The death of
Princess Diana in 1997 caused a pretty-much-unprecedented outpouring of
grief in Britain, most of it unfortunately utterly false and hollow. Through the nation's mass
emotional fascism, it was nigh-on fucking impossible for anyone not caught up in the
wrist-slitting tumult of it all, or who did not give two shits for Diana either way, to buy anything, use essential services or tune into any sort of media without being bombarded with Her image. The aftermath was the practical canonisation of the princess, the vilification of the
Royal Family (which surely any sane person should have been doing anyway) and the 1990s' musical nadir, the mawkish
Candle in the Wind by
Elton John. This latter revived John's flagging career but was accurately skewered by Rolling Stones guitarist
Keith Richards as "Writing songs for dead
blondes", being a lyrically revised version of a song for
Marilyn Monroe.
For me,
Mark Thomas summed it up best. Three days after Diana's death, he came onstage in
London and said "I'm sorry, but I'm glad she's dead". He
sank like a brick in shit. Thomas' point was not literal (he didn't really want her dead) but as a reaction against the
hypocrisy and
hysteria of the time, it was bang on.
Noded, accidentally duplicated, nuked, re-noded on the advice of Demeter. My, i'm an angry boy, aren't i