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Masaryk university Brno Faculty of Education Department of English Language and Literature The death of Diana, Princess of Wales - an accident or a conspiracy? bachelor thesis Brno2006 Supervisor: Writtenby: Paul NicholasClifford,Dip.Ed.,A.C.P.LenkaKrejčiříková I herebydeclare that I workedonthis thesis bymyself andthat I usedonlythe sources listedinthe bibliography. I agree that the thesis be depositedwiththe Libraryof the Faculty of Education of the MasarykUniversityinBrnoandmadeaccessible forstudypurposes. Brno,7June2006 LenkaKrejčiříková 1 I wouldlike tothankMr Paul Nicholas Clifford,Dip.Ed.,A.C.P.for his kindness and valuableadvice. 2 CONTENTS INTRODUCTION...………………………………………………..………….………4 1.EARLY LIFE….……………………………………………………….....……...…5 1.1.IntroductionofDianaFrances Spencer,herfamilybackground, childhoodandteenageyears 2.THEROYALMARRIAGE ANDTHEPRINCESSOF WALES´S NEW ROLES……….......……………....…9 2.1.TheexpectationsoftheBritishmonarchy 2.2.ThePrincessofWales´sexpectationsofthemarriage 2.3.ThePrincessofWales´snewroles 2.3.1.RoleofthespouseofthePrinceof Wales 2.3.2.Roleofthemotherofthecrownprinces 3.DIVORCE–THEENDOFAFAIRYTALE..........................................................13 3.1.Thecausesfordivorce 3.2.Theconsequences ofthedivorce 4.CHARITY WORK…………………………………………………….….…........17 4.1.ThePrincessofWales´ssupportofcharityprojects 4.1.1.AIDS 4.1.2.Landmines 5.THEDEATHOFDIANA,PRINCESSOF WALES ANDITSCONSEQUENCES..…..……………………………...………………...19 5.1.Thecircumstancesofthedeath 5.2.ThereactionoftheBritishRoyalFamilyandpublic tothedeath 5.3.ThefuneralofDiana,Princess of Wales 5.4.Conspiracytheories 5.5.Inquestfindings 5.6.TheimpactofthedeathofDiana,Princessof Walesontheindividual membersofthefamilyandonthemonarchyasawhole 6.THELIFEGOES ON..…....……………………………………………………….35 6.1.Thecourseoflife withoutDiana,Princess of Wales inthe BritishRoyalFamilyandperspectivesonthefuture CONCLUSION..………………………………………………………………………36 RESUMÉ………………………………………………………………………………37 BIBLIOGRAPHY……….……………………………………………………………38 LISTOFAPPENDICES………………………………………………………………41 3 INTRODUCTION Without peradventure the majorityof people have at least once intheir lifetime heard about Diana, Princess of Wales. As a young girl she won fame overnight by getting marriedthe Prince of Wales,the successor tothe Britishthrone.Straightawayafter their wedding,she became the centre of media interest andstartedtobe pursuedbypaparazzi until theyhuntedher downtodeathinthe end.Over the years she built a position of a pre-eminent female celebrityof her generation.Bythousands of people all aroundthe worldshe was passedfor anauthority,a fashionicon,she was idolatrized andthe world esteemed her highly for her enthusiastic involvement in AIDS issues, and the internationalcampaignagainst landmines. She has always made considerablyefforts tohelp the sickandneedybut whenshe was badlyinneedof the medical emergencyservice,her environment failedtoprovide it properly. Her admirers are clear about that she didnot deserve todie in sucha terrible accidentandinsistthatthecarcrashbeinvestigateddulyandtheculprits be penalized. Theaimof mybachelorthesisistoattempttotraceupwhoistobe blamedforthedeath of Diana,Princess of Wales.At the same time,I wouldlike totake occasiontopaya tribute toDiana,Princess of Wales,a notable personalitywhohas done muchfor others in a little time she was granted to live through. The first four minor chapters of the thesis will be devotedto recapitulatingof her life,startingwithher youth,throughthe marriage anddivorce,underliningher charityachievements,up toher untimelydeath. The fifthchapter is supposedtocreate the most extensive part of the thesis andwill be focusedonthe deathof Diana,Princess of Wales.Inthis chapter,the important details of Diana, Princess of Wales´s death will be gathered, the circumstances of the car accident will be described.Further,I am goingtodiscuss the potential motives for the crime,develop the conspiracytheories andcontrovert the inquest findings.I will domy best toascertainwhether Diana,Princess of Wales´s deathwas inevitable or if it could have been precluded. The last chapter shall handle with the future of the British monarchyinconnectionwiththechangesthataretocomenext. 4 1.EARLY LIFE 1.1.IntroductionofDianaFrances Spencer,herfamilybackground, childhoodandteenageyears Diana Frances Spencer was born on 1 July 1961 at Park House near Sandringham, Norfolk.She was the youngest daughter of the thenViscount andViscountess Althorp, now the late Earl Spencer andthe late Hon.Mrs Frances ShandKydd,daughter of the 4thBaronFermoy.The parents didnot make muchof Diana´s birthbecause it ruined their expectations of having a son. Luckily, the birth of Charles, Diana´s brother, in 1964cameuptotheseexpectations. Diana hada happychildhooduntil her parents´ divorce in 1969.Diana´s father,Lord Althorp, who was fourteen years older than his wife, liked a peaceful, rural life in a countryhouse andenjoyedplayingwithhis childreneveryeveningbefore theywent to bed. With the birth of his son, Lord Althorp recaptured his lost self-confidence, and knowledge of having finally a long-desired heir made him as happy and satisfied as never before.Onthe contrary,Diana´s mother startedtofeel boredandoppressedinher marriage. She married very young, gave birth to four children and the monotonous familylife seemedordinaryand depressing toher.She was a youngwomansighingfor adventure and extraordinary experience. She was only thirty years old and wanted to leada lively social life where visitingparties andtheatres was the order of the day.In 1967,Diana´s mother fell inlove withPeter ShandKyddandleft her husbandandfour childreninorder tolive withher new lover inLondon.Diana´s older sisters,Sarahand Jane,were crushedbythe separationof their parents,but Diana beingonlysixyears old at that time did not much realize the consequences of the failure of her parents´ marriage. Duringher parents´ fierce divorce over LadyAlthorp´s adulterywithPeter ShandKydd, Diana´s mother sued for custody of her children.Thanks to Lady Althorp´s mother´s testimonyagainst her daughter duringthe trial,LordAlthorp achieveda great success whenall childrenwere placed inhis custody. At that time,this was somethingwholly extraordinaryinGreat Britain.For a longtime,LadyAlthorp could not reconcile with thefactthat shehadbeendepictedasanunreliableandfrivolousmother. 5 Undoubtedly,the divorce of Diana´s parents hada negative influence onall daughters andtheir growingup.After the divorce,the childrendid not keep in touchwiththeir mother for some time andspent most of time withtheir father,whotriedtorepair the loss of the mother tohis children.A lot of governesses changedinthe familybecause the girls were stubbornanddidnot want toobeyanybodyelse but their father.Onthe other hand,indisregardof their father´s effort the children didnot appreciate the life in the countryanddidnot share their father´s likingfor countryhobbies. Diana was not interested in birdwatching, fishing, shooting, hunting, stalking and similar hobbies offeredbythecountrylife. The onlyexceptionwas ponyriding, whichDiana adored.Unfortunately,whenshe was tenyears old,she fell from a ponyandbroke her arm.The fall causedDiana´s loss of self-assurance andsince that accident she refusedtoride a horse.It tooka verylong time before she daredride a horse again.More or less,she hadnoother choice but to overcome her fear andride a horse again.A horse-ridingwas one of the most favourite hobbies of her husband and through it the couple could strenghten its precarious marriage. Diana missedher mother whoshouldhave conductedher life,broadenedher horizons, deepenedher educationandinterestinlife.NobodysupportedDiana´s effort todiscover outside world,toreadbooks,toplayaninstrument andthat is whyshe spent muchof her time alone andsufferedemotionally.Suchemotional privations canbe considered as one of the reasons of Diana´s later troubles in her relationship with the Prince of Wales.Unlike Diana,the Prince of Wales was not educatedinsuchanisolation.His parents led him to meet all domains of life. He visited theatres, circuses, ZOOs, museums, and sport events regularly and his horizons broadened in a natural way. Diana´s lack of experience, contradictions in family background and solitude in childhoodwere causes of problems at the beginningof her marriage with the Prince of Wales. Onthe deathof her paternal grandfather, Albert Spencer,in1975,Diana acquiredthe courtesytitle of The LadyDiana Spencer andmovedfrom her childhood home at Park House toher family´s sixteenth-centuryancestoral home of Althorp.WhenLadyDiana was fifteenyears old,her father marriedRaine, Countess of Dartmouth.Their father´s secondwife andthe three daughters didnot catcheachother´s eye,especiallybecause 6 of the fact that the Spencer sisters didnot approve of Raine´s decisiontosell the family antiquestofinance thereconstructionandrenovationoftheAlthorpHouse. Lady Diana was educated first at a preparatory school, Riddlesworth Hall at Diss, Norfolk,andthenin1974she went as a boarder toWest Heath,near Sevenoaks,Kent. She came toschool with a label of a shy,undemonstrative andaverage girl, whowas not particularlytalented for anything.Surprisingly,LadyDiana showeda special talent for music as an accomplished pianist, dancing, ballet and she excelled in sports, too. (en.wikipedia.org) The director of West Heathschool,RuthRudge,remembers LadyDiana as a girl who adoredchildrenandmade contacts withthem veryeasily.„I remember that LadyDiana spent manyhours inthe centre for disabledchildrennear school.She was the kindof