The Princess

[PrincessPurrsALot]

TBD

Original air date 2022.08.13

[DanaK]

This is about Princess Diana of course https://www.hbo.com/movies/the-princess

[Dr.OO7]

It's amazing how well the story was told without any narration, just simply editing things in chronological order.

It's chilling how the first footage is of 19 year old her being hounded while walking to her car and among the last is of her being hounded at 36 while getting into her car in Paris. Literally from beginning to end.

[IntrovertRed]

I'm not sure why I watched this since I feel that I've already watched almost everything that has come out on Princess Diana. But it was definitely effective in showing how overwhelmingly intrusive the cameras were with her.  She was clearly flawed as a person, but when she did try to give the press what they wanted, they would get pissed if they didn't consider it enough.  Yes, she used the press to her advantage, I don't fault her for that at all, but she was damned if she does, damned if she doesn't with the press.

Watching the footage of her as a 19-year-old is sad because you wish that you could yell at her to get as far away as possible from the royal family.  The coldness of the royals comes through in spades for sure in this program.  Prince Philip seemed to be pissed when they were told by onlookers to take care of the boys and he replies something like, "of course we are."  

[Maisiesmom]

I watched this last night. That poor woman never could catch a break. She was young and in love with a man who could never really love her the way she wanted because he was in love with someone else. All the cameras always around, flashing light bulbs, I would have gone crazy myself.  Charles was jealous of Di because the people really loved her and him and his cold fish family just used her to prop up their image. She seemed to really care about her boys and her various projects aimed at  helping people. Sure, she wasn't perfect but who is?  So sad-I got a little weepy towards the end, seeing all the people crying and in pain. It was just a tragic loss and so stupid the way she died-I'm sure the press chasing them had something to do with it . I know the driver was under the influence but I can't put all the blame on him.

[cpcathy]

I’m a sucker for anything Diana, and I think she was so manipulated by the Royal Family. She got hosed at every turn, even her own sister told her she had to go through with it. Good for her for Taj Mahal photo. They deserved it. Charles is a creep. The Queen raised those cold children, if I were a Brit I doubt I’d be a Monarchist.

[sadie]

I’ll watch anything about the royals. This was very different but I enjoyed it.

Diane was a complicated messy person (as we all are). I believe some part of her enjoyed the attention but the other side hated it. I don’t think she ever reconciled those things. I think she loved Charles and he never loved her, she was a breeder as far as he was concerned, what a tragic existence. The royal family really were idiots in not treating her better, it would have taken so little and she was a great asset to them, but they couldn’t accept people liked her better than them and instead of using that wisely they treated her awfully. What a waste.  She certainly saw things and did things us average people will never experience and lived in great privilege as a royal, but gilded cage it was and it couldn’t be sustained when they all shut her out. 
 

I will never have anything nice to say about Charles or Camilla no matter how hard the royals have tried to repackage them. They both suck and no amount of time will change my view of them as people.  Just because they are older now and doddering around doesn’t erase what assholes as humans they both were and are. 
 

As with all these docs about Diana I am just left with a sense of sadness for her, and one can’t help but wonder what would have become of her had she not died. 

[Conotocarious]

This was really really good.

I loved the footage of the regular Brits arguing about her. The ones playing cards the night she died were so blasé about it when she was “gravely injured” but the second they announced she died they were totally shocked and dropped everything to sit in front of the television.

This was maybe the best documentary I’ve seen on Princess Diana. I loved how there were no contemporary talking heads telling us what to think.

[IntrovertRed]

1 hour ago, sadie said:

I will never have anything nice to say about Charles or Camilla no matter how hard the royals have tried to repackage them. They both suck and no amount of time will change my view of them as people.  Just because they are older now and doddering around doesn’t erase what assholes as humans they both were and are. 

Agree 100%.  Ar least Charles does seem to be a better parent than his parents, but it's an extremely low bar.

26 minutes ago, Conotocarious said:

I loved the footage of the regular Brits arguing about her. The ones playing cards the night she died were so blasé about it when she was “gravely injured” but the second they announced she died they were totally shocked and dropped everything to sit in front of the television.

That was so cringey. Who jokes about someone being injured?  As an American, I do remember being at a friend's house and learning about her accident and death. I think it was announced on the radio (I'm so old). 

Back then I didn't follow the royals much except thinking Prince William was hot (I no longer think that).  

I think people always believed in the fairy tale until seeing what happened with Diana.  You couldn't pay me to be in that family.

[Adgirl]

Including the comments of the reporters and British public felt like an eff you to those that purport to love her now. The woman who said she should just work out at home I think exemplified what's wrong with celebrity culture as a whole. The horrible man in voiceover criticizing people who were mourning. It was also pretty disgusting people implied she was a gold digger considering she was aristocracy so while not having as much as the Royals she was pretty well off.

Edited August 15, 2022 by Adgirl

[Dr.OO7]

5 hours ago, sadie said:

I believe some part of her enjoyed the attention but the other side hated it. I don’t think she ever reconciled those thing

I think like most celebrities, she didn't mind or wanted the press attention when it was related to her causes/projects but otherwise, wanted to be left alone. It's ironic how much people love humanizing  "Celebrities Are Just Like Us!" pictures--"They go to the gym/have coffee/take out the garbage/go grocery shopping!"--when these are the moments that celebrities want their privacy. And to make matters worse, the press/paparazzi don't just follow them, they explicitly harass them by making rude comments so as to get an angry reaction.

5 hours ago, sadie said:

will never have anything nice to say about Charles or Camilla no matter how hard the royals have tried to repackage them

Me neither. Them trying to vilify Diana and spin it like they were HER victims rather than the other way around was the last straw.

[Hiyo]

Quote

I think she loved Charles

I think she loved the idea of Charles.

Quote

I think people always believed in the fairy tale until seeing what happened with Diana.

The problem is that it was never a fairy tale, it was always a soap opera.

[Welshman in Ca]

If she hadn't died so horribly when she did and later in life rather than then she wouldn't be this fairy tale princess that people seem to think she is. The royal family & their old fashioned ways started the whole mess by not allowing Charles to marry Camilla originally therefore making him choose someone who was not a divorcee and could produce heirs.

I'm no royalist but all this Charles was evil & Diana was a fairy tale Disney princess is very simplistic. That's just the way the royal family worked until Diana's death & still sometimes does. 

[Tachi Rocinante]

On 8/17/2022 at 4:24 PM, Hiyo said:

I think she loved the idea of Charles.

Yeah, I can agree there.  I could never truly believe a stunning 19-year old looked at that inbred mouthbreather with lust and got the vapors.

Oh, and fuck Camilla.  Forever.

[Welshman in Ca]

3 minutes ago, Tachi Rocinante said:

Yeah, I can agree there.  I could never truly believe a stunning 19-year old looked at that inbred mouthbreather with lust and got the vapors.

Oh, and fuck Camilla.  Forever.

It's not her fault that the royal family wouldn't allow Charles to marry a divorced woman but it is his fault that he so wanted to be king that he let them push him into marriage with Diana who I have no doubt knew from the get go that he was in love with Camilla. I'm convinced Charles marriage to Camilla is the reason the queen has held on so long and will continue to do so until she dies. 

[Tachi Rocinante]

1 hour ago, Welshman in Ca said:

 I'm convinced Charles marriage to Camilla is the reason the queen has held on so long and will continue to do so until she dies. 

It was also a blatant attempt to rehabilitate her image, which, sadly, appears to be working.

[merylinkid]

8 hours ago, Welshman in Ca said:

but it is his fault that he so wanted to be king that he let them push him into marriage with Diana who I have no doubt knew from the get go that he was in love with Camilla

Camilla who was long married to Tom Parker Bowles.   Let's be real here.   Charles might have been in love with Camilla, but it wasn't just her lack of virginity (not divorcee, she divorced much later) that kept them from marrying.    Camilla wanted to marry Tom.   So Camilla and Charles are not these star crossed lovers kept from marrying by the cruel society they lived in.   

Diana was in love with the idea of a fairytale marriage.    She knew marrying a Prince meant divorce wasn't going to happen.   So HER kids were never going to have a broken home like she did.   Apparently her parents' divorce was BITTER and NASTY.   There was a big fight over custody of the kids.   That the Earl won when Frances' own parents sided with him against their daughter.    The Royal Family seemed a safe haven where she would be protected.   

So neither one of them went into the marriage with clean hands, shall we say.

[Sweet-tea]

On 8/14/2022 at 4:51 PM, Conotocarious said:

This was really really good.

I loved the footage of the regular Brits arguing about her. The ones playing cards the night she died were so blasé about it when she was “gravely injured” but the second they announced she died they were totally shocked and dropped everything to sit in front of the television.

This was maybe the best documentary I’ve seen on Princess Diana. I loved how there were no contemporary talking heads telling us what to think.

I thought it was excellent. The lack of narration made it more powerful to me. It forced me to come to my own conclusions.

There were some small moments that were telling, such as when Charles was being interviewed and Diana was seated behind him. She made a little face, kind of mocking him, and the audience laughed. I saw Charles' expression change. I heard the edge to his voice when he joked about how popular his wife was. It clearly rankled him. 

I read that Diana regretted doing the sit down interview. That was the last straw for the queen. It also began Diana's undoing. They forced her out. I wish she could've lived a much longer life. 

The only thing missing was her romance with the guy that came before Dodi. I think he was a doctor. I've read he was the real love of her life. He broke up with her because of cultural issues with his family. 

It was sad seeing Harry and William, especially Harry. I always had the impression he took her death harder, but maybe William is just stoic like his father. 

The RF severely screwed up in their (initial) non-reaction to her death! 

The press couldn't leave her alone. She was a commodity to them. 

Edited August 29, 2022 by Sweet-tea

[AuntieMame]

On 8/19/2022 at 1:04 PM, Tachi Rocinante said:

Yeah, I can agree there.  I could never truly believe a stunning 19-year old looked at that inbred mouthbreather with lust and got the vapors.

Oh, and fuck Camilla.  Forever.

Well, there was the whole fairytale prince aspect to the entire thing that must have mitigated the “inbred mouth breather” aspect of the proceedings. But your point is well taken, at 19 men in their early thirties seemed impossibly antiquated to me. Then again, Diana is a Lady and raised in the aristocracy and bred to believe that aristocrats are truly better than their lessers and that royalty is better still. This would have  been an assumption so deeply rooted as to not even be articulated much less examined. At nineteen she might have been thrilled by the honor and not able to examine the con side of the list, even when the royal family made it clear that her role was virginal breeder, preferably a silent breeder. 

I loved the way they did this because it really did make the viewer examine the events in sequence and almost without later knowledge intruding. I’m sure Diana could be a complicated handful but as someone who was manipulated and done wrong at the same tender and naive age, I’ve always maintained that everyone, everyone was in on the joke except Diana. Everyone involved should be ashamed of themselves. It seems the contemporary equivalent of throwing a sacrificial virgin into a volcano. 

Edited August 26, 2022 by AuntieMame