than ever, but she was too isolated and tormented to find it (Smith).
Princess Diana had a lot of external conflicts as well. Growing up she had to watch her parent’s marriage rip apart. She also struggled with her marriage with Prince Charles. The publicity took a toll on her and having a third women in the picture made her not only betrayed but alone. She knew Charles had gone back to Camilla "by the change of behavioral pattern in my husband." In that context—from 1986 onward—Diana noted, "there were three of us in this marriage, so it was a bit crowded" (Smith). Allies of the Prince of Wales tried to even the score, circulating a pro-Charles version of events that portrayed Diana as unstable and manipulative. But, he simply couldn't compete with Diana's more endearing qualities of warmth and empathy. Not only did she have to deal with her divorce but she had to read about it everyday in the magazines and newspaper. Her divorce became worldwide news to everyone, and endless questions seemed to never stop.
Princess Diana had a hard time finding herself through being a worldwide celebrity. Every character trait, gesture, action, and utterance was amplified. "She lived in an extreme state," said her friend Cosima Somerset. "There was no normal middle ground" (Smith). But she seemed to finally be content with her life when she introduced her new love, Dodi, to her sons and the world. It seems to be all too convenient to the royal family that Dodi and the People’s Princess died.
In Princess Diana’s tragic death, there were many conspiracy theories that were brought up over the years. The first conspiracy theory says that the princess’s death was faked. She was sick of the constant intrusions into her private life by the media and with the help of Dodi, they arranged a ‘death’ from which she could retreat into a blissful isolation. Bodyguard Trevor Rees- Jones still lives, but testimony from Mercedes auto experts says it would have been almost impossible for anyone to have survived a crash in the tunnel in a car going 121 mph (Honigsbaum). Maybe as driver Henri Paul’s lawyers claim, the car was not going that fast (Honigsbaum). Maybe the crash was faked by the army-trained Rees-Jones who had previously deposited Diana and Dodi elsewhere. Just six hours before she died, Diana let slip to Daily Mail reporter, Richard Kray, that she was about to withdraw completely from public life (Honigsbaum). Many people said that Princess Diana didn’t want the limelight to begin with. "She would either have been a countrywoman, just like her sisters, and dissolved into the atmosphere," said a male friend who knew her from her teenage years (Smith). But, it all comes down to the something she loves more than to live that dream of hers, her sons. Princess Diana loved her kids all too much to just leave.
The second theory was that the accident was targeted for Dodi. Business enemies of Dodi and his father Mohammed Al Fayed assassinate Dodi, with the death of Diana a magnificent cover for their operation. Al Fayed did not make it to the top without making enemies on they way, so there was quite a bit of jealousy. The owner of Harrods fought a bitter battle for the top London store some years ago and has also been denied British nationality after question marks were raised about his business practise (Honigsbaum). Dodi would be an obvious target for anyone wanting to settle a score with Al Fayed. With Diana involved, the police operation is likely to be one of the biggest in Paris history so any assassin would be taking one hell of a risk by cutting the brake cable, say, of Dodi's car (Honigsbaum).
The last conspiracy theory points to MI6 as Diana’s killer. Rogue elements in the British secret service decide that Diana is a threat to the throne. MI6 is suspected of bugging Diana throughout her years in the Royal limelight, and many believe they were behind the leaking of the 'Squidgygate' phone tapping tapes which damaged her image during the break up with Charles (Honigsbaum). Theorists cite the fact Rees-Jones survived the crash as evidence that he was in on the plot to snuff out the Diana threat.
The most likely scenario is that MI6 killed Diana. When suspicions first started, MI5 posted that they do not kill people, MI6 said nothing. It was also spotted on the camera after the wreck that someone had came back to the scene and raised their arms in a X form, symbolizing the government’s sign of mission complete. After the divorce of Diana and Charles, government protection was still offered to Diana, but she refused knowing that they would only snoop. Instead, she was protected by the Al-Fayed security. Having been rejected and having no insight in what her next move was threatening the throne, and extreme moves needed to be made to make sure Diana was not out of control.
On Sunday, August 31, 1997, the world lost a very important person who may have been able to make a tremendous change to our world. Since what happened to Princess Diana came so abruptly it lead to three conspiracy theories:
- She fake her death
- The wreck was set up for Dodi
- She was killed by MI6
It has been 18 years since the accident and the accident remains under suspicion to be set up. The world continues to miss their uncrowned queen, and in this fairy tale, the princess did not get her happily-ever-after.
Work Cited
- Editors. "Princess Diana." Bio.com. A&E Networks Television, n.d. Web. 16 Sept. 2015.
- Honigsbaum, Mark. "Diana and the Tabloids." PBS. PBS, 1995. Web. 28 Oct. 2015.
- NIMH Researchers. "Borderline Personality Disorder." NIMH RSS. National Instisution of Mental Health. Web. 12 Oct. 20154. Smith, Sally Bedell. "Diana in Search of Herself." Nytimes.com. New York Times, 1999. Web. 30 Sept. 2015.
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