Analysis: NBC's Bombshell Interview with Princess Diana Reveals Empty Life
by Steve Gallagher
December 3, 2004
(AgapePress) - It was a Cinderella story come true. After years of speculation in British tabloids, Prince Charles announced his engagement to little-known Diana Spencer. Months later, people around the world sat riveted to their television sets as she, her long wedding train flowing softly behind her, made the delicate march up to the altar where she married the future King of England and forever became the darling of his people.The Princess Di mystique may begin to unravel this coming Monday, as NBC airs the first of two specials containing private interviews with her recorded in 1992-1993. The footage was taped by her voice coach who believed that she would gain confidence as a public speaker by passionately speaking into a camera about her personal life. The videos, which were never meant to be seen by the public, reveal a side to the charmed princess that never came out in choreographed media interviews.
At one point in the conversation, the troubled princess confided that when she had discovered her husband's affair with Camilla Parker Bowles, she went sobbing to the Queen Mother looking for help. "What do I do?" the young woman asked. "I'm coming to you. What do I do?" She relates that the "top lady" coolly replied, "I don't know what you should do. Charles is hopeless."
Apparently, it was not long after this that Diana initiated an affair with her bodyguard, Sgt. Barry Mannakee, a married man who had two small children. When Charles found out about the relationship, the police officer was reassigned elsewhere and later died in a motorcycle accident. In the video, she referred to his death as "the biggest blow of my life," calling him "the greatest fella' I've ever had." In August 1997 -- ten years after Barry's death -- Diana's unhappy life came to an end in a fiery automobile accident in Paris with yet a different boyfriend.
This sad and tragic tale serves as a vivid reminder of how empty a life can be that does not include God. Without Him, there is no purpose and no fulfillment. Happiness becomes a fleeting thing that is completely dependent upon favorable circumstances. Suffering has no meaning; nor can one find comfort in the midst of it.
Diana had everything this world can offer: wealth, fame and even royalty, but one wonders what she had to show for it in the end. The truthful yet heartrending words of Jesus come to mind: "For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world but loses his own soul?"
Steve Gallagher is president of Pure Life Ministries, a ministry helping those who are in habits of sexual sin.
