Princess Di and the Madness of Crowds, by David Warren

By David Warren, The Catholic Thing, July 2, 2021

David Warren is a former editor of the Idler magazine and columnist in Canadian newspapers. He has extensive experience in the Near and Far East. …

It is nearly a quarter-century since Britain’s Princess Diana lived and breathed – the space in which we put one generation. Prince Charles has become an old man; everyone born then has now grown up, at least on paper.

My memory is of a dreadful time: absorbing figurative blows from angry newspaper readers when I failed to join in the spectacle of mourning; then the chaos of a visit to Calcutta (“Kolkata”). This was because Mother Teresa also died, several days later, thus saving me from being eaten. I stayed on in Bengal for another week after her newsworthy funeral, writing stories about the glories of Calcutta, to prolong my holiday. …