The Diana Years ( my version)

I was quite a Diana fan. Back in the old days ( don't you just hate it when folks say that) I would buy those coffee table books and read them and look at the pictures repeatedly. New Idea featured Diana and Charles' first visit to Oz along with baby William in a huge spread. I brought that issue to school and my friends and I ooh-ed and aah-ed over her lovely dresses and baby William. Then the obsession spilled over to Fergie when she got married. Around that time, interest in Diana dwindled. I cannot remember what that obsession was replaced with. A resurgence in royal interest was sparked later on by negative press thanks to Fergie and her toe-sucking incident. Her inevitable divorce wasn't so interesting. By the time Diana died, my interest had moved far away from the Royal Family and so I didn't mourn her lost as acutely as some.

William of Wales marrying Catherine Middleton is good for the Royal Family's image. If the most terrible thing her mother has done is called the washroom a loo and chew gum in public....then perhaps she is going to succeed in surviving life as a royal. You must either be royal and have been born into this fishbowl or want it bad enough. Middleton knows what she wants. She's waited long enough for this and I believe she would be able to put up with bad press with the grace and intelligence which perhaps Diana lacked at times. This comes from being a good ten years older than Diana when she got married.  She isn't a Diana replacement. And we shouldn't force her to be that. What she is, is a young lady who comes from a stable family and who is perhaps going to bring some fresh air ( and good genes) into the British Royal Family. Good luck Kate!