Princess Diana's enduring legacy, from conspiracy theories to drag culture
Dianaworld: An Obsession
Edward White
Allen Lane, $39.99
Some believe she was a republican, some a monarchist.
Others argue she was more English than the royal family itself: born into the House of Spencer, she had deeper roots in Britain than the German Windsor bloodline.
It's within the margins of this contradictory and contested public image that Edward White situates his new biography, Dianaworld. The book is less interested in the royal's personal life and more in examining the 'story of a cultural obsession'. That is, how Diana as a phenomenon has rippled through popular culture and acted as a vessel for the fantasies of millions.
'In the half century of her existence as a public entity, Diana's mythology has been moulded, burnished, and appropriated by an enormous cast of people,' White writes. She is a figure that endures in the zeitgeist owing to her sudden death in 1997, her sanctified image of motherhood and her postmodern media image (with her face recycled over and over).
A kind of phantasmagorical cultural autopsy, the book charts how Diana – the icon as well as the person – has shaped British politics, fuelled conspiracy theories and even influenced drag culture. In her lifetime, Diana had many adoring fans but, unlike many other celebrities, was also able to genuinely relate to people's identification with her. 'I can talk to them because I am one of them,' she once said.
An unsettled public image, one that spoke to motherhood, family and even destiny, encouraged many to connect their own emotional lives to Diana's. From gay men coming out of the closet to Pakistani women suffering through arranged marriages, people mediated their own experiences through Princess Diana to find comfort in her outsider story.
But was Diana ever knowable? To some, she was damaged and broken; to others, calculating and deliberate. These inconsistencies made for an unstable public persona, one where the truth could be subjective and often hard to pin down. Getting to the 'real' Diana was a press and public addiction, where Diana doing anything – and nothing – could yield profound insights.
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