Postscript: An Alternative Roman Catholic View of the Diana Moment
April 2, 2013
As a postscript to my previous post on the Archbishop of Westminster's view of the significance of the death of Diana, Princess of Wales, here is a rather more perceptive Roman Catholic assessment from the pen of George Weigel:
"[Tony] Blair's recounting of the death and funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales, brings into clearest focus the hollowness at the heart of the Britain he and New Labour helped midwife into being. That this was a crucial moment for Blair personally, and for his premiership, seems evident from the fact that he devotes an entire chapter [of his memoirs] to the tale. Diana, he writes, was 'an icon' who 'captured the essence of an era and held it in the palm of her hand'; she was, in the Alastair Campbell/Tony Blair phrase, 'the people's princess.' Her state funeral, the prime minister decided, 'had to be dignified; it had to be different; it had to be Diana.' What it didn't have to be, at least by Blair's account, was Christian, despite its being held in Westminster Abbey, 'hard by the shrine of St. Edward the Confessor and the sacring place of the kings of England,' as Evelyn Waugh once wrote. Somehow, according to Blair, 'Elton John singing "Candle in the Wind" and doing it rather brilliantly' was 'in keeping with Westminster Abbey.' Well, yes, if Westminster Abbey is simply a stage, a shrine to the Real Absence on which any romance may be produced." Practicing Catholic, p. 89.
That is extremely well put and sums up with precision the vacuous nature of the events and that which they represented. It should also resonate with Protestants.
"[Tony] Blair's recounting of the death and funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales, brings into clearest focus the hollowness at the heart of the Britain he and New Labour helped midwife into being. That this was a crucial moment for Blair personally, and for his premiership, seems evident from the fact that he devotes an entire chapter [of his memoirs] to the tale. Diana, he writes, was 'an icon' who 'captured the essence of an era and held it in the palm of her hand'; she was, in the Alastair Campbell/Tony Blair phrase, 'the people's princess.' Her state funeral, the prime minister decided, 'had to be dignified; it had to be different; it had to be Diana.' What it didn't have to be, at least by Blair's account, was Christian, despite its being held in Westminster Abbey, 'hard by the shrine of St. Edward the Confessor and the sacring place of the kings of England,' as Evelyn Waugh once wrote. Somehow, according to Blair, 'Elton John singing "Candle in the Wind" and doing it rather brilliantly' was 'in keeping with Westminster Abbey.' Well, yes, if Westminster Abbey is simply a stage, a shrine to the Real Absence on which any romance may be produced." Practicing Catholic, p. 89.
That is extremely well put and sums up with precision the vacuous nature of the events and that which they represented. It should also resonate with Protestants.
