Diana's Speeches and Quotes

[kimebear]

I don't know about most famous, but the one that her detractors always liked to throw back at her was "I'm thick as a plank". Which certainly was not true.

 

[Warren]

I don't know about most famous, but the one that her detractors always liked to throw back at her was "I'm thick as a plank". Which certainly was not true.

That's common with many self-deprecating comments. Written down on a page they lose their tone and humour, then get thrown back as a pejorative. The quick quip may go down well at the time, but the danger is that it will hang around for years to be brought up regularly as a put-down.

 

[sassie]

You really are stooping low when you resort to name-calling!

Personally I always found Diana rather vapid and didn't think she had an original thought in her head.

The quote was in context with how tall her sons were getting. Harry asked her if she thought he would be tall, too, and she said that she thought so, that height was a Spencer gene, and that the Windsors were PORG's. She wasn't name calling, just stating a fact with a harmless attempt at humor.

The Windsor's are, on the average, short. The Spencer's are, on the average, tall. That's all she said.

 

[Duchess]

i love these. diana had such a wonderful sense of humour!

 

[msleiman]

I really do not understand why so many people dislike a person that they have NEVER knew. You may read alot about that person or see them on TV, or even see them in person but you really do not know anything about them. I have watched Diana via tv, magazines, but to think that in some way that I know her is just crazy. I wish that people would not put down that dead!

Just so that I am not topic - I think that Diana did have way with the public and her humour tells us that!!!!!

 

[Duchess]

I really do not understand why so many people dislike a person that they have NEVER knew. You may read alot about that person or see them on TV, or even see them in person but you really do not know anything about them. I have watched Diana via tv, magazines, but to think that in some way that I know her is just crazy. I wish that people would not put down that dead!

Just so that I am not topic - I think that Diana did have way with the public and her humour tells us that!!!!!

no disrepect intended msleiman, but i'm sure i'm not alone when i ask why you think we're putting her down?? none of here have made any claims to know her. we come here because we enjoy talking about her and sharing our opinion of her. if you misinterpreted any post here to mean that we know her then that's something you need to clarify.

 

[Lovelydiana]

I was just wondering if their are any copies of the speech she made when she recieved the Humanitarian award she was seen with Henry kissinger and Colin Powell.

 

[CasiraghiTrio]

The speech about the mental health problems and tranquilizers is fascinating. I actually didn't know so much of that.
Do you know who the audience for that speech was? Was it a conference of the Turning Point charity?

 

[ortiz]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UAvvM12eMQM&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QqNI9aRUb3k

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XtE8HTdC2jA&feature=related

 

[georgiea]

Nice to see these speeches.

Once she got over her shyness, Diana, Princess of Wales was a very good speaker. The very essence of dedication to problems very dear to her or that she personally experienced.

BTW she also looked good.

 

[Mermaid1962]

This is one speech that makes me uncomfortable when I watch it. Diana had the strangest expression on her face when she started it--kind of a cross between a smile and a snarl.

Speech given by Diana, Princess of Wales on "Eating Disorders"
27th April 1993

I have it, on very good authority, that the quest for perfection our society demands can leave the individual gasping for breath at every turn.

 

[georgiea]

This is one speech that makes me uncomfortable when I watch it. Diana had the strangest expression on her face when she started it--kind of a cross between a smile and a snarl.

I always thought that strange expression was because the speech was a hard topic for her to talk about in public. (It was well know that she suffered from bulimia.)

 

[Mermaid1962]

Could be.

I always thought that strange expression was because the speech was a hard topic for her to talk about in public.

 

[ortiz]

She really was a wonderful speaker and I've noticed that she never appeared haughty or condescending as some other aristocrats/royals can sound at times.

 

[gfg02]

Some Diana's Speeches

Diana Speeches - Princess Diana Remembered

 

[roseroyal]

Funny Diana quotes

Asked by a child where she kept her tiara Diana replied " In the trunk of my car."

Teasing Charles about being eccentric by talking to plants, she said" Are the raspberry bushes getting the full benefit of your wisdom today?"

Asked why she bought a German car she replied, " Better than a German husband."

 

[Daria_S]

There's nothing like some good deadpanning. She had quite a sense of humor. Thank you for sharing .

 

[roseroyal]

Diana quotes cont.
When hearing that her friend's husband needed heart surgery, Diana wrote him a get well soon letter that said" So sorry to hear that your heart is misbehaving!".

 

[Mermaid1962]

It's not very lady-like to put down one's husband in public.

Asked why she bought a German car she replied, " Better than a German husband."

 

[sirhon11234]

It's not very lady-like to put down one's husband in public.

It was just a joke she probably wasn't serious or said it with a stone face. Prince Phillip has made very crass and borderline prejudice jokes in public. Everyone has different senses of humor.

 

[roseroyal]

That joke about the German car was made in private at lunch with a friend at KP.

 

[Mermaid1962]

Some in the British aristocracy look down on the Royal Family because they have German ancestry (actually, so do the English--ever heard of the Saxons?). So I see her comment as being a particularly nasty slight against Prince Charles because of his ancestry. Diana was known to refer to the Royal Family as "the Germans." That's the context of my reaction, and I stand by it. However, to each her own.

 

[sirhon11234]

Here is a birthday card she gave to her chef
Princess Diana Frances

 

[IloveCP]

"Being a princess is not what's it's cracked up yo be".

 

[anbrida]

The following is an extract from the infamous Squidgygate. In a retrospect, it is so poignant and true.

DIANA: "Ummm. Fergie said to me, today, that she had lunch with Nigel Havers, the other day, 'and all he could talk about, was you.'; and I said, 'Oh, Fergie, how awful for you,' and she said, 'Don't worry, it's the admiration club.' A lot of people talk to her about me, which she can't help."

GILBEY: "I tell you, Darling, she's desperate to hang onto your coattails."

DIANA: "Well, she can't."

GILBEY: "No, she absolutely can't. Now, you have to make that quite clear......"

DIANA: "If you want to be like me, you have got to suffer."

GILBEY: "Oh, Squidgey!!"

DIANA: "Yeah; you have to; and then, you get what you ..........?"

GILBEY: "Get what you want."

DIANA: "No; get what you deserve, perhaps."

 

[anbrida]

A very unexpected speech when Diana attended a London charity event in 1993.

"Ladies and gentleman, I was supposed to have my head down the loo (toilet) for most of the day. I'm supposed to be dragged off the minute I leave here by men in white coats. (But) if it's all right with you, I thought I might postpone my nervous breakdown to a more appropriate moment."

Actually, I found it amazing that Diana was always able to postpone her nervous breakdown to a more private moment to save all those embarrassments supposed to be.

So lucky the Britain was, considering she was thought to be so emotional unstable and unpredictable, Diana had had never such a breakdown during her dozen of oversea trips on behalf of Britain. Save Britain so many potential disgraces.

However, more admiration should go to the courtiers in the palace, bearing in mind that she was so unstable, they still had the guts to let her go out to represent Britain so many times. Were they dancing on the blade?

 

[Tudur rose]

Just a point here . I can tell from reading your replies that some of you really do not understand the British sense of humour . Especially the humour of the upper classes who can be completely hilarious and live teasing each other . We Brits love a bit of self depreciating humour and put downs for family members and friends are always done affectionately and received with a burst of laughter .

 

[anbrida]

I don't think Diana's words was a mere self-depreciation. It was also a fightback to those claims that she was emotionally VERY unstable and unpreditable. That is why she said "I thought I might postpone my nervous breakdown to a more appropriate moment." If she was really that unstable and unpreditable, in no way she was able to control WHEN and WHERE her nervous breakdown should take place.

In my previous post I just used some sarcastic comments to point out the illogicalness of those "unstable and unpreditable" claims. Especially, if those courtiers in the palace did not trust Diana's self-control on her emotion, in no way they would have allowed her so many official oversea visits. Take the comparison to the Crown Princess Masako of Japan for example, because her mentally illness, Japanese royal family have seldom allowed her foreign visits since 2002.

I think main issue of her, more than her mental problem, is that she was too much spoiled through her whole life. A lot of her excessive behaviors looked exactly a very spoiled kid to me.

 

[US Royal Watcher]

Anbrida, Princess Diana admitted to throwing herself down a flight of stairs. Stable people do not do things like that. It is remarkable that Diana was able to publicly joke about her mental illness--which is a medical condition, not an insult--and continue to make public appearances on behalf of charities. Tragically, she was suffering behind the scenes. Not every mentally ill person is completely out-of-control. Diana found that she could control her actions and her persona in public, but she often exploded in private.

I remember her public speech about bulimia. She was truly trying to address it in her own life and help others at the same time. If you haven't already, you may want to check out the eating disorder thread on this forum for discussions on how her mental illness affected both her private and public behavior. Many of the people on this board have added to my understanding about her disease.

 

[anbrida]

I've never denied she had some mental illness problems. Did my post make you feel like that? My post just address her emontional unstable and unpreditable issue.

I will put my thought on the thread you mentioned. This thread is for the quotes and speeches of Diana. I don't want to be off-topic too often.