Good evening. The Paris prosecutor’s office disclosed today that the driver of the car in which Princess Diana was fatally injured had an illegal blood alcohol level. He is said to be more than three times over the French limit, and twice the British one. There was also more evidence today about the speed in which the car was travelling when it crashed. A police source said the speedometer was found frozen at more than one hundred and twenty miles an hour. Trevor McDonald, News at Ten
Public opinion was divided: many were genuinely confused about whether Burrell [the Butler] was a criminal [of stolen goods] or a victim. The Defence insisted that Burrell took the items for safe-keeping ... And as for Diana’s mysterious box, the one that may or may not have prompted the raid, it too made a surprise appearance in court. And the authorities refused to divulge how the box came to be in their hands, and what contents if any it contained ... After twelve days the Prosecution rested its case. Paul Burrell was about to take the stand in his own defence. That’s when the keeper of Diana’s secrets threw a bombshell into the proceedings. To some in the press, Burrell’s words sounded like a not-so-veiled threat to the Royal Family ... The trial was rocked by an event no-one could have predicted ... What dark secrets could Diana’s butler reveal? And would he break the Royal Servants’ code of silence as he had threatened to do? ... For the Prosecution William Boyce stood: he announced that he had a statement from someone who had remained silent throughout the entire trial: Her Majesty the Queen. The statement claimed that the Queen had suddenly recalled a conversation she had had with Burrell in 1997, five years earlier. And during this conversation Burrell had told her about his plan to take some of Diana’s personal items for safe keeping. The news stunned the court ... Paul Burrell was acquitted of all charges. Royal Inquest: Palace Timebomb, 2007
She was an exceptional and gifted human being. Queen Elizabeth II
I always believed the press would kill her in the end. But not even I could believe they would take such a direct hand in her death as seems to be the case ... Every proprietor and editor of every publication that has paid for intrusive and exploitative photographs of her ... has blood on their hands today. Charles Spencer, Daily Telegraph 1st September 1997
Diana was the very essence of compassion, of duty, of style, of beauty. All over the world she was a symbol of selfless humanity. Charles Spencer
She needed no royal title to continue to generate her particular brand of magic. Charles Spencer, Guardian 8th September 1997
A girl given the name of the ancient goddess of hunting was, in the end the most hunted person of the modern age. Charles Spencer, funeral tribute 7th September 1997
We, your blood family, will do all we can to continue the imaginative way in which we were steering these two exceptional young men so that their souls are not simply immersed by duty and tradition but can sing openly as you planned. ibid.
Delighted and frankly amazed that Diana is prepared to take me on. Prince Charles, BBC interview 1981
Anthony Carthew (ITN): And, I suppose, in love?
Lady Diana Spencer: Of course!
Charles, Prince of Wales: Whatever ‘in love’ means. televised interview
The most daunting aspect was the media attention. Diana, interview Martin Bashir, Panorama 20th November 1995
With the media attention came a lot of jealousy. ibid.
I was unwell with post-natal depression. ibid.
You have so much pain inside yourself that you try to hurt yourself on the outside. ibid.
I felt compelled to perform. ibid.
I had Bulimia for a number of years. ibid.
A husband who loved someone else, yes. ibid.
I was almost an embarrassment. ibid.
My husband asked for separation and I supported it. ibid.
There were three of us in this marriage, so it was a bit crowded. ibid.
I was a liability. Seen as. And what are we going to do with her? ibid.
Letters got lost and various things. ibid.
She won’t go quietly, that’s the problem. I’ll fight to the end because I believe I have a role to fulfil. ibid.
The enemy was my husband’s department. ibid.
I’d like to be a queen in people’s hearts but I don’t see myself being queen of this country. ibid.
I actually don’t like being the centre of attention. ibid.
I am not a political animal. ibid.
I would like a monarchy that has more contact with its people. ibid.
In 1995 Panorama got a scoop its rivals the world over wanted. It changed history. Now an independent inquiry for the BBC has found that reporter Martin Bashir used forgeries to get the interview, deceiving Princess Diana and her brother. Martin Bashir spun a web of elaborate lies to win the trust of the Princess. For 25 years the BBC defended its global scoop but now stands accused of a failure of integrity. Martin Bashir’s reputation lies in ruins described by the Inquiry as dishonest and devious. Panorama: Princess Diana, Martin Bashir & the BBC, BBC 2021
You can’t comfort the afflicted with afflicting the comfortable. Diana, attributed
The press is ferocious. It forgives nothing. It only hunts for mistakes. Diana, Le Monde 27th August 1997
They say it is better to be poor and happy than rich and miserable, but how about a compromise like moderately rich and just moody? Diana
Nothing brings me more happiness than trying to help the most vulnerable people in society. It is a goal and an essential part of my life – a kind of destiny. Whoever is in distress can call on me. I will come running wherever they are. Diana
Ladies and Gentlemen, 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. From early childhood many have felt they were expected to be perfect, but didn’t feel they had the right to express their true feelings to those around them. Feelings of guilt, of self-revulsion, and low personal esteem creating in them a compulsion to dissolve like a Disprin and disappear. Diana
I knew what my job was; it was to go out and meet the people and love them. Diana
Eating disorders, whether it be anorexia or bulimia, show how an individual can turn nourishment of the body into a painful attack on themselves and they have at the core a far deeper problem that mere vanity. Diana
Some day I shall go up in a helicopter and it’ll just blow up. MI5 will do away with me. Diana, Sunday Mirror 4th January 1998
Carry out a random act of kindness, with no expectation of reward, safe in the knowledge that one day someone might do the same for you. Diana
I like to be a free spirit. Some don’t like that, but that’s the way I am. Diana
I was always told by my family that I was the thick one. That I was stupid and my brother was the clever one. And I was always so conscious of that. I used to go to the headmistress crying saying I wish I wasn’t so stupid. Diana, to voice coach Peter Settelen 1992, cited NBC News 30th November 2004
When I started my public life, twelve years ago, I understood the media might be interested in what I did. I realized then their attention would inevitably focus on both our private and public lives. But I was not aware of how overwhelming that attention would become. Nor the extent to which it would affect both my public duties and my personal life, in a manner that’s been hard to bear. At the end of this year, when I’ve completed my diary of official engagements, I will be reducing the extent of the public life I’ve lead so far. Diana, speech Headway lunch 3rd December 1993
I want to walk into a room, be it a hospital for the dying or a hospital for the sick children, and feel that I am needed. I want to do, not just to be. Diana
‘How can you grieve for someone you’ve never met, you don’t know? It’s presumptuous and it is I think offensive.’ Christopher Hitchens, Diana: The Mourning After, Brendon Martin, 1998
‘It was like Disney meets the blackshirts – you must cry.’ ibid. Mark Thomas
It’s still quite difficult to believe what was happening on this very spot this time last year: the surreal events of Diana week. ibid. Hitchens
There were elements of mob-feeling as well as elements of demagoguery in play. ibid.
What about those who were attracted to mass events? ibid.
It becomes evident that that famous throng of mourners was by no means as unanimous or as monolithic as its media cheerleader would have you – perhaps I should say us – believe. And, come to think of it, why did so many people from day one decide to deliver their posies and bouquets and teddy bears to the wrong address – to Buckingham Palace? ibid.