08/30/2007

Moment Captured: Princess Diana's Death 8/31/97

As a follow-up to my last post, one of our readers sent us a link to a video he happened to be shooting (he had bought a new video camera that day and was playing around with it) at the moment he and his friends learned that Diana had been killed. It's an interesting "fly-on-the-wall" moment which captures the shock of the shock of the moment and the somber aftermath.

Posted 1:41 PM EST by Andy in Great Britain, News, Princess Diana, Royalty, Towleroad Guide to the Tube | Permalink

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Comments

1. Those guys, especially the one in the black shirt, didn't seem gay at all. Not one bit. Gee, you'd never know.

   NOT!!!!!

   Posted by: Gay? | Aug 30, 2007 2:16:01 PM

   
   

2. Yeah, they're gay. This is a gay blog. What's your point?

   Posted by: Bryce | Aug 30, 2007 2:24:48 PM

   
   

3. Wow! That just brought the whole evening back for me. Ugh! I hated that night. Can't believe it's been 10 years.

   Posted by: MikeinSanJose | Aug 30, 2007 2:38:40 PM

   
   

4. Wow. Watching this took me right back to my own living room on that night. It was a Saturday night east coast time and my roommates and I were getting ready to go out when the TV news flash stopped us cold. (this was pre-internet) We were glued to the TV for hours. Can't believe it's been 10 years.

   Posted by: chris | Aug 30, 2007 2:42:38 PM

   
   

5. It wasnt pre-internet. It was 1997, lol. We'd had the internet at home for years and years by then.

   Posted by: kitkats99 | Aug 30, 2007 2:46:11 PM

   
   

6. I am sure this scene played out pretty much the same way in gay living rooms all across the world - including my own. We went to bed at 5 and pretended to sleep for maybe a half an hour before we were all up again and morbidly glued to the television. I often wonder what the collective gasp would have sounded like from those who learned of the news that morning as they turned on their tv's for the first time.

   Posted by: Giovanni | Aug 30, 2007 2:46:28 PM

   
   

7. I don't really see this as a gay issue. Most everyone worldwide was touched by Lady Diana and was sad at her untimely death. Escpecially since it was so pointless and preventable.

   Posted by: whatever | Aug 30, 2007 3:01:27 PM

   
   

8. I remember going dancing that night and right before we left, we heard about the accident and walked out the door saying "I hope she's alright." and came home to learn she had died.

   Posted by: kitchenbeard | Aug 30, 2007 3:11:17 PM

   
   

9. Re: CNN broadcast
   They line up the witnesses to the accident like a firing squad to tell them that Diana died so that they can capture their reactions on national television?? What the hell? And they (the witnesses) seemed to have no visual reaction at all. How odd.

   Posted by: soulbrotha | Aug 30, 2007 3:12:37 PM

   
   

10. I'm a straight woman and I gasped just as hard when I saw the caption change from "Seriously Injured" to "Dead"

    10 years. Wow! It seems like it only just happened last year or something.

    Posted by: Alexia | Aug 30, 2007 3:16:02 PM

    
    

11. KITKATS99- very funny, you know what I mean, the internet as we know it today. Back then TV was the main source of news for most folks.

    Posted by: Chris | Aug 30, 2007 3:21:33 PM

    
    

12. Wow, we all had such similar experiences. My friends and I were also getting ready to go out dancing that night, when the news broke of the accident and all our thoughts were the same, "We hope she is all right." A short time after we arrived at the club, word spread like wild fire that she died, even the video screens through out the club scrolled the info that she passed away. I remember everyone becoming very somber and all our thoughts were then on her boys. I think we ended up calling it a night and all went home to watch coverage on tv.

    Posted by: Scott | Aug 30, 2007 3:56:11 PM

    
    

13. I'll never forget the week Diana died.

    I remember watching the TV news coverage of the car accident on the BBC and CNN and going to bed when it was reported that Diana had broken her arm. And then I woke up, turned on the TV and saw the caption "1961-1997". Took a few seconds for me to realise what had actually happened. And then I started crying. The week that followed, with such an outpouring of grief, was one strange week.

    In the UK at least, most households did not have access to the Internet and the BBC did not have a rolling news channel in the UK. The coverage was very formal "This is BBC Television from London" with tributes from political and religious leaders.

    This is one of a few clips on YouTube from the day Diana died.

    http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=qNsdvhh8_X0

    Posted by: Leo | Aug 30, 2007 3:59:55 PM

    
    

14. When I heard Diana had died I was in the desert at Burning Man. My friends and attributed it to the rumor of some anti-establishment prankster. When we returned to civilization (in this case, Reno) we saw the front page photos of Diana's flag draped casket being carried by military guard. It made for a very somber ride back to San Francisco.

    Posted by: peterparker | Aug 31, 2007 4:33:00 AM

    
    

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