I am not now and nor have I ever been a big royalty fan. Jumped-up welfare scroungers IMHO. However, in 1981 in the run up to that wedding it was impossible not to find images of Lady Di instantly recognizable, iconic even. In contrast if I met Ms Middles in the street today I doubt I would even register her as famous. Is this entirely due to my getting older and grumpier or was Diana really more striking?
Royalty was a bigger deal then. However, Diana was slightly more unusual looking - she had a hairstyle that others copied, and she didn’t have the stereotypical pretty-girl small nose. Kate Middleton is pretty, but no, not striking. Not that this is a slight against her.
I never thought Diana was even pretty, much less striking. She looked like an overbred racehorse - not as much as Camilla does, but still, had that distinctly “well bred English” look to her that I’ve never found attractive. Kate is pretty - not drop dead gorgeous, but she lacks the “I’ve been marrying my second cousin for generations” look.
I think the deal with Diana though was it was SUCH a fairy tale. Played out in the media. Shy, pretty girl becomes princess. Whirlwind romance. And I think after realizing how much that wasn’t a fairy tale from day one, I think the media suspects we won’t buy it with Kate and I suspect that there is a certain amount of truth and sting to the “the media haunted Diana to her death” that they’d really rather not be reminded of.
And Kate isn’t a whirlwind romance. She’s a girl who Will dated for a long time. She isn’t some sweet innocent.
She’s suffering a bit from the stuff about her wanting to be with Prince William before she’d even met him. Actually, going on the little bits that have come out about that, she could be made to sound a lot worse than she is, but the press aren’t focusing on them.
There was a new press code instigated some time after Diana died, about letting the princes have a life without photographers in their faces for everything they did, and it seems to have stuck.
I honestly think Kate is prettier than Diana. She has very classic beauty and I like brunettes better than blondes. Diana was quite the little slut too. Kate just looks more royal to me.
Huh? I’m no Diana fan, but in what way was she a slut?
I think Kate Middleton is far more attractive than Diana ever was. And, given time, she will be just as recognisable as Diana was.
Kate Middleton sometimes looks like Katie Holmes.
Kate Middleton looks like a generic starlet- cute enough, but familiar. I don’t just mean how she looks, I mean the whole thing, from the expressions on her face to her fashion choices. She faces the camera like someone who knows what she wants out of it- and that is frankly something we’ve seen plenty of. She fits in fine on the pages of People. If she was a movie star or a contestent on American idol, it wouldn’t be any different- it’d be the same photo spread. And in these media-saturated day, that’s a routine we know very very well. I mean, it’s not like you have to go far for pictures of cute girls.
Diana always had a bit of shyness, even in front of the media. She always looked a little unrehearsed, and that resonates with people. There is a bit of mystery there. There are things that an unusual looking person can do that a pretty girl never can.
Kate has had years of training. Fairly early the Palace decided that if William was serious, they couldn’t throw Kate to the wolves like they did Diana.
I suspect that - from what has leaked out about her personal life - that she has a personal life and a personality. I don’t think she is shy, but I think she is much better cut out and aware of what her life is going to be than Diana ever was.
Diana should have just gone along with Her Prince having Camilla on the side & conducted her own very discreet affairs. While making all the public appearances as a Happy Royal Family. But, in their search for The Last High-Born Virgin, the Committee (which included Camilla) to Find The Royal Breeder didn’t turn up a sophisticated cynic. Surprise!
At first, Diana was naive & sweet. When she discovered the truth, she wouldn’t keep quiet. No standard beauty, she developed glamor & charm. She truly cared about her Good Causes–& was also slightly neurotic. A tragic heroine–but also a good mother.
Kate appears to be bright & knows what she’s getting into. She cares for Her Prince & will probably deal with the challenges of His Family Business quite skillfully.
Hmmm. Not recognizable. So, she has a clean fresh canvass to show the world who she is & what she’s got? Interesting.
Hypothetically she could be just another marionette of royalty. Or she could be waiting to burst forth and take the world by storm through humor and personality.
Hard to tell from a picture.
From your mouth to Oliver Stone’s ear.
Kate Middleton is way more attractive than Diana was.
How well-known was Diana’s face even after the marriage and before the divorce? I know I didn’t see her until the divorce stuff started coming up. but I was 11. Still, I wonder if Kate has really had a chance to be recognizable. Until recently, I only heard about her from British sources.
This. I don’t understand the accusation of sluttiness, and even if I did, I don’t see how Diana being a slut would have any impact on how pretty she was.
I’m not a royalty fan, but I always thought she was extremely beautiful and got better looking as she aged. I haven’t a clue about Middleton, as I no longer live with a sister who loves royalty & faux-fairy tales and thus am not as exposed.
Moving thread from IMHO to Cafe Society.
Charles and Diana didn’t date for long and weren’t engaged for very long - but it was heavy media saturation right before the wedding.
Kate and William have been dating off and on for eight years. She’s been through the tabloid mill several times already - showing up on the cover of People and US in the U.S. pre-engagement. About a year ago there was a huge flurry of coverage over them POSSIBLY getting engaged.
I wonder what else was happening in the world when Charles and Diana married. Its possible that it was simply a case of “not much else to cover.”
One of the things I could never stand about Diana was the naive and sweet thing. How could an Earl’s daughter never have read enough English history to realize a royal marriage was not a Disney movie? She was young, which provides some excuse, and she was picked (why they didn’t find someone with a little more historical perspective is beyond me), which provides more. Particularly given her own family history the level of naivete she seemed to have is just baffling.
But, it has one real fairy-tale aspect, as Kate is a common – or, average upper-middle-class – Englishwoman. I remember some press remark about Prince Charles marrying a “commoner,” which made no sense to me as Diana, while neither a princess nor a peeress, was an earl’s daughter.
I think both are very attractive women, although quite different. Although I’d give the young Diana a slight edge over Kate, I wouldn’t kick either out of bed.
http://www.forum.princess-diana.com/userpix/85_young_diana_19_years_old_1.jpg
http://jspivey.wikispaces.com/file/view/diana_2.jpg/34257793/diana_2.jpg