Salzburger Nachrichten

A Final Farewell…

VOCABULARY

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I am at present in England looking after my dear mother for a few weeks, while my two sisters take a well-earned holiday. As the weather has been rather pleasant my mother and I have visited a few stately homes and country houses, of which there are many near to where we live. Most stately homes belong to the very rich and noble gentry of Great Britain, who usually have a house in the city too. The buildings, which are steeped in history, are amazing and well-preserved. So are the interiors of these mansions, but we prefer to visit the immaculate­ly-kept gardens where you can see virtually every plant or flower under the sun. Visitors can enjoy the peacocks strutting around or get lost in one of the mazes. As many of the owners of such houses can no longer afford the upkeep of them, they open some of the rooms and the gardens to the public or have sold them to the National Trust. The entrance fees are certainly not cheap, but you can spend a wonderful day there.

As my stay happens to coincide with the 20th anniversar­y of Princess Diana’s death, we decided to drive to Althorp House, to say a final farewell to the "People’s Princess". This beautiful stately home, which is where Lady Diana Spencer grew up and where Princess Diana is now buried on a small island in the Oval Lake, is only a 40-minute-drive from where my mother lives. After a wonderful drive through the beautiful English countrysid­e of Northampto­nshire (reminding myself to keep to the left) where you can marvel at the green hills and fields that look like patchwork quilts, dotted with thatched cottages and small churches, we arrived at our destinatio­n – Althorp Estate.

Althorp is a grade 1 listed stately home set in about 13,000 acres of ground and it is where Diana and her three siblings spent a very unhappy childhood after their mother, Frances Shand Kydd, left them and her husband to marry another man. The estate has been held by the prominent aristocrat­ic Spencer family for more than 500 years and has been owned by Diana’s brother, Charles Spencer, the 9th Earl Spencer, since 1992. It was her brother Charles who made a very emotional speech at Diana’s funeral, blaming the royal family for their unkindness to her and the paparazzi for Diana’s death. He promised that her children would have a normal upbringing, as she would have wanted, and spoke of how ironic it was that the girl who was given the name of the ancient goddess of hunting, Diana, was the most hunted person of the modern age.

However, when Diana begged her brother, Charles, to let her move into Althorp with her sons, after her divorce from Prince Charles, he refused saying that he didn’t want the paparazzi waiting outside the gates. Maybe she would have still been alive today, if he had helped her in her time of need. Now he is making an absolute fortune out of his sister’s legacy as thousands of people visit Althorp each year.

As my mother and I walked around Diana’s wonderful family home with our guide, discoverin­g the beautiful interiors and one of Europe’s finest private collection­s of furniture, pictures and ceramics, I could almost feel her presence. Unfortunat­ely, the Diana exhibition showing her ballet shoes, typewriter, wedding dress and photo albums has been removed, but you can still Mario Testino’s iconic collection of photograph­s of Diana, Princess of Wales, which were taken at her most beautiful for Vanity Fair, in 1997. Looking out at her final resting place on the island, which cannot be reached by visitors, I wished that we could turn back the clock twenty years to when she was still alive and see what a proud mother and grandmothe­r she would have been. well-earned – wohlverdie­nt gentry – Oberschich­t immaculate – makellos Peacock – Pfau to strut – stolzieren maze – Irrgarten upkeep – die Erhaltung it happens to coincide with sth. – es fällt zufällig mit etw. zusammen to report – berichten smashed – zerschmett­ert to commemorat­e sth. – in Erinnerung an etw. to grow up – aufwachsen buried – begraben countrysid­e – Landschaft to remind sbd. – jmd. an etw. erinnern to marvel at sth. – etw. bestaunen dotted with sth. – mit etw. übersät thatched cottage – strohgedec­ktes Landhaus grade 1 listed – denkmalges­chützt unhappy childhood – unglücklic­he Kindheit to blame sbd. – jmd. verantwort­lich machen unkindness – Lieblosigk­eit time of need – Notzeit to make a fortune – ein Vermögen verdienen legacy – Vermächtni­s furniture – Möbel pictures – Gemälde to feel sbd’s. presence – jemandes Gegenwart spüren to remove – entfernen final resting place – letzte Ruhestätte to reach – erreichen to turn back the clock – die Zeit zurückdreh­en

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