Princess Diana: ‘Dauntingly Phenomenal’

She was amazingly beautiful; the most-talked about; allegedly the most photographed; she was, also, perhaps the most misunderstood Princess. For most, it probably couldn't get any better than this: being a ‘Royal’ and even maybe a Queen some day. Their wedding was a fairy-tale. Atleast, that’s how it was portrayed in the media. The whole ceremony was televised and there were hundreds of thousands of people on the streets of London that day, and pretty much the same is expected tomorrow for Prince William and Kate Middleton’s D-day. But, I mean that not normal, right? Every little, minute detail was up for grabs in the 1981 Royal wedding, the bride is wearing what, who’s designed it, which carriage is she coming in in, the bouquet of flowers in her hands, the bridesmaids, the train (25 feet!!!); come on, so much media attention, its got to catch up with you. On the day, Lady Diana did look like a princess but all that everyone can think of telling now in hindsight (and before the Will-Kate wedding, of course) is: Why is she so sad??? If you knew she was so sad, why would say that the wedding was a fairy-tale and that the bride really looked like a princess. I thought she looked lovely, not at all sad; she was looking like any 20-year-old would if she was going to marry a Prince; she messed up with the name, held the hand of her to-be-husband in the middle of hymns with the whole of 3500 people audience looking at them at the altar, that doesn't reflect as someone who is sad.

People have the tendency to claim that things were looking bad after they actually have turned bad. But that’s the way people are, and that can’t be helped.

I think it is a big responsibility to get married. It is a huge thing. And doing service to the people, is always met with dissatisfaction. Whether queen or housewife, really.

“When no one listens to you, or you feel no one's listening to you, all sorts of things start to happen. For instance you have so much pain inside yourself that you try and hurt yourself on the outside because you want help, but it's the wrong help you're asking for. People see it as crying wolf or attention-seeking, and they think because you're in the media all the time you've got enough attention, inverted commas. But I was actually crying out because I wanted to get better in order to go forward and continue my duty and my role as wife, mother, Princess of Wales. So yes, I did inflict upon myself. I didn't like myself, I was ashamed because I couldn't cope with the pressures”

I think this is true about pressure. Lots of people tell, ‘cope up with the pressure; become stronger, there is no other way to deal with this.’ And you know what; I don’t think it’s about that. I mean I feel is more about the after-math of the handling pressure than the actual handling the pressure bit. It’s about how you deal with dealing with pressure.

I think she was a great and good person. Maybe where she went wrong was the manner in which she handled the lack of care or love that was always displayed to her. But to say that she didn’t handle the pressures well enough is wrong, I mean, she did she was told, she didn’t do what she was told not to do, and in the middle of it all, made quite a few sacrifices; but even after all that, she was not shown the care and love that she yearned for. And I think that is where she is like the rest of us; very lucky are those people who are loved and cared and that must always be cherished.