Women Couldn’t Resist Living Life Of Toyalty Through Diana

Why do American women find Princess Diana so fascinating?

Perhaps it’s because she represented an archetype, the beautiful princess, from the stories we devoured when we were young. A decade before we encountered feminism, European-American girls memorized fairy tales.

By the age of 3, we developed the capacity to imagine we too were dazzling royalty, as we played dress-up in long gowns, and imprinted the words “happily ever after” on our tiny psyches. We never pretended to be Superman or Babe Ruth.

As adults, we could dismiss Diana. She never graduated from college, never entered a career. She was not a brilliant thinker. But she shone in other ways, available for whatever we might project: the warmth and compassion that women have always valued seemed to be conveyed in her wide smile, her extraordinary need for connection and relationship in her tactile nature. In photographs, Queen Elizabeth clutched turquoise handbags; Diana held the hands of dying children.

No, Diana was not the epitome of emotional stability, intellectual achievement or determined leadership. But she had a great heart. She had a beautifully expressive face. She loved her boys deeply. And for millions of women who long ago believed for an instant that they too were princesses, she was irresistible.

, DataTimes MEMO: In death as in life, Princess Diana was never far removed from the press. The Spokesman-Review’s photo editor, John Sale, and five Opinion Page writers (Rebecca Nappi, John Webster, Jamie Tobias Neely, Doug Floyd and D.F. Oliveria) offer brief observations about that relationship and about Diana as a public figure.