Stephen Pollard • Empty, shallow waters. So right for Diana. (The Times)

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July	07
2004

Empty, shallow waters. So right for Diana. (The Times)

» Posted on July 7, 2004 02:46 AM » Category: The way we live

For some inexplicable reason, the Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fountain has been condemned by some as inappropriate. Diana’s late mother, Frances Shand Kydd, for instance, criticised the construction as having a “lack of grandeur”.

It is hard, however, to imagine a more fitting tribute to Diana than a lump of glorified concrete. There are few more shaming indictments of the British disregard of intellect in favour of emotion than the cult of Diana. A fountain through which water flows endlessly, going nowhere except round and round, perfectly reflects our nation’s reverence for style over substance on which the entire Diana-worshipping edifice is built.

Whatever Diana’s merits — her demonstration that Aids victims should not be treated as pariahs and her campaign against land mines, for instance — they were dwarfed by the deleterious effects of her behaviour.

In life, Diana would have been an unremarkable woman but for happening to marry into the Royal Family. Had she not been a clothes horse with an attractive visage, her charitable deeds, which were mere interruptions to the rest of her showbiz life, would have barely been noticed. The Princess Royal, for instance, has done no less charitable work, as have almost all the Royal Family. We do not salute them for it; we expect it of them. That is what they are paid — more than generously — to do. There are hundreds of thousands of men and women across the country whose lives are dedicated to good deeds, with no publicity and no reward other than the deed itself.

Revering Diana for her charitable work is a canard. The real reason she is worshipped is far more pernicious. It is the combination of her banality and instability — a combination which has had a deeply damaging impact on public manners.

Had Diana chosen to use her celebrity to patronise genuine artists, writers and scientists, then her fame might have served some useful purpose. Instead, she chose to associate with fashion designers and pop stars. When she did patronise genuine artists, such as Pavarotti, she did so only when they were prostituting their talent in quasi-pop concerts.

But then she would never have had her celebrity in the first place if she had not associated with such people. Had she promoted those with worthwhile talents whose names did not grace the catwalks or the pop charts, she would have been ignored.

Her banal cultural pursuits were the very point of Diana. In her, the country saw itself reflected, but with added glamour. She was adored precisely because, fundamentally, she was so ordinary in her taste.

Had that been all, her memory would have disappeared soon after her death. What transformed her legacy from the forgettable to the damaging, however, is that she let loose a hitherto buried predisposition for public emoting. Diana was regarded as an icon. By refusing to keep her emotional problems to herself and instead parading them in front of the nation, she implied — nay, screamed — that such behaviour was not merely permissible but required. Instead of keeping emotions under wraps in consideration of the impact their release might have on others, we were now to think only of the impact on ourselves. If we wanted to cry, we should cry.

This reached its apogee in the orgy of public emoting prompted by her death, when quiet dignity was ditched by those who felt that, to commune properly with her spirit and to pay her proper respects, they too needed to behave without the slightest regard for the feelings of their neighbours.

That genie is now out of the bottle — as yesterday’s commemoration shows. Instead of celebrating her legacy, we would have done far better to bury it.

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Comments

"Instead of celebrating her legacy, we would have done far better to bury it."

Absolutely right, Stephen. What is clearly required is a return to the stiff upper lip and a proper sense of deference to our lords and masters. Things haven't been the same since we stopped singing "I vow to thee my country." And our footballers and their supporters are now no better than those continental namby-pambies - all that public emoting and tears in Euro 2004. Not at all the right sort of behaviour. That's what happens when the oiks take over the asylum.

And with Diana out of the way it's good to see that the Royals' fashion sense has reverted to the grotesque frumpiness that has always been their trademark.

If the Prince of Wales wants to keep a mistress in spite of his sacred marriage vows taken before a couple of billion people, then he damn well should. Noblesse, after all, doesn't oblige. Never has done and never will.

Stated by: Bob Doney on July 6, 2004 11:45 PM

.... mind you, I think at £3.6 mil the committee have been stitched up. Paddy Murphy, our local groundworker, would have laid a nice ring of open sewage pipes for a fraction of that. And thrown in a few pebbles for good measure.

Stated by: Bob Doney on July 6, 2004 11:54 PM

Briliant stuff - a good antedote to gloopy sentimentality. I think, though, that things aren't really as bad as Mr Pollard thinks. I've posted some thoughts at http://inquisitorblog.blogspot.com/2004/07/diana-myth.html (or just click on my name below)

Stated by: Inquisitor on July 7, 2004 10:53 AM

Diana was a slapper who just happened to be married to Prince Charles. Celebrating her and idolising her makes about as much sense as looking to Kurt Cobain as a role model.

Great piece Stephen...

Stated by: Andrew Ian Dodge on July 7, 2004 1:03 PM

Of course the idolisation of Diana is ridiculous, and I agree with Stephen. But I find the word "slapper" offensive, not because it's used about Diana, but because it's one of those words - like "nag" - that are used to put women down. What does it mean - that she was promiscuous? So what is the male equivalent? Is there one?

Stated by: ilana on July 7, 2004 3:55 PM

After removing the irony from Bob Doney's comment, I agree with all of it!

Stated by: David Duff on July 7, 2004 4:24 PM

Ilanna. No. A slapper is not necessarily a slut.Slappers may not even put out! A slapper is an ugly woman who dresses like a slut in tank tops a few sizes too small for her, and gets raging drunk at weekends; also a predeliction for orange makeup or fake tan is common.

good looking sluts are not slappers.

by the way, the common male equivalent of slut, is slut. Somteimes ironic. Guys are generally not called slappers yet, though a beer bellied friend of mine, who wears shorts always, takes the insult when displaying too much flesh in a too short tee-shirt.

( I merely here, report what I hear on the street. i am as appalled by this language as all of you)

Stated by: eoin on July 7, 2004 5:11 PM

I read this article on the train to London - now _that_ was a column _worthy_ of Thunderer.

Provcative, powerful and reasoned. Nice work, it was most welcomed as my eye vaulted away from Simon Jenkins' piece (lest I catch more than 3 words and re-live my earlier breakfasting) and landed on the title.

Stated by: Johnlouis Swaine on July 7, 2004 5:55 PM

I never could understand that "Peoples Princess" rubbish. I think that Diana was in life a very shallow person.

Stated by: Joel on July 7, 2004 7:51 PM

You Brits were not alone in the Diana funeral orgy - hordes of people on this side of the pond made fools of themselves over the death of the lady. I'm convinced that the whoe thing was a conspiracy organized by the florists of Britain and America who saw their chance and took it. Otherwise De mortuis nil nisi bonum.

Stated by: Phil Brennan on July 7, 2004 8:30 PM

Number of people attending the Diana memorial opening: 1000
Number of people watching F1 cars driving around West End: 500,000 Case closed. Nobody gives a toss about that woman anymore (with the exception of magazine editors). Nice post though.

Stated by: mike on July 7, 2004 9:39 PM

I thought she was kind of cute, and far less objectionable than her hubby and sister-in-law.

Stated by: well on July 7, 2004 10:15 PM

Diana reacted hysterically to a situation which, had she known how to play it better, was not after all unbearable. It offered her unlimited scope. Instead she careered off down a dead end. Like her mother. The Windsors met their match! And in all this never a word about poor, dear Princess Margaret.

Stated by: Martin O'Hara on July 8, 2004 5:03 AM

I was saddened at her death, mainly on account of her two sons, whom she obviously adored. She courted the press and in the end the whole cult of her personality became a bore. Sadly, she had to take responsibility for some of our current obsession with celebrities and the elevation of often meretricious folk over those with genuine substance.

For all my dislike of the celeb culture, though, I cannot bring myself to slag off the lady now that she has gone. As a poster above comments, most people nowadays do not care. Time to move on and leave Princess Di in peace.

Stated by: Johnathan Pearce on July 8, 2004 8:54 AM

Yes the word slut is refereshingly non-gender specific.

Stated by: Andrew Ian Dodge on July 8, 2004 2:06 PM

Is there an equivalent term for "slut" that can be assigned to males? Apparently so. This nettlesome issue surfaced this past summer in a conversation I had with a lady friend.

The word is "player." It is used here in Canada and the US. There ya go. Beauty, eh?

James in British Columbia

Stated by: James Marshall on December 27, 2004 11:07 PM

Diana was a low IQ slut, tart, and maybe a slapper too!. Nothing in life is free. Getting hitched to charlie brought lots of nice things......but the price to pay is to be a nice little princess for the rest of your natural existence. Extra-marital dalliances are acceptable at the strata of royal society. Making a big stink about them is definitely not acceptable behaviour. Her royal obligation was to do the land mine/AIDS thingy, have all the *private* affairs she could handle, and put on a good professional front when in public. She violated the *oblige* part of the *noblesse* contract. Her post Charlie years had more in common with the Pamela Anderson/Paris Hilton genre. Sorry you died, sorry for your family, impressive at how gullible john Q public is. BTW, your fountain is getting stinky again.

Ex pat in New Hampshire.

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