It's been a month since Princess Diana's death and funeral, and the intense coverage of the mainstream media has since died down. However, on the Internet, discussion and speculation about Diana and the nature of her death remains at fever pitch.
At present, Yahoo! listed 93 memorial sites, 2 related newsgroups, and a host of other relevant sites. The selection of sites below covers the gamut of topics from conspiracy theories, to calls to boycott the paparazzi, to emotional tributes.
This is a narrow sampling of the hundreds of pages and posts out on the Internet, but they are a representation of the broad variety of reactions to Princess Diana's death. If nothing else, they are interesting for anyone with free time and minor curiosity, and for any closet devotees of the Cult of Diana.
CNN Interactive, (http://www. cnn.com/WORLD/9708/diana), contains perhaps the most comprehensive information about Princess Diana's life and death on the web. Divided into four sections, it is comprised of a list of links(including http://www.royal.gov.uk, the Windsors' home page), a photo gallery with scenes from Diana's life, the car crash and the funeral, along with some rather pithy commentary from a People editor.
It also has an archive of CNN stories about Diana. The layout is rather somber (white text on black background along with a few darker toned graphics),which is very appropriate to the content.
For those who want to comment about Diana as well as read about her, there is a link to a CNN discussion board for that purpose. At the time of this writing, the board has up to 16,000 messages and counting.
Shortly after the accident, the large majority of messages posted to the board were ones of shock and sorrow, then gradually edged toward hints of conspiracy ('I hope MI6 was not involved in this accident. Remember the tapes of Diana made by MI6 and leaked to the press?') and occasional boredom ('Diana? Yawn. She's dead. Next topic') and seems to have devolved into a long protracted argument about who was hurt the most by Diana's death.
Princess Diana Memorial, the death of a fairy tale princess, (http://www.geocities.com/RainForest/Vines/1009/diana.htm), is a simple but elegant tribute site.
The creator presents a poem he has written beside a picture of Diana and invites visitors to share their thoughts ('what was it that intrigued you about Diana?' etc.) and has a link to an on-line 'condolence book,' presumably for the people that couldn't make it to Kensington or one of the various British embassies round the world.
The Memorial is also the center of The Princess Diana Webring, a collection of sites with the same themes (elegies, thoughts, condolences).
Princess Diana, a tribute and a protest, (http://www.geocities. com/Area51/1047/privacy.htm), has one central message to get across -- the paparazzi killed Diana, so let's pledge to boycott the tabloids.
To this end, he has made his page an electronic petition calling for stiffer rules, and has collected 36 'pages' of electronic signatures, 'one for each year of Diana's life.'
The format is stark -- merely white text on a black background and little else, unless you count the red banner at the bottom pushing Geocities.
The Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fund, (http://www.natwest. com/worldpay/), is in case you were wondering, is charity# 1064238 for England and Wales.
A note to that effect, and an entry form, is about all there is to this site. If you feel so distraught about Diana's death that you are willing to part with some money, so much the better, but this site makes little or no effort to convince you to do so.
Princess Diana Tribute Screen Saver, (http://www.risoftsystems .com/diana.asp), opens (I kid you not) with a quote by one Kerry Krueger: 'Download this spectacular screensaver to keep the spirit... of Princess Diana alive on your PC."
This is brought to you by the same folks who made the 'Hey, Macaroni' screen savers. There's little else here except a brief statement about Diana and a banner promoting their other screen savers. It seems there are no Mac versions available at present.
Tacky and Tasteless Diana Jokes,
(http://members.aol.com/ocmark111/jokes.htm), is 'tasteless,' perhaps one of the kindest adjectives that can be applied to this site.
Its creator has all but appointed it the center for the backlash against Di-ification, with a list of tasteless jokes contributed by readers. A couple of the less appalling jokes: 'What's the difference between Elton John and Princess Diana ? One's composing, the other is decomposing' or 'What was the last thing Dodi said to Diana? 'You look smashing tonight!'
Surprisingly, very few of the responses(posted on a separate page) reveal any desire to tear the author limb from limb. Most actually express a guilty pleasure at reading, and a few actually seemed quite delighted at the site (one calling it 'a voice of sanity'). Not recommended for the humor-impaired or Diana-bereaved.
