Outpouring of grief following crash was ‘typically British’
THE mass outpouring of grief after Diana, Princess of Wales died was actually a “typically British” response, an expert in death rituals has said.
A sea of floral tributes was left at the gates of the Princess’s home Kensington Palace, and hundreds of thousands of people lined her funeral route, with some weeping and throwing flowers as the coffin passed.
But the public sorrow witnessed in 1997 was nothing new.
Professor Douglas Davies, director of the Centre for Death and Life Studies at Durham University, said such a release of emotion had been common throughout history.
From the death of Queen Victoria’s husband Prince Albert to the sinking of the Titanic in 1912, Britons have often gathered together in shock and mourning. After the loss of life on the Titanic, St Paul’s Cathedral had to close its doors two hours before the service because of the vast numbers of people.
“There was an enormous public response to the deaths on the
Titanic,” Prof Davies said. “They were kneeling in
prayer in Trafalgar Square. If that happened today the media would go berserk – you can just see the headline now, ‘Religious Revival’.”
The author of Mors Britannica: Lifestyle and Death-style in Britain Today added: “The reaction to Diana’s death was typically British.”
But the media overlooked the past when they responded to Diana’s death, he said.
Prof Davies said: “At the time, the response of the media was without consideration of British history of responses to such things.
“There have been large outpourings of sentiment.”
Prof Davies said Diana’s was an “offending death” where the Princess was suddenly killed, viewed as a victim, and where authority figures seemed not to be reacting in the wake of the crash.
In the days that followed, the Queen was criticised for failing to respond to the mood of the nation when she stayed at Balmoral to comfort her young grandsons Princes William and Harry.
Prof Davies suggested that the perceived “betrayal of a Princess” was one of the factors that amplified people’s grief.