Skydragon said:
None of them are 'legends'.
Legendary means a famous person who exists only in legend.
Legend is a traditional story or myth.
ysbel said:
I think the public has to have a need to create a legend around somebody before they become a legend...
...I also think the creation of a legend requires that people suspend disbelief and accept a bit of fantasy but the public has to be in the right mood for that. Legends don't hold up too well to close scrutiny of the facts. I'm not sure whether the world is ready to create a new legend nowadays.
I think it was my fault on not making clear my observation.
I used a
quote of a favorite movie of mine I recently saw again on DVD, The Lion in Winter to describe the ladies above. To be more precise
I even found the script online and review it but my use of the "woman out of legend" quote deserves a little explanation since it was misunderstood.
By legend I was not refering to fables or myth more more in the sense of what is described as methaphor in the movie itself. The movie, The Lion in Winter, was a brilliantly written play based on the fascinating life of Queen Leonor (of Aquitaine) of England and before that France. Married to King Henry, the one who disposed of Thomas Becket. The play's lines are full of wit and wisdom. Every line tied to another one, every response has an ever more significant reply to it. The part that I remember fondly that, for me applies to these modern time ladies is when the King, played by Peter O'Toole, ponders on how he will be remembered by future generations:
My life, when it is written, will read better than it lived.
Henry...first plantagenet, a king at the ablest soldier of an able time.
He led men well, he cared for justice when he could...and ruled, for years, a state as great as Charlemagne's.
He married out of love a woman out of legend. Not in Alexandria or Rome or Camelot has there been such a queen.
If you get the chance to get to see the movie you will see the content to which I apply to these ladies. Years from now, maybe when we are all gone and other generations study the past where we live in today, people like Diana, Grace, Jackie, Soraya and even Farah would be remembered as one of a kind individuals whose loves and lives became some part of other people's lives. They did not affect us personally but each trigger a public feeling you don't get from so many other celebrities. They will be legendary for their unique beauty as well as for their deeds, and for the way they ended.
And for the late Princess Diana, that quote applies perfectly but with a very sad twist: She married out of love, became a woman of legend and not anywhere has there been such a Princess.