Word: royalities
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...ancient Greek mythology, Diana was a patroness of virgins and goddess of the hunt, and any man who trespassed upon her privacy was likely to be punished by death. In our less supernal era, Princess Diana had been a virgin cynically used by the so-called "royal family" of Britain, of whom her husband Prince Charles was the most manipulative. And she was the one to be hunted, both symbolically and with a terrifying literalness, to her death. If Diana had possessed any flickering consciousness in these last minutes of her life, it would have been of those human jackals...
...fact, the hunt that resulted in Princess Diana's death began almost 20 years ago. When Diana was in her late teens, and Prince Charles was turning 30, royal courtiers were casting about for a worthy (i.e., unsullied, virginal) bride for the heir to the throne. It would not matter, evidently, that these courtiers, like the members of the royal family, knew of Charles' semisecret relationship with the married woman Camilla Parker Bowles. The princess-to-be was required to be virginal in every sense--to be ignorant of the very conditions of her marriage. With the cruel logic...
Miss Diana had become Her Royal Highness, the Princess of Wales...
...marriage, however, was failing. Even in 1985, there were hints that not all was well. In December she danced onstage at the Royal Opera House to the surprise of the audience--and Charles, for whom the performance was a Christmas gift. Says WAYNE SLEEP, who partnered her onstage: "We took eight curtain calls, and as we left the stage, Diana turned to me and laughingly said, 'Beats the wedding...
RICHARD BRANSON, founder of the Virgin music-and-airline empire, remembers that Diana could grow pointedly funny about symbols of royalty. "She would often take the mickey out of Charles and the royal family," he recalls. "Once at a dinner party, a guest said to Diana, 'I know you don't like dogs.' 'Oh, no,' said Diana. 'It's not dogs I don't like; it's corgis. They get the blame for all the farts.'" Corgis are the breed usually associated with Queen Elizabeth...