Diana Phenomenon Research Articles

Fairyland and its Fairy Kings and Queens

‘Fairyland and its Fairy Kings and Queens’ is a review article of a collection of essays examining the responses to the death of Princess Diana, entitled ‘After Diana: Irreverent Elegies’. The purpose of this article is to trace the origins of the Diana phenomenon, and particularly that variant which possessed the English political imagination in late summer 1997; and in so doing to investigate further the cultural context of a constitution that is presently the subject of considerable debate regarding its potential reform. The first part will take a closer look at ‘Diolatry’. The second part will then concentrate upon the ultimate Diana figure in English constitutional history, Gloriana herself, Elizabeth I. The third part of the article discusses the residual authority of monarchical iconography in the English constitutional culture. The conclusion will then suggest why, rather than testifying to a supposed mood of fundamental constitutional change abroad in the country, reactions to Diana’s death evidence the innate strength of a constitutional imagination that still craves the reassurance of its Fairy Kings and Queens.

Princess diana and the emotionology of contemporary britain

The death of Princess Diana in August, 1997 was followed by a remarkable outburst of mass emotion throughout the world, but particularly in Britain. This included visits to London by more than two million people. Several interpretations and explanations of this mass public phenomenon are examined, including the idea of a pilgrimage. After comparing this phenomenon with classical accounts of collective acts we develop our own explanation in terms of changing norms of emotional display, emotionology, which links the Diana mourning with parallel political changes in the United Kingdom. The ephemeral character of the “Diana phenomenon” is evident in the marked decline of interest in the course of a year.

‘A news of feeling as well as fact’

When famous people die, the public mourns them primarily in the same forum where they came to ‘know’ them in life – the news media, which become national healers. This study examines how American newsmagazine journalists have covered the deaths of 12 major celebrities. It reveals that this practice did not begin as ‘the Diana phenomenon’, but rather has been taking shape for four decades. The death of Diana, and more recently that of JFK Jr, were the same journalistic story as the passings of other figures as diverse as Judy Garland, John Lennon, John Wayne, and Elvis Presley. Their lives and deaths were made meaningful through a ritual narrative with consistent themes: the celebrity was ‘one of us’ while also representing our greatest hopes; and though the death was tragic, it reminded us of societal values that somehow had been forgotten. Commemorative journalism reaffirms rather than informs, and its subject is collective identity – social, generational, and national.

British Identity and ‘The People's Princess’

This article treats the popular response to the death of Diana, Princess of Wales, as a manifestation of the cultural public sphere, by which is meant a symbolic space for affective communication and an emotional sense of democratic participation. The Diana phenomenon neither produced a ‘revolutionary moment’ nor, however, was it insignificant. Rather, it represented a vehicle for public debate on British identity, the role of the monarchy and, more diffusely, the conduct of personal relations. New Labour and feminist appropriations of Diana are examined in detail and related to a general consideration of the diverse and contested meanings of her life and death.