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Princess Diana: 25 years on…
Tribute to the woman whose death forever changed Britain.
It feels like only yesterday.
I was living at the heart of bohemian London — Camden Town — at the time, off someone’s charity.
Asleep in front of the TV on the night of the 30th of August 1997, I awoke to the headline that the Princess of Wales — Diana — was involved in a car crash in Paris, which had left her badly injured.
It wasn’t long before the updates came in stating that the mother of Harry and William had in fact succumbed to her injuries.
And there began one of the extraordinary episodes in modern British history.
The news channels suspended regular broadcasts and focused solely on this seismic event.
Tony Blair, who had only been Prime Minister for only a few months, found himself having to speak on behalf of a shell shocked nation and God did he find the right words.
It was his phrase, ‘ the people’s princess’ which captured the public imagination at time of great despair, despondency and grief.
The royal family or the firm, as it known in the inner circles, had gone into a deep narcolepsy and had made a statement about the mother of the future king of England, thinking that alone would suffice.