In quite coincidental timing [considering the Princess Diana biopic with Naomi Watts releasing so soon], Lady Pamela Hicks launches an attack on Princess Diana. Hicks is first cousin to Prince Philip, but I don’t imagine she’ll be treated very well by most of the royal family after this.
But we don’t believe in coincidence. The facts are that the Royal Family has pretty well disowned the film as it will dredge up memories of Prince Charles’ long cheating affair with Camilla Parker-Bowles while married to Di. Furthermore, the reopened investigation into Di’s death as a possible murder won’t put this biopic on Queen Elizabeth’s list of all time favorite films. The royals like to control their portrayal in the media and this film is way off the reservation in that regard.
Hicks spoke to Vanity Fair and said a lot of horrible things about Diana, including, “She had enormous charisma, she was beautiful, she was very good at empathy with the general crowd … and she had no feeling at all for her husband or his family. Quite the reverse! She was really spiteful, really unkind to him—and, my God, he’s a man who needs support and encouragement. [The marriage] absolutely destroyed him. He looked grey and ghost-like. Now of course he’s blossomed again.”
She also added, “She made everybody believe she’d been thrown to the wolves. Such nonsense! She was given the Queen’s favorite lady-in-waiting, Sue Hussey, to help her, to teach her. But she didn’t want to be told anything. ‘That’s boring, Sue,’ she’d say. Instead, she wanted to listen to her music and go disco-ing or to some jive concert. She didn’t try. She had no need to try because she saw the people admired her, then they admired her more. She reckoned she was the star.”
In my opinion, this is very clearly a propaganda attack on Diana, and I wouldn’t be surprised if Camilla Parker-Bowles was the one who put Hicks up to this. The whole quote about Prince Charles looking ghost-like with Diana and now ‘blossoming’ again is clearly designed to make Camilla look good and less like a husband thief. It’s a solid attempt, but in no way shape or form will diminish Diana’s life or legacy. First of all, Prince Harry and Prince William loved their mother as did the public, and their word will account for far more than some random royal.
Secondly, public sympathy for Diana exceeds sympathy for Prince Charles, and a large part of that is due to the fact that she’s no longer living and can’t even defend herself from these allegations. Besides, didn’t Pamela ever learn the most basic rule of not insulting the deceased? It’s just poor manners, and that tells you the kind of royal that Pamela Hicks is.