60 years ago – July 1, 1961 – Diana Spencer, the future wife of the British Prince Charles, was born. At the age of 36, she was in a car accident. Years after the death of Princess Diana, millions of fans in different countries continue to remember and love her. How did the myth of the beautiful princess come about?
On the night of August 30-31, 1997, Princess Diana died in a car accident near the Alma Bridge in Paris, along with her companion Dodi al-Fayed. But to this day, the world catches even episodic mentions of her.
Interest in everything connected with the life and death of the princess does not weaken. At an auction in London, the bike that Diana Spencer rode as a child was instantly sold. Tens of thousands of tickets for the concert in memory of the princess were sold within minutes.
Almost 20% of air passengers in response to the question: “Who would you like to see as your fellow traveler?” Named Princess Diana1. Books about her and souvenirs with her image fly like hot cakes.
Diana, popular star, turned into an uncanonized saint
The image of Lady Dee continues to excite our imagination. What is the reason for his attraction? Why do so many admirers – so different and different from each other – unite around a woman who was known only from photographs in magazines and TV reports?
Diana, a popular star, has become an uncanonized saint. People identify themselves with the first, worship with the second.
feat or perfection
The death of Diana overshadowed the death of Mother Teresa, which occurred five days later. Why did we respond differently to these events? “Mother Teresa is more complicated, she was not perfect, in her coordinate system, God occupied the place of the ideal,” says psychotherapist Ksenia Korbut. “It meant that a person can strive to become better, but God cannot be replaced by him. And around Diana, another field is created, in the center of which is a perfect, god-like person. There was an impression that each of us could be like that.”
Identification with a woman
Psychologists from the Universities of Adelaide and Flinders (Australia) conducted a study in which they tried to understand why the death of Princess Diana was perceived by many as a personal loss.2.
“It turned out that this event stirred up many people’s own painful experiences,” says study leader Sheila Clark, Ph.D. “The psychological mechanism of identification has worked.”
Anyone who lost their parents in childhood or worries about the future of their own children unconsciously put themselves in the place of Princes William and Harry and felt the fear of loss. Other people sympathized with Diana’s parents or, oddly enough, Prince Charles …
And all participants in the study perceived the tragic death of a 36-year-old mother as an injustice and evoked sympathy from everyone.
By imitating other people, we build our own identity from early childhood.
“Identification is one of the psychological mechanisms that helps us live among people,” explains existential psychotherapist Svetlana Krivtsova. – Identifying ourselves with others, we play different models of behavior, try on character traits, communication style. And all in order to answer the question: who am I?
Unconsciously imitating other people, we build our own identity from early childhood. By comparing ourselves with others, we will give up something, forget something, but the image of the one we like will continue to influence us.
“The modern world is a world of identification vacuum,” explains Alexander Asmolov, Doctor of Psychology. “We have no heroes, we have no one to fall in love with and no one to worship, we do not have enough people, looking at whom there is a feeling of happiness and confidence. But it was precisely this that was crystallized in the image of Princess Diana.”
For women, Diana has become the ideal offered by glamorous magazines: beautiful, smart, free in her actions.
“Her image attracts primarily men,” says age psychologist Yuri Frolov. “For many of them, Diana embodies the ideal of a woman who combines several facets: the ideal of a young maiden, sister, lover or mother.
From the point of view of the traditional idea of female destiny, Diana was realized: she gave birth to sons. In addition, she had affairs with ordinary people, which allowed every man to present himself as her lover.
And finally, next to her was a not very attractive man who did not look at her with loving eyes. Therefore, in fantasies, they could try on the possibility of taking a woman away from the prince himself and thereby increase their self-esteem.
And for women, Diana has become the ideal offered by glamorous magazines: beautiful, smart, free in her actions. So the process of identification, which gained momentum after the tragic death of the princess, gradually went on during her lifetime. Since we unwittingly tried on the circumstances of her fate.
Embodiment of ideals
Her problems in relations with her husband’s family, his affair, her bulimia, her sorrows – everything went to the public. But our imagination made her life a fairy tale. A girl who has become the chosen one of the prince, oppressed by her mother-in-law and doomed to run away, Diana resembles both Snow White and Cinderella at the same time.
“For me, Princess Di is a fairy tale princess brought to life that the good fairies forgot about when she was in her cradle,” says Alexandra, 44. “But then they realized it … I must admit that I envied her like a little girl looking at a book with wonderful pictures.”
Diana embodied the archetype of absolute femininity
Thus, Diana was a white screen onto which everyone could project their own dreams. That was her weakness, and now it has become her strength. Each of us needs a myth, a fairy tale, giving the opportunity to live a different life, with experiences and events that we cannot experience in real life. So we absorb everything beautiful and inaccessible, and therefore we are so sad when the fairy tale ends.
“Diana’s life is the best example of a fairy tale that has become life,” says Alexander Asmolov. “She was a real princess and, as befits the best fairy tale characters, she left the palace for people. She behaved like an earthly person (and this causes respect). And if she remained cold and aloof, as befits an aristocrat, then we would not have the opportunity to identify ourselves with her.
Diana embodied the archetype of absolute femininity. A beautiful woman, a happy mother, she was natural and open, but did not hide her weakness and vulnerability. “At all times, we needed authorities whose lives, words and deeds reflect the spirit and need of the times,” Alexander Asmolov continues. “Diana dared to transform, which is why so many people bow down to her.”
Star canonization
After the death of Diana, millions of people immediately seemed to canonize the princess. Maxence Granier, a specialist in semiotics, worked on a website opened by the American television network CNN immediately after the accident. “The forum was supposed to collect opinions about the causes of this drama,” he recalls. “But the visitors turned it into a place of worship for Diana.
Among the most frequently encountered words were “God”, “love”, “prayer”, “hope”. Many people spoke directly to her, as if talking to the spirit of the deceased, as if she had passed into a divine dimension.
This attitude can be explained by the circumstances of her death. After all, no one, except relatives, saw her dead. “For millions of people, this means that they cannot mourn her and complete their mourning,” says Yuri Frolov. “Diana for them continues to live in some kind of parallel, mythical life.”
“She was carried away from the world of the living, like other divine heroes,” agrees Alexander Asmolov. Diana died young and beautiful. She will never know old age and will remain unaffected by change – why not a religious image!
“Diana remains a source of positive emotions, which we don’t have so much in ordinary life”
To this we can add irrational elements that warm up people’s love. Rumors of a murder, a paparazzi chase, a conspiracy by the British secret services and the royal family. In other words, if such a powerful alliance of evil forces sought to destroy her, then Diana really “fought” on the side of good. So she turns out to be not only a saint, but also a martyr.
“Be that as it may, attachment to a star, an idol in this not the most comfortable world gives us, first of all, a feeling of warmth and light,” says existential psychologist Dmitry Leontiev. “Diana remains a source of positive emotions, which we don’t have so much in ordinary life.” Therefore, after so many years after her death, we remember her with warmth and hope.
1. According to a survey conducted by YouGoy for British Airways.
2. Details on the website of the University of Adelaide www.adelaide.edu.au