‘Deeply saddened’ Princes release statement regarding inappropriate photos
An official statement has been released by Clarence House saying how Princes William and Harry feel about the recent publication of photos of their late mother, Princess Diana of Wales, wounded after the car crash that caused her death.
An Italian newspaper made public a set of photos of a dying Princess Diana, Dodi Al Fayed and their driver. The following statement, written by the princes, was released yesterday. Click the extended post to read it in its entirety.
More information can be read at The Royalist.
"Following this week’s publication in an Italian magazine of material relating directly to the death of our mother, we feel deeply saddened that such a low has been reached. Despite the support shown to us and our mother’s memory by so many people over the last eight years, we feel that, as her sons, we would be failing in our duty to her now if we did not protect her – as she once did us."
"Therefore we appeal to all forms of media throughout the world to appreciate fully that publishing such material causes great hurt to us, our father, our mother’s family and all those who so loved and respected her."
- Posted on Jul 16, 06 at 9:00AM
- Permalink
- 15 Comments
July 16th, 2006 at 9:28 am
where can I find the pictures?
July 16th, 2006 at 9:36 am
some people really have no shame.
July 16th, 2006 at 10:58 am
Being a huge Diana fan, I was very upset myself when I found out someone did that so I can’t even imagine what went through Harry and William’s minds. It’s so sad that some tabloids can’t even let the poor thing rest in peace.
July 16th, 2006 at 12:40 pm
My heart goees out to those very brave young men
July 16th, 2006 at 2:21 pm
We live in a day and age where you turn on the news and see footage of starving children in Africa and various other countries, innocent civilians being killed in the Middle East and elsewhere, and yet where is the outrage for these images??? Just because Diana was royalty, a celebrity, all of a sudden people are outraged because a magazine chose to publish those pictures. For the record, I respected her as a person and a philantropist, so this is not about her, per se. My anger is about how everyone is so hypocritical, they sit back and pay no attention to sad situations in Darfur, in Israel etc, and yet a 10 year old black and white grainy picture of a princess can cause such an uproar. How many times have you watched the footage of JFK’s assination? Of the Challenger explosion? How are those any different? They are a part of history, we show that footage in schools for goodness sakes…but that magazine is evil because they printed a picture of a this particular tragedy?… Its called freedom of the press. I just don’t get it…
July 16th, 2006 at 3:06 pm
Nancy I think you raise some very interesting and valid points. However, I think there’s a difference between the assassination of Kennedy & the Challenger explosion, and the death of Princess Diana.
The Kennedy & Challenger tragedies occurred in public in front of millions of people. Princess Diana died while going about her private life; she was not conducting official duties when she passed away.
I don’t think it’s fair to compare photos of Darfur and Israel to that of something like Diana’s death. Showing images of war, poverty, and other world suffering help bring attention to important issues that the world *should* be made aware of. I can’t think of one reason why photographs of Princess Diana dying should be made public? Besides the obvious trauma to her children & other loved ones; I think it’s highly unethical.
I’m all for freedom of the press, but in my opinion, printing photos of her dying crosses the line of decency. I can only imagine how her son’s must feel, and their feelings should supersede any possible justification for printing such photos.
Princess Diana did a lot of good for many people & worthwhile causes in her short life. She was photographed constantly and relentlessly pursued by the paparazzi. I think she deserves to at least die with a little dignity and privacy and not have her last moments splashed around the tabloids for the world to see.
July 16th, 2006 at 3:26 pm
well said Gargoylegurl. ITA! I love to see celebs and their children, but not in that light. I have always felt for Harry and William and what they have endured during and after their mother’s death. Especially with pictures like those surfacing. Publishing pictures like that is just not a human thing to do. It is a terrible, low class, and downright disgusting act of no conscience. I would NEVER want to see any photos like that. It reminds me of a certain beheading video that was floating around the internet a coupld years back that I happened upon. I had no idea what I was even watching at first, but I do know once I figured it out I stopped it. It made me physically ill. As would pictures of Princess Di after the accident. As would any picture of a celeb, or non celeb for that matter, in such a state. I don’t watch the news because I am tired of seeing just how far they will go with things like that.
July 16th, 2006 at 3:49 pm
gargoylegurl, you too raise some very good points. While I disagree with some, I think you are spot on with others. I guess what frustrutes me the most is that while you are right in your claim that “Showing images of war, poverty, and other world suffering help bring attention to important issues that the world *should* be made aware of,” these images very rarely provoke the kind of reaction in the general public the way these pictures of Princess Diana did. If only people would be as aware and moved by the images of war and hunger and they would by the images of an icon in her last moments – one life is not more or less worthwhile or deserving of attention than another, be it a life of a princess or the life of a dying child in a third world country.
I also believe that when you enter that kind of public life (marry into royalty, run for president etc), you make the concious decision to lead your personal and ‘official’ lives as one…It may not be dignified to you, but that is the way it works, and as an adult you make the decision to lead a public life, you can’t pick and choose when the photogs will be following you. Look at most of the pictures on this site, they are of celebrities and thier families, children…they are going about thier private lives as well, so should we stop viewing this pictures? I think most of us that come to this site love viewing pictures of ‘celebrities’ in their private lives – so why should that one magazine apologize for that? Because it is offensive to some? Traumatic to some? (It can be argued that the Kennedy footage, Challenger footage is traumatic to the family members involved as well…)
I fully understand that this is not the correct forum to engage in this kind of debate, so I will refrain from posting on this topic any more.
BTW, I love CBB. Great site, great pictures…
July 16th, 2006 at 4:55 pm
nancy would you like to see photos of your dying mother plastered over the papers. I think not!
July 16th, 2006 at 6:22 pm
The most important question is why now? It is almost nine years later so what is the relevance of these photos now? And honestly you cannot compare looking at a pic of Gwen Stefani or any other celeb holding their newborn to a pic of a medically distressed Princess Diana who is moments away from death. Actually a paper here in NYC ran a picture of a dead child who was killed in an accident a few months ago and there was outrage over that as well. The disdain here also speaks for the manner in which the photos were taken. When Diana crashed she was being pursued by the Papparazzi. It just seems a little sleazy that the same guys who were chasing her down that street were later snapping her photos as she lay dying. Of course I have the good sense to know that is what they are paid to do regardless, but it is still sleazy to me nonetheless.
July 17th, 2006 at 1:26 am
Thank goodness CBB didn’t show the photos. I would have been absolutely disgusted. I know the media often ‘crosses the line’, but this is a line which shouldn’t be crossed (or debated, really). Gargoylegurl addressed the issue really well.
July 17th, 2006 at 1:51 am
I saw one on perez site and I was horrified. I clicked the comment link not realizing i’d see the picture and bam there it was. I was a HUGE fan of Diana’s and was horrified and saddened by the sight of the picture and extreamly dissapointed in Perez Hilton.
I agree 100% with Gargoylegurl.
July 17th, 2006 at 8:10 am
That is awful, I can’t imagine how they feel. Let her rest in peace!
July 18th, 2006 at 6:51 am
Firstly, I think the hype over these photos (which I haven’t seen, and don’t plan to) is a litle OTT. At lot of the time, people think they should be shocked by them, so they assume that reaction. I guess my personal opinion is that they are totally unnecessary, but I don’t see why people, other than Diana’s family, are so worked up. Sure, I don’t believe it’s right to show these photos, and if I was the editor of that magazine, I certainly wouldn’t have published them out of respect, but this certainly isn’t in league with, for instance, that horrible photo of River Phoenix after he died. There are different leagues of the inappropriate in these situations, and I don’t think the Diana photos issue is as bad as the press (at least here in the UK) are making out. Having said that, I don’t actually believe they should’ve been released anyway, and perhaps the person really to blame is the one who allowed that to happen, not the guy who, rightly or wrongly, chose to print them.
July 18th, 2006 at 11:22 am
DISGUSTING! I would never look at those. my mom is dead & I would feel so angry & horrible if that happened to her. Poor boys.
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so why should that one magazine apologize for that? Because it is offensive to some? Traumatic to some?
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Because it’s in horribly bad taste. Her freaking kids have every right to be sad & outraged. All these years later people are still doing disgusting things to make a buck off their mother’s death. Like Nicole said ,would you want that done to your mother. Just becaue the press has freedom doesn’t mean people should not show their outrage.