Diana: The Most Beautiful or Famous Woman of the 20th Century?

[Dman]

I would say- stop trying to put Diana on a pedestal. Yes, I found her to be a very beautiful woman but the most beautiful of the 20th Century? No. Famous? she's on the list historically.

 

[Miss Hathaway]

Her private secretary, Jephson, described her as having a very bad complexion.

Jephson was a strange one. Diana was the most photographed woman in the world. We could all see her complexion and it was lovely.

 

[Mirabel]

Diana was striking but not classically beautiful like Princess Grace!
She didn't really have symmetrical features (nose too big, eyes too small, etc).
She was tall and made an instant impression of style, however.

(I also think Kate is much prettier than Diana ever was).

 

[US Royal Watcher]

She was by no means the most beautiful woman of the world. What a pretension. She arguably was one of the most famous women however. Her fame is however already fading away. When we take as a starting point that a six years old possibly remembers something from the news then anyone under 22 has never really experienced the accident in Paris, leave alone her engagement, wedding, pregnancies, royal life and the War of the Waleses. That last ended in 1992 when Prime Minister Major announced the separation. To have real memories about that, to have seen that on television, someone must already be around thirty. For a lot of youngsters "Diana" does not have that intrinsic load it had back then in the Nineties (which is litterally "in last century").

I am being drawn to this thread against my will. Diana's fame was not fading away at the time of her death. She was still inordinately famous. Virtually everyone in the world knew who she was in 1990s, but virtually everyone knew who Hillary Clinton and the Queen were.

I think the real question is whether she was the most celebrated woman in the world at that time. The reaction to her death indicates that she was. People not only knew who she was, but they felt personally invested in her.

That probably would have slowly changed had she lived. She seemed to be thinking about remarriage and more children, so I think it would have happened before the millennium. There would have been great interest around her wedding and if she had another child, but interest would have faded after that. She would still have her fans and would still have been the ex-wife of a future king and mother of another future king, but interest would have faded as she became older.

 

[Dman]

I am being drawn to this thread against my will. Diana's fame was not fading away at the time of her death. She was still inordinately famous. Virtually everyone in the world knew who she was in 1990s, but virtually everyone knew who Hillary Clinton and the Queen were.

I think the real question is whether she was the most celebrated woman in the world at that time. The reaction to her death indicates that she was. People not only knew who she was, but they felt personally invested in her.

That probably would have slowly changed had she lived. She seemed to be thinking about remarriage and more children, so I think it would have happened before the millennium. There would have been great interest around her wedding and if she had another child, but interest would have faded after that. She would still have her fans and would still have been the ex-wife of a future king and mother of another future king, but interest would have faded as she became older.

I agree, things probably would've changed once she got older but I think Diana would have gone on to do some major things in her life and the spotlight would've stayed on her though.

 

[Queen Camilla]

Pictures that appear in magazines and newspapers are retouched, airbrushed or (now) photoshopped.

Photographs of Queen Alexandra were retouched in early 1900s.

In the 1980s & 1990s no different. Infact, there were probably more airbrushing and retouching going on as the techniques had improved. It was also the beginning of the tabloid wars and the introduction of several magazine and tabloids.

 

[Lee-Z]

A poster in the wedding section said that it was almost impossible to take a bad picture of Princess Diana. Remember Princess Michael's quote about her, "she would look good in a sack," which is usually illustrated with a picture of Princess Diana looking enchanting in a big green raincoat. Even in the pictures of her in childhood, teens, and pre-engagement, she always looked pretty. What is it about her face, eyes, nose, hair, etc. that made her photograph well so consistently?

This is the first post in this thread: i tend to agree with it, i don't remember seeing many (if any) bad pictures of Diana.
I think i read somewhere some time ago that some people have quite flexible faces with loads of different looks and that these people occasionally have bad pictures because they are sort of 'caught' in between two expressions (hope i'm saying it right).
Other people have much less flexibility and are therefore much more often photographed well (Prince Michael of Kent comes to mind)
Imo Diana is one of those people in this last category

For the title: beauty is in the eye of the beholder so i can imagine that Diana is very beautiful to some (even if not for me).
Most famous woman of the 20th century? I'd say no, imo for instance Marilyn Monroe is much more famous/iconic even after death. For royals i'd say QEII is more famous (but maybe that's just me)

 

[Duch_Luver_4ever]

Well beauty and fame are to a certain extent subjective.

As to if she was the most beautiful in the world, that is very much in the eye of the beholder, as far as what you find beautiful in a woman. In my experience women fall into two categories of beauty, ones that are sexually attractive and ones that are cute and adorable, with each possessing a mix of both types, in broad strokes.

Its true that her facial features wern't symmetrical, for example, look at pictures where they flip the negative, where her hair part is on the right vs the left, where it really is, something looks off in them. She didnt have the type of body to be in say Maxim or FHM, or say pose in front of a hot rod.

What she did have in abundance was a total overall package of classical beauty, long and lithe, good posture, etc. As for her face, the magic was like another poster said, she just glowed, and the best explanation I can give of it, was that more of her personality shone through that the average person.

Seeing her in person myself, i can say that the debates over photos, mags and retouching, etc are laughable as she was much more beautiful in person, by a large margin, than in TV or pictures. Also many of her pictures were taken pre-photoshop, and while ppl can go back to those and change them now, i remember all the many books I had in the early 80s of her.

Her "Ace up her sleeve" for me, at least, was that she was so adorable looking, those big blue eyes would just draw you in. She's the only woman I know of where, as a man, that her eyes could keep your attention when her cleavage was on display. She could make you feel like here was this wounded girl that you wanted to care for and make sure she was alright. Also her full lips were ahead of the Julia Roberts/Collagen Injection craze for them, and her smile would just light up like the sun, both great teeth and nice high cheekbones. Even a "defect" like her rosacea was a benefit as it was like natural blush.

Also when you look at drawings, wax figures, coins, etc. they never look right, I think its because a big part of her beauty was something intangible from within coming out.

Her beauty changed over time, the romance and engagement pics are the most adorable, with her being young and at a healthy weight, also the classic "Shy Di" haircut is the best, IMO. Though the rest of the 80s was when most women started to notice her with the "Dynasty Di" look, and while the clothes and jewels were nice, those eyes and smile were all the jewels that were necessary.

She was probably at her least pretty in the early 90s, her " mom" haircut tended to make her look older than her years, and the strain of the marriage coming apart is evident in a lot of pics.

But then, in what I would say is right up with the 80/81 pics are the Testino pics, those that say she wasnt beautiful at the end, need to see those pics again. My thought on those is that more of her inner beauty comes out in those pics,and the marriage was over and a corner turning, so those feelings would come out in the pictures.

Was she the most beautiful in the world, for me, yes. For the rest of my days I will remember the first time seeing her in 1980 on TV, blue sweater and grey skirt, and not believing what I was seeing, that a woman could be so beautiful.

There are millions of women sexy enough to induce a man to bed, but very few that can induce a man to want to drop whatever hes doing and want to care,nurture &protect them. She had that in spades, and yet, its a tragic irony that she could never find that in the suitors she chose.

Thats my take on the subject, but with all respect to the other great beauties mentioned, she was a unique beauty like no other.

 

[Mermaid1962]

She was certainly a dynamite mixture of vulnerability and glamour. I also enjoy the very early pictures of Diana. I've been rereading some of my books about her recently. That period of the early 80s were magical. After Harry's birth, she developed a more heavily made-up, hair-sprayed appearance, which I didn't like as much. The Testino photos stripped all that down again and, in a way, brought her back to her natural appearance. As far as fame, I'm not sure how lasting it will be. The Queen is more of an icon to me, in a literal sense, because her face has been on the money and in government buildings from before I was born.

 

[Duc_et_Pair]

[...] The Testino photos stripped all that down again and, in a way, brought her back to her natural appearance. [...]

Testino and natural appearance? That is a contradictio in terminis. The "natural appearance" was exactly the young Diana with her Sloane Ranger look, with her hanging hair and little maquillage. The Testino Diana was plastered with pancake, a complete tube of hairspray has been sprayed over every piece of hair. Zero "natural appearance" if you ask me.


Look at this Testino picture: so natural that she almost looked someone else!

 

[Curryong]

Diana was certainly one of the most famous women in the world in the 1980's and 90's. The worldwide reaction to her death showed that. THE most famous? I guess to readers of magazines and newspapers at that time she came near it. She is still known, even to people born after her death, so that is certainly a kind of fame, I guess.

As for beauty, I agree it's subjective. Diana herself bewailed the size of her nose at times. I don't think she was classically beautiful but she was glamorous and elegant. I preferred her early looks, myself, when she wasn't so thin. Her eyes were beautiful.

However, with Diana there was also a charisma that drew people to her, a sort of mixture of vulnerability and warmth and charm, and that goes beyond mere beauty in my book.

 

[Mermaid1962]

I think that it's fair to say that Diana was the most famous woman of her time, because her image was so ingrained in popular consciousness. Even people who weren't interested in her would have seen her in news reports and on the covers of magazines. Interest in other public figures and celebrities waxed and waned, but Diana was a constant. She was always good fodder for a picture or a story.

 

[HistoryGirl]

Mother Theresa, Marylin Monroe, Anne Frank, Madonna...difficult to say and could be easily argued, but I don't believe she was no.

 

[Dman]

I think she was a good looking lady.

 

[XeniaCasaraghi]

Mother Theresa wasn't exactly famous she was more revered...and became an ideal. During the time of Diana Madonna was emerging as well and she had more of an impact on popular culture, fashion, trends, and important issues like race, sex, sexuality etc. This was a woman who threw the world in a tizzy when she changed her hair as well.
Anne Frank....I have to think about that one.
I've already said that Marilyn was more beautiful and more famous and unlike Diana she maintains interest and fascination in her decades after she died.
Young Diana was beautiful for sure especially when she was round in the face.

 

[Duch_Luver_4ever]

Mother Theresa wasn't exactly famous she was more revered...and became an ideal. During the time of Diana Madonna was emerging as well and she had more of an impact on popular culture, fashion, trends, and important issues like race, sex, sexuality etc. This was a woman who threw the world in a tizzy when she changed her hair as well.
Anne Frank....I have to think about that one.
I've already said that Marilyn was more beautiful and more famous and unlike Diana she maintains interest and fascination in her decades after she died.
Young Diana was beautiful for sure especially when she was round in the face.

With Madonna id say similar but different areas that they had impact on, if ppl thought the Morton book was a bombshell, just imagine if shed have done a book like Madonnas LOL.

Marilyn had more sex appeal, but Diana always had the ace up her sleeve in the adorable looks dept. Also we're just getting to her second decade passing, so we dont know yet what interest she'll have by however long its been since Marilyn died.

Young Diana was very beautiful with a round face, healthy weight and curves, before so much heartache. But you can see some similarities to those pics in her Halo Trust pictures, especially when she laughs/smiles, also her hair is close to her older, signature style.

 

[HistoryGirl]

I'd say if your name has become part of the common lexicon as a verb, noun, and adjective you're pretty famous. Fame isn't based on what you did, it's about recognition. I think Diana was famous for a good thirty years, but if I were to say that name to a 14 year old now I doubt they'd know who I'm talking about. Whereas the others are lasting icons.

 

[TLLK]

I agree at HistoryGirl and as a teacher who comes into frequent contact with children/teens, it doesn't surprise me that a generation is maturing without knowing the late Princess of Wales.

 

[Curryong]

But would a thirteen or fourteen year old necessarily know who Marilyn Monroe was, either? Even Madonna, important as she was to the generation of young people in the 1980's-90's is much less of an icon than she was twenty years ago.

It's only when we mature a bit and learn a little history and the popular culture of generations older than your own that you learn about such things. Plus, as the mother of a future king Diana is assured of longevity in that sense. She'll be a name in history books in another 200 years.

 

[Lee-Z]

I'd say if your name has become part of the common lexicon as a verb, noun, and adjective you're pretty famous. Fame isn't based on what you did, it's about recognition. I think Diana was famous for a good thirty years, but if I were to say that name to a 14 year old now I doubt they'd know who I'm talking about. Whereas the others are lasting icons.

What surprised me recently was that dutch royalty show "Blauw bloed" referred to her as "Diane" instead of "Diana"; if a royalty minded show can't get it right, we can forget about other people...

 

[Countessmeout]

But would a thirteen or fourteen year old necessarily know who Marilyn Monroe was, either? Even Madonna, important as she was to the generation of young people in the 1980's-90's is much less of an icon than she was twenty years ago.

It's only when we mature a bit and learn a little history and the popular culture of generations older than your own that you learn about such things. Plus, as the mother of a future king Diana is assured of longevity in that sense. She'll be a name in history books in another 200 years.

Yes, but eventually she will be just among the names of the mothers of kings. She wasn't the first and wont be the last. A 100 years from now, maybe even 50, she may be a question on a history test and students will have to try and remember if the answer to 'who was the mother of King William' was a. Diana b. Elizabeth c. Alexandra d. Mary.

A teen wouldn't know the music of their parents???? Seriously Did your parents stop listening to music when they had you? I knew who the Beatles, Eagles. Monkeys and so on were before I started kindergarten. The first music you listen to is that of your parents. That goes for movies and culture as well.

 

[Curryong]

No, I meant that Monroe or Madonna wouldn't necessarily be such icons to young teenagers as they were to their parents. Each generation has its own idols. With Monroe especially, I do feel that her legend has faded somewhat in the last decade or so.

 

[Denville]

Agree about Monroe. And I dont think she was as beautiful as Diana. her looks were based on sex appeal, curves, etc whereas Diana had good bone structure...

 

[Marty91charmed]

Diana was not beautiful according to standards, but it was amzing how she was transformed by clothes and hairstyle. Just a proof of what litlle restyling can do. Plus, sha had a very interesting face, with particular features. I don't know if she was the most beautiful woman of the 20th century, as there were certainly many beautiful common women around that have never been seen, but she was truly remarkable in her outer appeareance.

 

[Curryong]

Truly beautiful women often have some flaw that makes them interesting, I think. For instance Grace Kelly was classically beautiful but had a very strong chin apparently cameramen at MGM would complain that she was difficult to 'light' properly because of this.

Diana's nose was probably her worst feature. I read once that she complained about it and jokingly said she would have to get it 'fixed', but of course never did.

I think the fact that she was tall and slender helped enormously with her fashion choices. Women looked and admired. She was a blonde (with a little help) and just had the most gorgeous eyes. Her face always seemed alive too, when in public. The only time I didn't like her look was when she became extremely thin and had very big hair which seemed dry. Overall though, she was really stunning looking. You couldn't have missed her when she walked in a room!

 

[HistoryGirl]

No, I meant that Monroe or Madonna wouldn't necessarily be such icons to young teenagers as they were to their parents. Each generation has its own idols. With Monroe especially, I do feel that her legend has faded somewhat in the last decade or so.

Her face is on clothes and products for teenagers and young adults so I'd have to disagree there. The beauty aspect is entirely subjective, but for me Marilyn was more beautiful. In fact, I always thought that when she wore heavy makeup it obscured her natural beauty. I think Diana's complexion and eyes were quite pretty, but pther than that she was kinda average for me.

 

[XeniaCasaraghi]

But would a thirteen or fourteen year old necessarily know who Marilyn Monroe was, either? Even Madonna, important as she was to the generation of young people in the 1980's-90's is much less of an icon than she was twenty years ago.

It's only when we mature a bit and learn a little history and the popular culture of generations older than your own that you learn about such things. Plus, as the mother of a future king Diana is assured of longevity in that sense. She'll be a name in history books in another 200 years.

I knew who Marilyn was at 10, I knew who Elvis was at 5 ( though I didn't know why) and I knew who The Beatles were at 7 though I hadn't heard their music yet. Marilyn became an icon the moment she died and has only grown since then. Just recently there was another documentary about her with current Hollywood stars reading her letters.
As has been stated her image is on clothes for teenagers and the image of her with the white dress flying up has become ingrained in the cultures psyche.
I would say Diana is more on a level with Jackie Kennedy and their legacies are more comparable; but not with Monroe.
As for beauty, I'll say it again Diana wasn't even the most beautiful Princess of the 20th century let alone the most beautiful woman. People are forgetting Elizabeth, Audrey, Paola, Grace etc.

 

[Curryong]

Younger people may know them but would you say that the Beatles and their music are as popular today as they were forty/fifty years ago, especially with teenagers? As I said in a follow-up post, every generation has its own idols.

I come from a generation that remembers Diana and I'm among those women who identified with her, especially in her troubles. Naturally others who are younger or had different experiences don't feel that.

All beautiful women have a flaw or flaws. It makes them more relatable. I'm not among those who believe that (going back to the title of this thread) Diana was the greatest beauty of her time or all time. She could look stunning though, had lovely eyes, bone structure and complexion, and nice hair. Her face showed her emotions and was intensely alive. That added to her attraction.

Between the 1980s and 90s I do think Diana was the most famous woman on earth. She was known everywhere, her face adorned countless newspapers and magazines, overseas as well as in Europe and the US, and she could hardly venture out without being recognised and pursued by photographers. That's a level of fame few achieve.

 

[HistoryGirl]

I knew who Marilyn was at 10, I knew who Elvis was at 5 ( though I didn't know why) and I knew who The Beatles were at 7 though I hadn't heard their music yet. Marilyn became an icon the moment she died and has only grown since then. Just recently there was another documentary about her with current Hollywood stars reading her letters.
As has been stated her image is on clothes for teenagers and the image of her with the white dress flying up has become ingrained in the cultures psyche.
I would say Diana is more on a level with Jackie Kennedy and their legacies are more comparable; but not with Monroe.
As for beauty, I'll say it again Diana wasn't even the most beautiful Princess of the 20th century let alone the most beautiful woman. People are forgetting Elizabeth, Audrey, Paola, Grace etc.

Absolutely. That image is probably one of the most famous of all time. I don't know anyone that wouldn't know who she was. One of my best friends is obsessed with her and she's 21. I think Elvis, Marilyn, and the Beatles are on another stratosphere of fame to be honest. I think Diana was famous for a bit, but later dwindled as most people do. Those stars remain part of pop culture to this day. Nowadays being 'retro' is thought of as 'cool' so I think Marilyn has had an even bigger resurgence.

 

[Curryong]

Maybe it's more a US thing. Here in Australia I haven't heard MM mentioned by anyone of any age for years, (probably well over a decade,) and among my British relatives and friends, yes she's known, but imitated, idolised, regularly coming into the conversation of young people, (Gens Y and Z) no.