I hate to comment in the negative, but I still cannot understand the obsession with royalty. I truly cannot. She seemed a decent person, I suppose, and she was pretty. But why do we focus so much on people born into wealth and privilege, who haven't earned their success and who are groomed from birth for the role they play for life? I'm far more fascinated by women who have gutted their way to the top of a business, like perhaps Mary Barra, where the forces of industry are extremely male-centric and success is difficult to attain.

If Diana hadn't died in a tragic accident, she'd have been a byline at best today. James Dean. Heath Ledger. Prince. Elvis. Jimi Hendrix. Bruce Lee. Tupac. Kurt Cobain. Jim Morrison. Selena. We write endless hagiographies when someone famous dies young.

I agree with you overall. That having been said, for some reason royalty tends to hold a natural appeal for people. Perhaps it's that culture is such that we're raised, from the time we're very small, to want to be like the fairytale characters in the books (and cartoons and movies), that are particularly special and worthy of admiration if they're a prince, princess, king, or queen.

@genplant29 said:

I agree with you overall. That having been said, for some reason royalty tends to hold a natural appeal for people. Perhaps it's that culture is such that we're raised, from the time we're very small, to want to be like the fairytale characters in the books (and cartoons and movies), that are particularly special and worthy of admiration if they're a prince, princess, king, or queen.

I'll upvote that. There is a fantasy element at play, I'm certain. Why we continue to indulge our daughters to want to be princesses instead of astronauts and engineers I'll never know. I think that social imprinting is why we have so few women in the sciences. Do you know a lot of young men who want to grow up to be, or to dress up like, princes? Hopefully, over time we can discard the notion of monarchy and inherited privilege.

I think people would argue, "Well it's just harmless fantasy." But is it? If we continue to reinforce to our daughters that their ultimate goal in life is to find their prince charming, or pine for a husband, are we short-changing their future? Do we tell our young men that their goal in life is to find a beautiful woman? (I mean, other than handing them Playboy magazines.) I know I've gone off on a tangent, but this is always what occurs to me when society obsesses about celebrities and their lifestyles. It's all so trivial and distracting.

Don't worry, I'm not a spoilsport. I'd probably have indulged my daughter also, if I'd had one. But maybe someday we can place scientists and explorers on a similar pedestal.

Very good points - and you're certainly correct that little girls get it drilled into them, as soon as they're able to be dressed up cute and to understand, that, "Awww - you're a beautiful little princess." Then, from there, endless Disney (and similar) cartoons, Barbie dolls, etc., reinforce the notion, that a princess is something to aspire to (like anyone we're ever going to personally know will actually become one).