The Late Diana, Princess of Wales News & Questions Thread 8: June 2008- 2020


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Michael Shea, the Queen's press secretary from 1978 to 1987 has died. Some obituaries have concentrated on his dealings with Diana and some on his role in inadvertently revealing the Queen's view of Margaret Thatcher. This extract from the Telegraph.co.uk relates to Diana when she first joined "The Firm"...

Shea's watch at Buckingham Palace could hardly have been more eventful, in view of the fact that it encompassed the romance, engagement, and wedding of the Prince of Wales and Lady Diana Spencer, all of which was accompanied by a media frenzy.

The Princess was later to complain that, as a 19-year-old ingénue, she had been left by the Palace to sink or swim ("I couldn't believe how cold everyone was"), but Shea insisted: "It has been said many times that she was not trained, shown the ropes, nor told what to expect when she first came to Buckingham Palace in 1981. This is simply not true. We took her to newspaper offices and television newsrooms and arranged that she even listened in, or, on occasion, actually answered journalists' questions anonymously by sitting in the Palace Press Office and taking calls. We rehearsed her early speeches and her answers to formal interview questions."
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Even now, do you really think Diana fans will believe the truth, that Diana was given help and training in her job, in the same way they do not want to believe that Charles' friends welcomed her into their set. The truth rarely makes a good story.:flowers:
 
:previous:
People will choose to believe what they want to believe.
The best anyone can do is to put the facts, or sources, in the Forums for the record.
 
Diana herself said during the 1985 interview with Alastair Burnet that she had received a lot of help when she was new to the "job." I have Michael Shea's book, and he says the same thing there.
 
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That is a bit over the top.

Long before Diana was even on the scene my mother said that she wanted "My Way" at her funeral and we had no problem having it played. We also had her three favourite hymns and the service was very much a tribute to Mum but I simply wouldn't have felt that I had done the right thing for her funeral without 'My Way' and a church funeral. It was just so 'Mum'.

To put the blame for people wanting songs like that on Diana is unfair, in my opinion.
 
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An Anglican minister I know said that people were saying that they'd like to have a funeral "like Diana's". He's a very conservative Anglican, and I don't think that the idea went over with him very well.:lol:
 
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Sounds like some vicar wanted media attention. Maybe he should concentrate on good works and prayer as opposed to self-aggrandizement.
 
A comic book, portraying the life of princess Diana, has been branded “disgusting” for carrying graphic illustrations of the Paris tunnel
where she was killed in a car crash in 1997, and her sons grieving at her funeral.

Margaret Funnell, co-founder of the Diana Circle UK, a group dedicated to her memory, said, “It’s disgusting. Their feeble excuse is that they wanted to show the young people of America her life. They could have done it with lovely stories. They didn’t need to stoop to this.”

UK finds Di comic 'disgusting' - UK - World - The Times of India
 
The Diana Circle is known to be radically pro-Diana, is it not? Whether they think it disgusting or not, that was Diana's life. I don't think that the "comic book" was intended to be a fan-magazine.
 
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German? I thought they were Scotch, at least that's what the Duchess of Kent said. . . .:whistling:
 
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The only Scottish, and that's dubious, was the Queen Mother.

Look at Prince Philip. The child of a Battenberg and Sondersburg-Glucksburg, raised partially in Germany.

And Elizabeth Windsor aka Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. The Windsors attempted to make themselves British after the outbreak of World War I.

Sounds pretty German to me!

I did some more research on this point about the Queen Mother. Of her great-great-great-grandparents, 49 of 64 have been identified. And only one, the 8th Earl of Strathmore and Kinghorne, was Scottish. Although she may have identified herself as being Scottish, it's questionable.
 
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This sounds like Diana had a bit of xenophobia. The British people as a whole are made up of a mixmash of nationalities--Saxon, Norman, Celt, Scandinavian, etc.
The Royal Family certainly have considered themselves British for generations. The last truly German monarch was George 1.
My opinion is that Diana tried to make herself distinct from the Royal Family: she was "English" as opposed to the "Germans." She was saying, in effect, "You and I, Julius, we're alike."
 
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Wasn't the late Princess Margaret born in Scotland?
 
Yes, Margaret was born at Glamis Castle, one of the residences of the Bowes-Lyon family. But the Queen Mother might not have been born in Scotland, there seems to be some question as to where she was born.
 
The authors put quotes from Diana to sell more books.
They should let her rest in peace.
 
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Its one of the most ridiculous statements I have heard in a while.

I mean, how long are they going to call the British Royal Family German. And by all means, this is not an insult to the German people. But since George III, I believe all British monarchs were born in Britian. So that would in effect make them British right? Or am I thinking like an American, where parents of Spanish, Italian, German, etc can have a child born in American and that child is American.
 
I fail to understand why the pundits of the press repeatedly refer to her German ancestry as something to be made fun of. So, H.M has German heritage...so what? Millions of people around the world are a hodge podge of mixed ancestry. It's such a moot point, really - we are all nationals of the countries we personally hold dear. Confusing "nationality" with "ancestry" seems to be a particular failing of those press pundits.

I'm thinking along the same lines - to me, the Queen is British. She was born in Britain, and she's devoted her life in service to the people of the United Kingdom-"British" is something she has earned.

Thought people might be interested in this thread to do with the Royal Family and German ancestry!

Prince Charles and his siblings :

Father - Prince Philip:
Prince Philip's father was Prince Andrew of Greece and Denmark whose parents were King George I of Greece and Queen Olga (nee Grand Duchess Olga Konstantinevna of Russia)
King George I of Greece was born Prince William of Denmark - his parents were King Christian IX and Queen Louise of Denmark .. King Christian was born Prince Christian of Schleswig-Holsetin-Sonderburg-Glucksburg - German .. Queen Louise was Princess Louise of Hesse-Cassel - German

Mother of Prince Philip:
Princess Andrew of Greece and Denmark (nee Princess Alice of Battenberg -
Father of Princess Alice - Prince Louis of Battenberg ... Mother of Princess Alice - Princess Victoria Alberta of Hesse-Darmstadt (daughter of Grand Duke Ludwig of Hesse-Darmstadt and Princess Alice of Great Britain and Ireland (daughter of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert) ... very German

Queen Elizabeth II
Father - King George VI
Mother - Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon (Scots)

King George VI
Father - King George V
Mother - Princess Victoria Mary of Teck (morganatic branch line of the German House of Wurttemberg) - German

King George V
Father - King Edward VII
Mother - Princess Alexandra of Denmark (daughter of the above mentioned King Christian IX and Queen Louise)

King Edward VII
Father - Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha
Mother - Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom and Ireland

Queen Victoria
Father - Edward, Duke of Kent
Mother - Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saafelfd

Edward, Duke of Kent:
Father - King George III
Mother - Princess Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Schwerin

... so you can see the British Royal Family was basically German as the Danish Royal Family of the current Royal House of Denmark was founded by two Germans - Prince Christian of Schleswig-Holsetin-Sonderburg-Glucksburg and Princess Louise of Hesse-Cassel

The late Queen Mother brought some Scots blood into the Royal House and the late Diana, Princess of Wales some English.

Queen Elizabeth II is only half British.
 
I always love the comment Philip allegedly made when he and the Queen moved into Windsor Castle in 1952.

One of the retainers there was telling Philip how wonderful Windsor was and how much he would enjoy living there and how many great people had been born there etc - Philip replied 'Yes I know my mother was born here' (along with his maternal grandmother). Something even the Queen can't claim as her royal ancestors weren't that recently born at Windsor.

So Philip born in Greece has a mother born in Britain at the most British of royal homes - Windsor Castle.

When going back through the Queen and Philip's ancestry it is easier to list the main line (the kings/queens) who were not born in Britain than those who were.
 
I hope the respite centre will be saved. And George Benson's tribute song is beautiful.
 
As an interior designer, I'm thrilled that Princess Diana likes fung shui....she was truly complex and amazing, imo.
 
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