The shy one, 29 years after the tunnel (spoken)
Spoken in my own voice. 62 seconds.
Twenty-nine years ago, the most photographed woman in the world died in the Pont de l'Alma tunnel in Paris. Dodi Fayed and the driver died too. The jury ruled unlawful killing: the pursuing paparazzi and the driver.
She started as the shy one, “noted for her shyness.” The looking was a trap, until she learned what it was for.
She opened the UK's first AIDS ward and shook the patients' hands on camera. “HIV does not make people dangerous to know,” she said. “You can shake their hands and give them a hug.” She did it anyway.
Panorama. “There were three of us in this marriage, so it was a bit crowded.” The woman chosen for her silence, speaking.
January 1997. She walked a cleared corridor through an Angolan minefield. An MP called her a loose cannon. Months later, the Ottawa Treaty banned the mines.
Then the tunnel.
Buckingham Palace had a rule: no flag ever flies at half-mast over it, not even on the death of a monarch. On the day of her funeral the Union Flag was lowered. First time ever. The palace that spent sixteen years managing her light broke its oldest rule.
The world looked at Diana Spencer for sixteen years. She spent the last ten aiming the look.
Stormi Nyx · Dates and places, told true · [email protected]