An enigma that was Di

JAIPUR: Was she a humanitarian dynamite who was distraught by a dishonest husband and beguiled by a cunning paramour? Or was she a saintly creature, married to a man whose heart she never possessed?
Years have gone by, but the “loveless” marriage between the Prince of Wales, Charles and Princess Diana continues to charm the audience, as was evident from the noon session of the Fifth DSC Jaipur Literature Festival, on its penultimate day on Sunday.
The session, dedicated to ‘The Diana Chronicles,’ was held at the front lawn of Diggy Palace, where its author Tina Brown dissected the rocky marriage of Charles and Diana.
The Diana Chronicles, a biography of Diana, was published in 2007, exactly 10 years after her death in a road mishap. And Brown came calling to the Pink City with the mystifying rivets of the broken marriage, which had seen infidelity on both the sides. The session was originally scheduled at the “Mughal Tent” portion, but the swelling crowd made the organisers shift it to the front lawns, which, apparently has the maximum capacity. In few minutes, the venue was jam-packed where country’s litterati had descended to listen to the juicy tales of ‘pati’, ‘patni’ and an n number of ‘wohs’, who had figured in the lives of the royal couple.
Seated in conversation with noted journalist Vir Sanghvi, Brown touched the cord with the audience in no time, as she offered the intimate tales of Diana-Charles lives. “The sexual chemistry between Charles and Diana never worked and Charles, despite being elder, never tried to figure out how it will work better,” said Brown.
From recounting her meetings with the royal couple and authoring a book about their relationship, Brown was clear in her approach. She was more into vindicating Diana and proving that the Prince of Wales was largely to be blamed for the broken marriage.
“Diana was a highly strong and a needy woman. She wanted a man who was loving, caring and available. But her marriage with Charles was so loveless that she looked for validation from outside,” Brown said.
As the conversation reached its high point, there were mentions of men in Diana’s life including Dodi, who was accompanying Diana during her Parisian doom. Even the semen, which led to birth of Prince Harry was discussed. Brown pointed out that questions were bound to pour because Diana conceived Harry at a time when relationship between the couple had soured to no return.
Dissecting the enigmatic beauty of Diana, Brown’s sophisticated approach brought the sunny noon at the front lawn to standstill. There were frills, there were grins and there were murmurs as the audience was awestruck listening to the tales from the author, who as a long-time serious student of celebrity, is considered in a perfect position to write the speculative life of a global celebrity.
Going by the accounts of Brown, the gathering could easily assimilate the typical love-hate Indian script where the vamp plays the tricks and a marriage is ultimately broken. Her assertion was that Camilla Parker was the godmother to the Charles-Diana wedding as she was confident that her relationship with Charles will flourish. “She foresaw no threat to her relationship in the presence of Diana, who came from a middle class background.” The story was so akin to the countless scripts that the Bollywood has offered to its audience. Brown had her apprehensions too about the future of the Wales next generation after Queen Elizabeth.
“Queen is the last remaining florescent from the royal families and there will certainly be difficulties for William and Harry in days to come.”