Talking with a Princess

    I can't believe that I am standing in front of Princess Diana herself. She sits in a chair staring back at me almost expressionless; she isn’t smiling or waving proud like a royal woman should. Instead Diana hides secrets which are forever untold and locked up within the frames of her portrait.

  As I walk through the National Portrait Gallery studying Diana’s face I find myself wishing that I could magically jump into the picture with her. I imagine that she and I would gossip about her boys as well as Prince Charles. She would tell me what it is really like to be married into the royal family and how it is to have a mother-in-law who is Queen over all of Britain.

   Surely Diana would let a few royal secrets slip and then admit to me that the high life is not all that it seems to be. She reveals  some of the trials and struggles she faces on a daily basis but she does so with no hint of complaint in her voice. And although the princess never says it, I can sense that she felt relief once she traded in her tiara and pearls for a new title. No longer does she need to fulfill the duties of a Royal Highness, but is free to just be a princess. 

  But of course Princess Diana and I never actually spoke. I awake from my daydream to discover that I am still just standing in front of her portrait. I never jumped inside or shared a laugh with my kindred spirit. She didn’t really give me a tour around Kensington Palace or the inside scoop on Prince Harry.

  Unfortunately, my life isn't like the television shows from my childhood, and I can't magically “skidoo” myself into the picture with her. Instead I must come to terms with reality and force myself to be content with what I can learn from studying the portrait. And because of this I find that Princess Diana is still everything I imagine her to be. No longer is she just a purple teddy bear sitting on my shelf, but she is a role-model of what any aspiring princess should be. Surely, she made her mistakes, but she corrected them well, and above all she loved and was loved by her people.

"I think  the biggest disease the world suffers from in this day and age is the disease of people feeling unloved. I know that I can give love for a minute, for half an hour, for a day, for a month, but I can give. I am very happy to do that, I want to do that." -Princess Diana

Miscellaneous Pictures:

At Abbey Road. (Well... we tried our best to look cool)