In the summer of 1997 Diana, formerly Princess of Wales, was killed in a car accident in Paris, France. The outpouring of sympathy for the likable Diana on the part of the British and global populace took the British royal family, whose attitude towards Diana was at best equivocal, by surprise. This really excellent film shows how the royals, and in particular Queen Elizabeth, dealt with the situation — or failed to deal with it.

The first point I noted was the contrast between the isolated and somewhat archaic royals and the new Prime Minister, Tony Blair (Michael Sheen), who comes across as a considerably more sympathetic character in this film than the real “Bush’s lapdog” does these days. One nice touch was a telephone conversation between the Queen (Helen Mirren) and Blair, in which each was in his or her library. The Queen’s at Balmoral Castle was chock full of ancient leather-bound books, in sets, none of them apparently ever touched by the fingers of an inveterate reader. Blair’s at Number 10 Downing Street was almost as large and consisted of hundreds of modern works, mostly in paper, mostly apparently read at one time or another and replaced on the shelves as the spirit moved him.

Uncomprehending as she may have been, the Queen, like Blair (with whom she reaches an understanding at the end of the film), is another sympathetic character. The same can’t be said for all the others in the film. Prince Philip of Edinburgh, the consort (James Cromwell), is distinctly unlikable, as well as being clueless (his solution to the problem of the two Princes’ having just lost their mother is to take them out stag-hunting every day). Alastair Campbell (Mark Bazeley), Blair’s main man, sees everything only in terms of political advantage for Blair. For me, these were two of the best characters in the film. Somewhere in the middle, of course, was Prince Charles (Alex Jennings), who despite some real feeling for his former wife seemed to worry more about how public opinion would redound on him, to the point at which he actually feared assassination. Another one in the middle was Cherie Blair, whose antipathy to the Royals seemed aimed at convincing her husband to foment a new French Revolution … in Britain.

Again, with some help and urging from Blair — and over the foot-dragging and obstructionism of certain of the Royals — everything comes out as right as it can at the end. The movie’s story is, of course, about how things managed to get there. It’s a great story.

The film is brilliant in every way, save one.  In reality, the Queen’s reactions to Diana’s death surely covered a range of ambivalent feelings, and was not just a cold insistence on protocol, as suggested by the film.

Prince Charles tells his mother, “The Diana we knew was very different than the Diana idolized by the public”, but this truth is never developed in the film.  I’ll mention it here.

While the “people’s princess” remains the icon of superficial popular culture, the Royals knew a very different, darker character behind the facades of glamour and pseudo-compassion.

Both Diana and her brother, Charles Spencer, suffered from Borderline Personality Disorder caused by their mother’s abandoning them as young children.  A google search reveals that Diana is considered a case study in BPD by mental health professionals.

For Charles Spencer, BPD meant insatiable sexual promiscuity (his wife was divorcing him at the time of Diana’s death). For Diana, BPD meant intense insecurity and insatiable need for attention and affection which even the best husband could never fulfill. 

Clinically, it’s clear that the Royal family did not cause her “problems”. Rather, Diana brought her multiple issues into the marriage, and the Royal family was hapless to deal with them.

Her illness, untreated, sowed the seeds of her fast and unstable lifestyle, and sadly, her tragic fate.