Looking at this image of Princess Diana consoling Elton John at Gianni Versace’s funeral, it hits me deep in a way that words barely do justice. She was such a real, raw, kind person—someone who could feel someone else’s pain and reach out to offer comfort, even when her own heart must’ve been breaking. Yet, just a month later, she would meet the same tragic fate. And it wasn’t just an accident. It was the result of the paparazzi—those vultures who couldn’t leave her alone, who hounded her to the point of no escape. It’s hard not to feel this deep sense of sadness mixed with anger.
She knew. She could sense what was coming for her, and that thought, that fear she lived with, just makes me ache. She once said she thought it would happen in a small plane, or a car, or a helicopter, and it did—trying to escape from the very people who had been tormenting her for years. I just can’t get over that. Here was a woman, trying so hard to make the world better, but the world gave her nothing in return.
The royal family’s coldness after her death? It’s unbearable. She was a mother of two of their own, but they didn’t even acknowledge her passing. How do you do that to someone who gave so much of herself? Diana deserved so much more than that. She was way too good for Charles, and yet, they let her suffer. It’s sickening, really.
I remember when she held that little boy with HIV, how the world was shocked. But that’s who she was—always trying to spread love and understanding, even in the most difficult situations. It’s heartbreaking that, in the end, no one did the same for her. Her life was cut short, and she never got the peace she so desperately needed. All she wanted was to be loved for who she was, not for the title she held.
And now, when I hear Elton John sing “Candle in the Wind,” I think of how much Diana deserved to hear those words while she was still here, how much she deserved to know that people saw her for who she truly was. I think of all she could’ve been, all the good she could’ve done if she was just allowed to live freely.
This picture of Diana with Elton John will always remind me of what we lost—the real, compassionate person who didn’t deserve the pain she endured. She was a legend, and in her own quiet way, she made the world a little bit better. And that’s something no one can ever take from her.
I came across an old newspaper the other day.
