The PR Blog

There are memories that refuse to grow old.

The 29th anniversary of Princess Diana’s death has had me thinking about the day it happened nearly 30 years ago. 

I still get emotional when I remember it.

Not the footage.

Not the flowers outside Kensington Palace.

Another room. Another set of faces. A kindness that had no business being there. It is a true memory. It has never faded. And something that I have never understood. Until now. 

And it all down to a tattooed hand, a solemn face and an unexpected gesture of kindness. 

So off we go, again, down memory lane and having a cup of tea... 

At the time, I was working as an officer in a maximum-security men’s prison... I was definitely a square peg in a very strange hole. 

The prisoners knew that I was a fan of Princess Diana and, as a woman, they always treated me with enormous respect, probably because I was always fair and square with them. And they probably knew that I was not really the normal female they met inside the prison walls. 

One day, I was asked by some of the men to sit down with them, as they had sad news to share. They all looked terribly on edge… distraught, even. They glanced at each other, reluctant to name a spokesperson. Finally, one placed a cup of tea in front of me and said softly, “Here, Miss. You are going to need this.”

A moment later, one of the prisoners ...a big, burly man covered in tattoos, serving life for murder ...reached across and held my hand. Unheard of. With solemn eyes, he said: “Miss… Princess Diana is dead.”

I was shocked, and they all sat in silence, waiting for my response. I have never forgotten that moment of tenderness from some of the toughest blokes I had ever encountered. But I suppose Diana had that effect on people.

Remembering Diana, Princess of Wales: A Life That Touched All Hearts

Diana was a young woman and a mother. People felt they knew her.

The world stopped.

Twenty-nine years later, some of us still stop.

Her influence was not limited to charity. In many ways, she was as much one of us as one of them, walking in that uneasy space between reality and illusion.

She had been given a husband who never truly loved her, marrying only to provide an heir and a spare, while continuing his relationship with the woman who is now his Queen. I have always struggled with his rise to the throne. As a divorced man, he should have been subject to the same rules as his uncle who abdicated to marry Wallis Simpson. In my mind, Prince Edward - ironically, the only one who never divorced – would have been the rightful choice.

Which brings us to the Royal Family today. How far it has fallen since 1997. Our late beloved Queen could see the writing on the wall. The monarchy has become a laughing stock and the recent return of Harry and Meg has compounded its fall from grace into the sea. 

But, in my opinion, the fall began back in 1997 when a car crash killed the last hope of the Monarchy in Britain. 

Since then? Well, the whole palace has become a bloody car crash, hasn't it? 

AI still has problems with spelling... 

Diana was known as the People's Princess.  She was the last link between the monarchy and the People. Old mate Charlie may have finally gotten his preferred bride, but at what cost? Maybe Uncle Edward did the smart thing.  But then again, Charles was never known as a brainy chap. 

So what was it about her that made a group of murderers and drug traffickers stop in reverance that day?  I will never know. 

But one thing I do know is that they saw something in her that her own husband had not. 

Should have gone to Specsavers, Charlie old mate. 

Even the prisoners in a maximum security prison knew a keeper when they saw one. 

Today, whilst millions cast their minds back to floral tributes, tears shed and tabloid headlines, I remember a group of blokes making a cuppa and showing a rare tenderness in a most unexpected place. 

Shaydee