Polly
Courtier
- Joined
- Jan 30, 2006
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From certain memory, it didn't seem to me that Diana's popularity had diminished so very much, given the overwhelming public reaction to her death and funeral.
Whatever Diana might or might not have been, and I'm quite aware of her many faults and shortcomings, it is too ungenerous, in my view, to be disdainful towards the very real good which she did accomplish in life.
Stephen Lee, director of Britain's Institute of Charity Fundraising Managers,said '(Diana's) overall effect on charity is probably more significant than any other person's in the 20th century.' (Hubbard et al, 1998).
At the time of her death, Diana was the official patron of Royal Marsden NHS Trust (a cancer fund); Greater Ormond Street Children's Hospital, London; the National AIDS Trust (an umbrella group for a wide array of AIDS causes in the UK); The Leprosy Mission, the English National Ballet, and Centerpoint Soho (which provides services to homeless youth). She was also closely associated with the British Red Cross, indeed, the International Red Cross' Anti-Personnel Land Mines Campaign.
I have a photo of Diana in Bosnia with the Landmines Survivor Network in August, 2007, not long before her demise. She was working, in the August holiday-month, almost to the end.
In 1998, Robin Smith, the Foreign Secretary, introduced the second reading of the Landmines Bill 1998 to the House of Commons, thus:
"All Honourable Members will be aware from their postbags of the immense contribution made by Diana, Princess of Wales to bringing home to many of our constituents the human costs of landmines. The best way in which to record our appreciation of her work, and the work of NGO's that have campaigned against landmines, is to pass the Bill, and to pave the way towards a global ban on landmines."
Which, arguably, it did!
In 2001, Bill Clinton said:
"In 1987, when so many still believed that AIDS could be contracted through casual contact, Princess Diana sat on the sickbed of a man with AIDS and held his hand. She showed the world that people with AIDS deserve no isolation, but compassion and kindness. It helped change world's opinion, and gave hope to people with AIDS."
Diana's dignity has been torn to shreds, publicly, in recent times, when it was not possible for her to utter even the tiniest squeak in retort or defend herself or reputation. I believe that we might now justifiably permit her memory to embrace her very real accomplishments, if not for her then for the sake of her sons, and let that be an end to it.
Whatever Diana might or might not have been, and I'm quite aware of her many faults and shortcomings, it is too ungenerous, in my view, to be disdainful towards the very real good which she did accomplish in life.
Stephen Lee, director of Britain's Institute of Charity Fundraising Managers,said '(Diana's) overall effect on charity is probably more significant than any other person's in the 20th century.' (Hubbard et al, 1998).
At the time of her death, Diana was the official patron of Royal Marsden NHS Trust (a cancer fund); Greater Ormond Street Children's Hospital, London; the National AIDS Trust (an umbrella group for a wide array of AIDS causes in the UK); The Leprosy Mission, the English National Ballet, and Centerpoint Soho (which provides services to homeless youth). She was also closely associated with the British Red Cross, indeed, the International Red Cross' Anti-Personnel Land Mines Campaign.
I have a photo of Diana in Bosnia with the Landmines Survivor Network in August, 2007, not long before her demise. She was working, in the August holiday-month, almost to the end.
In 1998, Robin Smith, the Foreign Secretary, introduced the second reading of the Landmines Bill 1998 to the House of Commons, thus:
"All Honourable Members will be aware from their postbags of the immense contribution made by Diana, Princess of Wales to bringing home to many of our constituents the human costs of landmines. The best way in which to record our appreciation of her work, and the work of NGO's that have campaigned against landmines, is to pass the Bill, and to pave the way towards a global ban on landmines."
Which, arguably, it did!
In 2001, Bill Clinton said:
"In 1987, when so many still believed that AIDS could be contracted through casual contact, Princess Diana sat on the sickbed of a man with AIDS and held his hand. She showed the world that people with AIDS deserve no isolation, but compassion and kindness. It helped change world's opinion, and gave hope to people with AIDS."
Diana's dignity has been torn to shreds, publicly, in recent times, when it was not possible for her to utter even the tiniest squeak in retort or defend herself or reputation. I believe that we might now justifiably permit her memory to embrace her very real accomplishments, if not for her then for the sake of her sons, and let that be an end to it.
, but she had shown very often that she manipulated the media when she thought it was necessary. But exactly this is what the tabloids find amusing. So I guess they would have continued to press her for more and more information while OTOH feed her to the masses who love to see people falling off their pedestals. And Diana was no longer protected by her Royal rank, so destroying her reputation was not longer going to seriously threaten the monarchy (which is, I believe, a point where most papers stop).
Weird, IMO.
