remembering "La Dee Dee" Princess Diana
-
I found a poem my sister wrote soon after the 1997 tragic death of Princess Diana; my sister seems to get inspired to pen poems over the demise of very famous beloved people. She gets them
published in the Sunday Arts magazine of the nearest big news paper. Poems about Diana, whom the French
call "La Dee Dee" and about John Kennedy Jr., Frank Sinatra and race car driver Dale Earnhardt. Here is hers about Diana:
"Sleeping Beauty"
The cameras, the flash bulbs hounded you and led to your demise,
A Lovely life ruined ! What a morbid surprise !
But the chase was on, and so you fled.
Those pictures meant big money
but now you're dead.
They've killed their golden goose, their top prize.
What if you made it out of the tunnel and we didn't have to say goodbye?
Would you too have stayed together, and felt a love so true?
Or would you and Dodie have split up, as so many couples do.
Maybe it was none of our business in the first place
but we will never forget you.
Your beauty, kindness, and grace.
You shared such a sweet smile
and you started to seek out the pooer, defenseless, sick, and weak
We shall never again see the likes of you, Diana,
a fairy tale, a beautiful dream and then a nightmare come true.
The nightmare of the world losing you
Rest well, Diana, there will be no more blinding camera flashes up above.
Only warm and peaceful lights,
surrounding you with love.
It's time for the controversy to end; there's nothing left to discuss.
But this remains, for sure, you will always be
the Queen of Hearts, to us !
--From "The Diana Chronicles" by Tina Brown which I read: the following excerpt is funny, and demonstrates Princess Diana's wry, understated yet sassy British sense of humor, and reminds us of what we lost. You wish, reading this, all over again that Diana had not perished. These pages are about her chats with her secret lover, James Gilbey, who called her "Squidgy." Their private telephone conversations were recorded and later became public (like Prince Charles' and Camilla's during "Camillagate.")
Tina Brown: Like Camillagate, Squidgygate begins mid-conversation.
James Gilby asks, "and so, darling, what are other lows today?" To which Diana replies, "I was very bad at lunch and nearly started sobbing...I thought, 'Bloody Hell, the things I have done for this f--------g family..." Diana's voice has a flat, distracted edge. The tone of the high society recorded chat has less intensity invested than Charles' and Camilla's.
The royal cocoon applies to both calls. Gilbey, like almost everybody else the Prince and Princess meet, is as syncophantic to Diana as Camilla is to Charles. One senses that Diana's interest in him is a little desultory:
Gilbey: "I cry when you cry."
Diana: "I know. So sweet." She is playing with him, and the game isn't exactly what he had in mind. In fact, when he tries to lead their talk in a more promising direction, she exhibits a detumescingly short attention span:
Gilbey: " I haven't played with myself...not for a full 48 hours. (musingly) For 48 hours..."
Diana (sounding vague) "I watched 'Eastenders' today."
He calls her "Darling" 53 times and "Squidgy" 14 times...but there are moments when they seem more interested in her press coverage than they are in each other.
Gilbey: "I get so possessive when I see all these pictures of you. That's the least attractive aspect of me, really. I just see them and think, 'Oh God, if only...'"
Diana {perking up at the mention of publicity) : "There aren't that many pictures, are there? There haven't been that many."
Gilbey:"Four or five today."
Diana: "Oh."
Gilbey: "Various magazines. So darling, I..."
Diana (refusing to be diverted from the topic of herself): "I'm always smiling in them, aren't I?
Gilbey: "Always."
Diana (gloomily) "I thought that today. That I smile in them too much..." There are some pathetic clues to her shaky intellectual confidence...she gave the Bishop of Norwich "that bloody Bishop" as she calls the eminent man of the cloth, an earful:
Diana: "He said, 'I want you to tell me how to talk to people who are ill or dying. How do you cope?"
Gilbey: "He wanted to learn. He's so hopeless at it himself."
Diana: "I began to wonder after I'd spoken to him. I said, 'I'm just myself.'"
Gilbey: "they can't come to grips that underneath, there's such a beautiful person in you."
Diana: "I know. He kept wittering on about how one must never think how good one is at their job. There's always something you can learn, around the next corner. I said, 'Well, if people know me, they know I'm like that.'"
Gilbey:"So did you give him a hard time?"
Diana: "I did, actually. In the end, I said, 'I know this sounds so crazy, but I've lived before.' He said, 'How do you know?' I said, 'Because I'm a wise old thing.' I said, "Also I'm aware that people I've loved who died and are in the spirit world look after me.' He looked horrified. I thought, if he's the bloody Bishop, HE should say that sort of thing.'
Gilbey: "I don't really like any of those Bishops especially."
Diana: "Well, I felt very uncomfortable. I said, 'I understand peoples' suffering, peoples' pain, more than you will ever know.' And he said, 'That's obvious by what you are doing for AIDs." I said, "it's not only AIDS; it's anyone who suffers. I can smell them a mile away.'"
Gilbey: "What did he say?"
Diana: "Nothing. He just went quiet. He changed the subject to toys. And I thought, 'Ah ! Defeated you!"
Gilbey is suitably impressed, which is what he is there for: "Marvelous, Darling ! Did you chalk up a little victory?"
When Diana died, I remember big fat tears rolled down my cheeks nearly every time I read about her or looked at her pictures, similar to my reaction when John Kennedy Jr. died, but I cried more often over Diana. I wonder why, when I didn't know her personally, and they didn't know me. I felt that I knew them, somehow.--SUSY
-
SusyLuvsPaul wrote:
I found a poem my sister wrote soon after the 1997 tragic death of Princess Diana; my sister seems to get inspired to pen poems over the demise of very famous beloved people. She gets them
published in the Sunday Arts magazine of the nearest big news paper. Poems about Diana, whom the French
call "La Dee Dee" and about John Kennedy Jr., Frank Sinatra and race car driver Dale Earnhardt. Here is hers about Diana:
"Sleeping Beauty"
The cameras, the flash bulbs hounded you and led to your demise,
A Lovely life ruined ! What a morbid surprise !
But the chase was on, and so you fled.
Those pictures meant big money
but now you're dead.
They've killed their golden goose, their top prize.
What if you made it out of the tunnel and we didn't have to say goodbye?
Would you too have stayed together, and felt a love so true?
Or would you and Dodie have split up, as so many couples do.
Maybe it was none of our business in the first place
but we will never forget you.
Your beauty, kindness, and grace.
You shared such a sweet smile
and you started to seek out the pooer, defenseless, sick, and weak
We shall never again see the likes of you, Diana,
a fairy tale, a beautiful dream and then a nightmare come true.
The nightmare of the world losing you
Rest well, Diana, there will be no more blinding camera flashes up above.
Only warm and peaceful lights,
surrounding you with love.
It's time for the controversy to end; there's nothing left to discuss.
But this remains, for sure, you will always be
the Queen of Hearts, to us !
--From "The Diana Chronicles" by Tina Brown which I read: the following excerpt is funny, and demonstrates Princess Diana's wry, understated yet sassy British sense of humor, and reminds us of what we lost. You wish, reading this, all over again that Diana had not perished. These pages are about her chats with her secret lover, James Gilbey, who called her "Squidgy." Their private telephone conversations were recorded and later became public (like Prince Charles' and Camilla's during "Camillagate.")
Tina Brown: Like Camillagate, Squidgygate begins mid-conversation.
James Gilby asks, "and so, darling, what are other lows today?" To which Diana replies, "I was very bad at lunch and nearly started sobbing...I thought, 'Bloody Hell, the things I have done for this f--------g family..." Diana's voice has a flat, distracted edge. The tone of the high society recorded chat has less intensity invested than Charles' and Camilla's.
The royal cocoon applies to both calls. Gilbey, like almost everybody else the Prince and Princess meet, is as syncophantic to Diana as Camilla is to Charles. One senses that Diana's interest in him is a little desultory:
Gilbey: "I cry when you cry."
Diana: "I know. So sweet." She is playing with him, and the game isn't exactly what he had in mind. In fact, when he tries to lead their talk in a more promising direction, she exhibits a detumescingly short attention span:
Gilbey: " I haven't played with myself...not for a full 48 hours. (musingly) For 48 hours..."
Diana (sounding vague) "I watched 'Eastenders' today."
He calls her "Darling" 53 times and "Squidgy" 14 times...but there are moments when they seem more interested in her press coverage than they are in each other.
Gilbey: "I get so possessive when I see all these pictures of you. That's the least attractive aspect of me, really. I just see them and think, 'Oh God, if only...'"
Diana {perking up at the mention of publicity) : "There aren't that many pictures, are there? There haven't been that many."
Gilbey:"Four or five today."
Diana: "Oh."
Gilbey: "Various magazines. So darling, I..."
Diana (refusing to be diverted from the topic of herself): "I'm always smiling in them, aren't I?
Gilbey: "Always."
Diana (gloomily) "I thought that today. That I smile in them too much..." There are some pathetic clues to her shaky intellectual confidence...she gave the Bishop of Norwich "that bloody Bishop" as she calls the eminent man of the cloth, an earful:
Diana: "He said, 'I want you to tell me how to talk to people who are ill or dying. How do you cope?"
Gilbey: "He wanted to learn. He's so hopeless at it himself."
Diana: "I began to wonder after I'd spoken to him. I said, 'I'm just myself.'"
Gilbey: "they can't come to grips that underneath, there's such a beautiful person in you."
Diana: "I know. He kept wittering on about how one must never think how good one is at their job. There's always something you can learn, around the next corner. I said, 'Well, if people know me, they know I'm like that.'"
Gilbey:"So did you give him a hard time?"
Diana: "I did, actually. In the end, I said, 'I know this sounds so crazy, but I've lived before.' He said, 'How do you know?' I said, 'Because I'm a wise old thing.' I said, "Also I'm aware that people I've loved who died and are in the spirit world look after me.' He looked horrified. I thought, if he's the bloody Bishop, HE should say that sort of thing.'
Gilbey: "I don't really like any of those Bishops especially."
Diana: "Well, I felt very uncomfortable. I said, 'I understand peoples' suffering, peoples' pain, more than you will ever know.' And he said, 'That's obvious by what you are doing for AIDs." I said, "it's not only AIDS; it's anyone who suffers. I can smell them a mile away.'"
Gilbey: "What did he say?"
Diana: "Nothing. He just went quiet. He changed the subject to toys. And I thought, 'Ah ! Defeated you!"
Gilbey is suitably impressed, which is what he is there for: "Marvelous, Darling ! Did you chalk up a little victory?"
When Diana died, I remember big fat tears rolled down my cheeks nearly every time I read about her or looked at her pictures, similar to my reaction when John Kennedy Jr. died, but I cried more often over Diana. I wonder why, when I didn't know her personally, and they didn't know me. I felt that I knew them, somehow.--SUSY
Does all this post show up, or does it seem to get cut off-- thanks for info
-
It's all there.
-
SusyLuvsPaul wrote:
SusyLuvsPaul wrote:
I found a poem my sister wrote soon after the 1997 tragic death of Princess Diana; my sister seems to get inspired to pen poems over the demise of very famous beloved people. She gets them
published in the Sunday Arts magazine of the nearest big news paper. Poems about Diana, whom the French
call "La Dee Dee" and about John Kennedy Jr., Frank Sinatra and race car driver Dale Earnhardt. Here is hers about Diana:
"Sleeping Beauty"
The cameras, the flash bulbs hounded you and led to your demise,
A Lovely life ruined ! What a morbid surprise !
But the chase was on, and so you fled.
Those pictures meant big money
but now you're dead.
They've killed their golden goose, their top prize.
What if you made it out of the tunnel and we didn't have to say goodbye?
Would you too have stayed together, and felt a love so true?
Or would you and Dodie have split up, as so many couples do.
Maybe it was none of our business in the first place
but we will never forget you.
Your beauty, kindness, and grace.
You shared such a sweet smile
and you started to seek out the pooer, defenseless, sick, and weak
We shall never again see the likes of you, Diana,
a fairy tale, a beautiful dream and then a nightmare come true.
The nightmare of the world losing you
Rest well, Diana, there will be no more blinding camera flashes up above.
Only warm and peaceful lights,
surrounding you with love.
It's time for the controversy to end; there's nothing left to discuss.
But this remains, for sure, you will always be
the Queen of Hearts, to us !
--From "The Diana Chronicles" by Tina Brown which I read: the following excerpt is funny, and demonstrates Princess Diana's wry, understated yet sassy British sense of humor, and reminds us of what we lost. You wish, reading this, all over again that Diana had not perished. These pages are about her chats with her secret lover, James Gilbey, who called her "Squidgy." Their private telephone conversations were recorded and later became public (like Prince Charles' and Camilla's during "Camillagate.")
Tina Brown: Like Camillagate, Squidgygate begins mid-conversation.
James Gilby asks, "and so, darling, what are other lows today?" To which Diana replies, "I was very bad at lunch and nearly started sobbing...I thought, 'Bloody Hell, the things I have done for this f--------g family..." Diana's voice has a flat, distracted edge. The tone of the high society recorded chat has less intensity invested than Charles' and Camilla's.
The royal cocoon applies to both calls. Gilbey, like almost everybody else the Prince and Princess meet, is as syncophantic to Diana as Camilla is to Charles. One senses that Diana's interest in him is a little desultory:
Gilbey: "I cry when you cry."
Diana: "I know. So sweet." She is playing with him, and the game isn't exactly what he had in mind. In fact, when he tries to lead their talk in a more promising direction, she exhibits a detumescingly short attention span:
Gilbey: " I haven't played with myself...not for a full 48 hours. (musingly) For 48 hours..."
Diana (sounding vague) "I watched 'Eastenders' today."
He calls her "Darling" 53 times and "Squidgy" 14 times...but there are moments when they seem more interested in her press coverage than they are in each other.
Gilbey: "I get so possessive when I see all these pictures of you. That's the least attractive aspect of me, really. I just see them and think, 'Oh God, if only...'"
Diana {perking up at the mention of publicity) : "There aren't that many pictures, are there? There haven't been that many."
Gilbey:"Four or five today."
Diana: "Oh."
Gilbey: "Various magazines. So darling, I..."
Diana (refusing to be diverted from the topic of herself): "I'm always smiling in them, aren't I?
Gilbey: "Always."
Diana (gloomily) "I thought that today. That I smile in them too much..." There are some pathetic clues to her shaky intellectual confidence...she gave the Bishop of Norwich "that bloody Bishop" as she calls the eminent man of the cloth, an earful:
Diana: "He said, 'I want you to tell me how to talk to people who are ill or dying. How do you cope?"
Gilbey: "He wanted to learn. He's so hopeless at it himself."
Diana: "I began to wonder after I'd spoken to him. I said, 'I'm just myself.'"
Gilbey: "they can't come to grips that underneath, there's such a beautiful person in you."
Diana: "I know. He kept wittering on about how one must never think how good one is at their job. There's always something you can learn, around the next corner. I said, 'Well, if people know me, they know I'm like that.'"
Gilbey:"So did you give him a hard time?"
Diana: "I did, actually. In the end, I said, 'I know this sounds so crazy, but I've lived before.' He said, 'How do you know?' I said, 'Because I'm a wise old thing.' I said, "Also I'm aware that people I've loved who died and are in the spirit world look after me.' He looked horrified. I thought, if he's the bloody Bishop, HE should say that sort of thing.'
Gilbey: "I don't really like any of those Bishops especially."
Diana: "Well, I felt very uncomfortable. I said, 'I understand peoples' suffering, peoples' pain, more than you will ever know.' And he said, 'That's obvious by what you are doing for AIDs." I said, "it's not only AIDS; it's anyone who suffers. I can smell them a mile away.'"
Gilbey: "What did he say?"
Diana: "Nothing. He just went quiet. He changed the subject to toys. And I thought, 'Ah ! Defeated you!"
Gilbey is suitably impressed, which is what he is there for: "Marvelous, Darling ! Did you chalk up a little victory?"
When Diana died, I remember big fat tears rolled down my cheeks nearly every time I read about her or looked at her pictures, similar to my reaction when John Kennedy Jr. died, but I cried more often over Diana. I wonder why, when I didn't know her personally, and they didn't know me. I felt that I knew them, somehow.--SUSY
Does all this post show up, or does it seem to get cut off-- thanks for info
It shows up Susy. Lovely poem by your sister about Diana. Very well done.
-
Princess Diana passed away in a tragic automobile accident in a Paris tunnel on Aug. 31, 1997. Diana, Dodi, the bodyguard didn't know their French driver was intoxicated. And a fast hotrod driver... Perhaps the driver himself didn't realize the extent to which he was impaired, but seems like he would have known, that he'd have felt it. Charles Henri, I think that was his name. Diana's was the biggest, fanciest funeral I ever beheld. It was awesome, and awesomingly sad. I recall feeling touched the Bishop who officiated mentioned Dodi's, the driver's and the bodyguard's names as well, in his eulogy. Though of course I shouldn't have been surprised by that. I felt bitter resentment towards them for not protecting themselves and Diana. For not behaving like responsible adults. Henri shouldn't have partied that evening. Their bodyguard didn't insist they all wear seatbelts, for example... The Paris Ritz was opulent enough; Dodi didn't have to impatiently insist they traipse off late at night to see his lavishly appointed Paris house. They should have stayed at those posh digs that fateful evening.
-
SusyLuvsPaul wrote:
Princess Diana passed away in a tragic automobile accident in a Paris tunnel on Aug. 31, 1997. Diana, Dodi, the bodyguard didn't know their French driver was intoxicated. And a fast hotrod driver... Perhaps the driver himself didn't realize the extent to which he was impaired, but seems like he would have known, that he'd have felt it. Charles Henri, I think that was his name. Diana's was the biggest, fanciest funeral I ever beheld. It was awesome, and awesomingly sad. I recall feeling touched the Bishop who officiated mentioned Dodi's, the driver's and the bodyguard's names as well, in his eulogy. Though of course I shouldn't have been surprised by that. I felt bitter resentment towards them for not protecting themselves and Diana. For not behaving like responsible adults. Henri shouldn't have partied that evening. Their bodyguard didn't insist they all wear seatbelts, for example... The Paris Ritz was opulent enough; Dodi didn't have to impatiently insist they traipse off late at night to see his lavishly appointed Paris house. They should have stayed at those posh digs that fateful evening.
Totally agree. Completely preventable!
