It seemed fitting to watch BBC 1's hour-long programme "Diana: the last princess of Wales" on the eve of today's 20th anniversary of her death. An arch-republican and nationalist rather summed up the mood by saying how he 'really wouldn't go out the front if the queen came past but I think for her [Diana] I might'. After the programme, no matter your own perspective, you couldn't but think how so incredibly sad the whole affair was.
Apart from Diana herself, the star of the programme was
Colin Edwards. He permeated the documentary from top to bottom, as did some of his
close-up photographic portraits of the princess. Drop shots of Rhuthun/Ruthin both started and ended the broadcast. At one point, Colin was overwhelmed when commenting upon her death and you were reminded of the hollowness and the raw emotion that the country, the world, felt at that time. I was transported to that Sunday morning at my late mother's home when I tuned in to BBC Radio Cymru to find some most unexpected announcements.
Care of the documentary, we saw some unusual TV footage. The programme included, for example, the young princess' first official visit to Cymru/Wales when she decided to tackle publicly some Welsh... and how well she did. But most evocatively, and towards the end of her too-short life, soon after the divorce announcement, recorded on film was a conversation between Diana on a walkabout and Edwards himself. Here you saw the bond that over many years had formed between the two, as once again they recognised each other on the street. The conversation between the two was free, friendly and natural.
