THE CONSPIRACIES BEHIND PRINCESS DIANA'S DEATH
A princess found dead after a tragic car accident. This was no coincidence. On August 31, 1997, 36-year-old Princess Diana was seen by paparazzi leaving the Ritz Hotel just as the clock struck twelve (Lawless). As Jill Lawless mentions, a mysterious flash and vanishing camera footage(1). Just like her accident was no everyday mishap, one of two things happened: her family did not want her to be with Dodi, so they took the situation into their own hands and decided to have them taken care of, or it was a plan for more attention from the media that was taken way too far (King and Beveridge). Princess Diana’s death was definitely planned due to the timing and how the events fell into place.
Princess Diana was a very powerful woman. She persevered through all of the tough times in her life and even her depression by being daring and determined. There was nothing that she could not handle and she was willing to go above and beyond to make sure that the public eye never had to see this side of her, and she did indeed succeed. Princess Diana was depressed. Andrew Morton explains this in his book:
“After jotting down notes on her suicide attempts, her eating disorders, her husband’s adultery with this woman called Camilla, I hotfooted it to see my publisher, Michael O’Mara. Drawing on a pre-lunch cigar, he listened to a summary of my meeting. Then, suspecting that Colthrust was a clever con man, he announced: “If she is so unhappy why is she always smiling in the photographs?”(Morton 17). Princess Diana had a far-from-perfect life, but that was something that she hid from the cameras. She did not want people to see all of the struggles that she was experiencing, so she just kept it all inside.
Princess Diana was a very daring individual. Andrew Morton explained it, “At this time, what I completely failed to understand was that, for a woman who was living in a system where every significant decision was made by someone else, these small choices and acts of defiance gave her a feeling of control. For her it was a tremendously liberating” (Morton 17). Princess Diana was not affraid to make her own decisions, rather she truly enjoyed it. She took the little things that she did have control over, took advantage of them, and made it clear that she had her own thoughts and opinions and was going to do what she wanted to.
Princess Diana was extremely determined. Morton also explains this about Diana by stating, “Yet one of the heartening aspects of the story was how Diana was striving, with mixed success, to come to terms with her life, transforming from a victim to a woman in control of her destiny. It was a process which the Princess continued until the very end” (Morton 24). Princess Diana was so determined that even when she was not very successful, she still kept pushing herself, which shows how much ambition she truly had. She pushed herself so much and it showed.
Even though Princess Diana was struggling she kept pushing and pushing to show the power and strength that she had over all the negativity in her life. People never knew how much she was going through because of how determined and daring she was. She had a wall of fire up and never let it down because she knew that she could achieve the life that she always wanted even if that meant she did have to deal with depression.
In the tragic death of 36-year-old Princess Diana, there were two main conspiracy theories that surfaced. One of the conspiracy theories that arose was that her family was tired of her bold and profound lifestyle. The other suggests that she had the whole incident planned due to her wanting more attention from the media.
The first conspiracy theory suggests that Princess Diana’s family was so tired of her new lifestyle, so they decided that it was time for them to step in and do something about it. “The conspiracy theories take a number of other forms, but all claim to point to the same fundamental belief: that someone wanted to kill Diana, and they helped orchestrate that night’s fatal crash”(Griffin) as Andrew Griffin puts it. This just shows how much-unexplained evidence there was that was never uncovered. As Angelia Levin put it, “...she has been strong and persevering in her love for Charles, but dislikes making public speeches, flying - especially by helicopter - using lifts, and can’t bear needles. I also hoped to discover how she had survived the cold-heartedness within the royal ranks” (Levin). Even Andrew Morton, who had interviewed Princess Diana himself, stated, “Far from being the ravings of a madwoman, Diana’s suspicions were to prove correct, and the painful awareness of the way she had been routinely deceived, not just by her husband but by those inside the royal system, instilled in her an absolute and understandable distrust and contempt for the Establishment. They were attitudes that would shape her behavior for the rest of her life (Morton 13). Princess Diana was an outcast when it came to the royal family. She was not the picture-perfect girl that they imagined she would be. This is the perfect motive for them to have her killed and frame it as if it was just an accident rather than what it truly was-a murder.
The second conspiracy theory suggests that Princess Diana was wanting more attention from the media; as Morton says, “Like a prisoner condemned for a crime she did not commit, Diana had a crying need to tell the world the truth about her life, the distress she felt and the ambitions she nurtured” (Morton 15). While yes, it is true that Princess Diana did in fact get attention from the media, she wanted that attention so that she could show the world who she truly was without the constrictions of the Royal Family. Princess Diana already got the attention that she needed; it would not make any sense for her to need more than that. Princess Diana was moving on with her new life and her new relationship, so why would she need attention by planning a fake car accident? Exactly, she would not need to do that. The only people who had treated Princess Diana poorly and put her down were the Royal family. They had the perfect motive all along. They did not want people to see her happy with her new lover because that would ruin their image, which was extremely important to them and still is to this very day.
To this very day, people still do not know what to believe. But, what they do know is that Princess Diana was just a normal human being who had to deal with the pressure of being in the public eye, and, when she tried to turn to her so-called family for help, she was shut down every single time. They looked down on Princess Diana because she showed the world that she was a normal person, and that upset them so much to the point that they were just wanting to get rid of her. So, that is exactly what they did.
On August 31, 1997, 36-year-old Princess Diana was killed in a tragic car accident. The two conspiracy theories that surfaced from this were:
1. Her own family had her assassinated.(King and Beveridge)
2. She was begging for more attention from the media. (Lawless)
In the incident of the tragic death of Princess Diana, no one truly knows if she was assassinated or if the whole car crash was an accident that turned for the worse. Either way, it is most likely that her family was behind the entire thing, so they remain the number one culprit to this day.
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Works Cited
Griffin, Andrew. “Eight Conspiracy Theories about Princess Diana’s Fatal Crash.” The Independent, Independent Digital News and Media, 20 Dec. 2022, www.independent.co.uk/life-style/royal-family/princess-diana-death-conspiracy-theories-b2248362.html. Accessed 25 June 2024.
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King, Jon, and John Beveridge. “Princess Diana: The Hidden Evidence : how MI6 and the CIA Were Involved in the death of Princess Diana.” Google Books, https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=AI0ui3cazTcC&oi=fnd&pg=PA1&dq=conspiracy+on+princess+diana%27s+death&ots=J8t2MB2fdk&sig=MZHmmYO1YXdigCGIt0BGlGoo-kQ#v=onepage&q=conspiracy%20on%20princess%20diana's%20death&f=false. Accessed 3 June 2024.
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Lawless, Jill. “Diana's Tragic Death Spawned Web of Conspiracy Theories.” AP News, 6 November 2023, https://apnews.com/general-news-arts-and-entertainment-celebrity-ac2f7bbb6c9f4818a47e24dc79d00394. Accessed 3 June 2024.
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Levin, Angela. “Camilla: From Outcast to Queen Consort .” Google Books, Google, books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=kRpXEAAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PT4&dq=why%2Bprincess%2Bdiana%2Bwas%2Ban%2Bout%2Bcast%2Bin%2Bher%2Bfamily&ots=HXCLzkzeXx&sig=MBOnlxrxDIkM4sbF3fxcafCk1Y4#v=onepage&q=why%20princess%20diana%20was%20an%20out%20cast%20in%20her%20family&f=false. Accessed 23 June 2024.
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Morton, Andrew. Diana: Her True Story-- in Her Own Words. Simon & Schuster, 2017.
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Morton, Andrew. “Diana: Her True Story-in Her Own Words .” Google Books, Google, books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=x-IoDwAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PA6&dq=princess%2Bdiana%27s%2Bdeath%2Bwas%2Bher%2Bown%2Bfault&ots=bw83rkQzU7&sig=wWn-8W-CsEO54SKHve2LO-jFqlA#v=onepage&q=princess%20diana’s%20death%20was%20her%20own%20fault&f=false. Accessed 23 June 2024.
Princess Diana
Unraveling the secrets and controversies surrounding the tragic demise of Princess Diana. Join me on a journey to explore the untold story behind her death and the conspiracy theories that continue to captivate the world.
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