While the death of Diana, Princess of
Wales ultimately presented her with an Oscar-winning role as 'The
Queen', Dame Helen Mirren has revealed that
the tragedy itself essentially passed her by.
Quizzed about her reaction to the car crash which claimed the life of the
36-year-old princess, her boyfriend Dodi Fayed and driver Henri Paul, the
actress who in reality had little time for Diana in life has admitted: "I
honestly can't remember where I was when Princess Diana was killed. I was in
America but don't recall where."
"Everyone I know says they remember that moment,
but I do not."
Dame Helen, who in 1996 referred to the princess as "really nauseating — and half crazy, poor thing", was equally unmoved by
the public outpouring of grief which was witnessed on the streets of London in
particular in the week between Diana's death and her funeral on
September 6th 1997.
Says Dame Helen: "I did not see the public reaction as grief. I saw it as
people, like addicts, having their drugs taken away from them."
Comment: Monika Comment: Ah yes, she probably needed the day to put her various hats in order. ______________________
The only one of her hats that irritates me is the RF insider one ! As if she is a Royal aunt who will speak to the Press .
Let her be a detective I say
Name: Monika
Comment: Ah yes, she probably needed the day to put her various hats in order.
Name: veston
Comment: M-M & Monika - LOL! Don't you know? That is precisely the reason why Ms. Mirren could have eliminated the need for the Diana inquest... but couldn't be bothered that day.
Name: Monika
Comment: M-M, perhaps we should ask Inspector Jane Tennison for more of her valuable input.
Name: M-M
Comment: vreston Comment: M-M, you nailed it! Thankfully, we are at least spared from any similarly groundless commentary in the New England Journal of Medicine by the hoards of TV and movie "medics". _______________________
Or the absurdity of doing away with Scotland Yard because the myriads of film and TV detectives can solve any crime !
Name: exploora
Comment: I am sure Di was hurt psychologically.
Imagine being on international TV, where one's fiance asks what ever "in love means" when he is asked if he is in love with you.
That would have made me feel awful. How could anyone think that did not hurt, then one forgets what it is like to be a nineteen year old girl.
Anyway I don't think psychoanalyzing people is meant to really give peace of mind, I think songs and poems do a better job at that, I think this psychoanalyzing is more about controlling a person possibly through manipulating their sense of self.
I think creating momentum leading to attachment to a positive force is not a bad habbit to get into and it does change a person's mood, and chemistry between people does have an effect. Why is that a bad thing?
Name: Monika
Comment: I regret that Shelley’s last statement is no longer included here. What I took away from her comment was a reference to the fervor with which some seek to minimize Diana’s place in history.
Name: vreston
Comment: M-M, you nailed it! Thankfully, we are at least spared from any similarly groundless commentary in the New England Journal of Medicine by the hoards of TV and movie "medics".
Name: M-M
Comment: For the Media to print Mirren's reactions to any royal personage or event is really quite absurd since she has only PLAYED the Queen .
That fact does not give her special insight - anymore than it gives Cate Blanchett for instance special insight on Royals since she has also played many Queens .
Actors are just actors , their opinions no more valid than ours . And , if they are after future roles , perhaps they are not even expressing sincere opinions at that
Name: exploora
Comment: I think there was an element of excitement that Di brought to the public body which is of course is greatly missed.
But I also think the loss was based on a lot more than that, because at the beginning, when Di was introduced to the public she was very innocent and child like in many ways, and she really did appear to think human decency could change the world.
That was the power alot of musicians had in the sixties. Of course many of them were exciting, but some of them went deeper than that, and actually could touch your heart with their songs.
Of course the huge hole which was left after the sudden horrific accident was possibly exploited by the media for days after, which I think did contribute to what could have been described as potential mass hysteria by the public, but I don't think it went that far, and HM was able to fill the hole a bit, once she realized Di's death was not just a private matter. This is the power of Prince when he is loved by the public. We don't see that much any more.
I think Di was targeted to be an object of constant public humiliation and in some ways the lovely Dame Helen contributed to that by even talking about her the way she did in public, which probably really hurt Di.
Di was a real person, she didn't have a script. What would anyone of us have been like in a situation like that? She wasn't able to shape her life the way normal people who have some resources are able to do. And she may have not realized at 19, what she was getting herself into and what she was giving up.
Possibly at the end, she realized she will never beable to relax and have an ordinary life with a person like Dr. Khan, and it was better for him if she let him go. That is very possible. And she may have just wanted to go on a holiday with Dodi. Dodi was carrying her stuff, or appears to be, in the last pictures, and he was probably very good at doing things like that which does make a lot of women happy, to be pampered a little.
Name: Monika
Comment: Excellent point, Shelley.
I wonder if anyone has mentioned this ‘addiction’ theory to Nelson Mandela, a man who insisted on paying tribute to Diana by visiting her gravesite at Althorp…or the countless other world leaders and dignitaries who recognized and acknowledged what a terrible loss Diana’s death was…and let’s not forget Mother Teresa’s admiration for Diana. I could go on, but I don't want to fry Joanne's computer.
Gosh, with so many addicts running around, I wouldn’t blame Ms Mirren for hiding under the covers from now to eternity.
Name: threats susan
Comment: I agree with Monika. The public outpouring of grief was NOT a sign of addiction. I think it was genuine shock and a collective anger at a lot of things--and probably some guilt too. I am African-American. My mother and all of her friends can remember exactly what they were doing when King was shot (also Kennedy and Malcolm). I was 5 and remember my mother crying all day. I and my children will never forget the day John Paul II died. Some people touch all of us. I think it is foolish and insulting to Diana's memory and her family to diminish that.
In term's of Ms. Mirren, she is an actress. She is entitled to her opinions but they are not the gospel. I find her views on children and childbirth very odd. I know she is a good actress but I actually do not see her playing Camilla. Say what you will about her mistakes but Camilla is very much about her children and grandchildren. How can someone who is so anti-child really get to the heart of that type of person?
Name: shelley
Comment: I should like to add that Diana will be remembered long after Helen Mirren has been long forgotten.
Name: shelley
Comment: Ms Mirren is an actress, nothing more, her opinion is of little importance. I hear she is after the role of Camilla, which is just as well, there is no way she would be able to play the beautiful Diana.
Name: Contessa
Comment: Diana was a positive force for the improvement of many areas of human existence. She was admired and respected in all corners of the world. In addition to overcoming some very difficult personal circumstances regarding her upbringing and her tragic marriage to a cruel husband, she devoted much effort to give hope and pleasure to many who appreciated her attempts. She was original, creative, generous and an exemplary parent. What a loss for humankind that such traits exist in a minority of the population. And how sad for everyone that it seems the majority possess the coldness and selfishnes manifested by Mirren, Greer, and others.
Name: valmae
Comment: Anyacat: a superb post, up to your usual standard.
Name: tracey
Comment: On the day Helen Mirren drops off this mortal coil will anyone remember where they were or what they were doing? Your response here.
Enough said.
Name: Malissa
Comment: Alright Helen, this sort of cold statement will ruin your reputation with the people. FORGET MY VOTE.
Name: Monika
Comment: Exploora, you may be on to something with your first comment.
Personally, I don’t care what Ms Mirren remembers or how she felt about Diana. Nor does it matter exactly how you define the emotions so many people felt when Diana died…grief, shock, sorrow, sympathy for her sons, etc. What is important, however, is to understand that those feelings were rooted in respect and admiration (oh yes…and compassion) for a woman who accomplished much in her all too short life. Dismissing any of it as an ‘addiction’ appears to be an overt attempt to diminish a legacy that cannot be erased. Clearly, even an accomplished actress with the fullest of full lives could use a bit more class.
Name: exploora
Comment: The problem is everyone loves playing doctor and psychoanalyzer, but once they have to pay for malpractice insurance they are not so keen to share their mcopinion.
Alternatively, if one is willing to chart a map relating to how we can make a better world, it would probably not fit a two second mcopinion anyway.
What we are inside should be private, and though often is shaped by the outside this mcspychoanlyzing is really meant to discredit and embarrass people and does nothing to changewhat is wrong with the world, some of the things Di was trying to change appear to have been burried in this mcbabble.
Successful managers do not divide momentum by redirecting energy while ignoring the obstacles, successful managers chart a course often working and navigating around the deriatives of the global tragedy we call war.
Charting around obstacles successfully, was something the captain of the titanic appeared to fail to do.
Name: isabel
Comment: Although I would have been a bit more diplomatic, I think Dame Helen has hit the nail on the head. The public's preoccupation with everything Diana WAS an addiction, and with her passing a whole lot of people were left with little to fill up their days.
We all had to quit "cold turkey" that day, and continue to suffer the pangs of withdrawal for it.
Name: exploora
Comment: No disrespect intended, but the lovely Dame Helen was playing HM, a beautiful and elegant octarian, not HRH Princess Di, (yes I know I took the liberty with the title which was beyond my expected role as mere commoner residing in the Commonwealth).
"For among other evils caused by being disarmed, it renders you contemptible; which is one of those disgraceful things which a prince must guard against." Niccolo Machiavelli
Name: anyacat
Comment: Her motivation is simple: Some one asked Helen Mirren a question and she answered it. She has no need to live vicariously through the lives of others, she certainly has no reason to be jealous of anyone. Helen Mirren has never pretended to be anything more or less than what she is: An accomplished and busy actress. She did not say she was unaware of Diana's death, she simply said she did not remember precisely where she was when she heard of that death. That she was not prostrate with grief when she heard of the accident, could mean that she probably had her own fulfilling life, career, family, and friends that required her attention. The death of a stranger, while sad, was not and has not become an all consuming passion.
Name: Christina
Comment: Well, she's definately fond of girl eh? The most photographed icon of the ages, and she doesn't remember where she was except "in America". Well, there was a LOT of coverage of the death here in America, so perhaps she was just too busy to notice. It was in the papers, on tv constantly, magazines and THE talk at the water cooler. I think Ms. Mirren must be a little self absorbed herself to not notice such an important moment in her country's history. Or a little whacked herself.
Name: M-M
Comment: Why should we care what this actress thinks ? Any more than we care what Germaine Greer thinks for that matter ?
Both have their living to make and roles or articles to chase . Mirren wants to play Camilla in a film , has said so publicly , and therefore her remarks are very politic and ingratiating
Name: exploora
Comment: Possibly the lovely Dame Helen was jealous of Di.
Name: Emily Elizabeth Windsor-Cragg
Comment: Wow. That's cynical. It's too bad as an actress portraying the drama of the Royal Covenants, she has so little feeling for the part.
The Covenant of the Kingdom of David is all about relationships. Abraham, Isaac, Joseph and Jacob and their progeny, down to this day through the Stone of Scone and the Ark of the Covenant.
What's amazing to me is how few Brits even know that's where the Monarchy reaches back to, the Jewish Kingdom of David. Yet, the Stone of Scone was under St. Edward's Chair until 1950, and then it was removed, replaced and returned to Scotland in 1995.
How many of you know its significance? Or WHY it ought never have been returned, by Treaty, to Palestine by the Balfour Declaration?
I wonder.
EEWC
Name: Monika
Comment: I won't guess at her motivation, but this is too over the top for there not to be one. I cannot begin to imagine how William or Harry will feel if they read her publicity seeking words of wisdom.
