This August will mark 25 years since the death of Princess Diana. Formerly the lowly and anonymous school teacher Diana Spencer, most everyone around the world now knows who she is. That’s not hyperbole. Most everyone.
Not surprisingly, Diana has been celebrated on countless postage stamps issued in every corner of the world. Even the microscopic four-square-mile islands of Tokelau (pop. 1,500), 200 miles from Fiji in the South Pacific and a place Diana never ever set foot had a stamp issued in her honor. She is arguably the most celebrated woman to appear on stamps – one of which was a tad controversial and still talked about today.
I thought about that this past week when I learned of a ceremony in St. Louis at the statue of Thomas Jefferson. The massive sculpture of the former president sits in the foyer of the Missouri Historical Society building, aka, the Jefferson Memorial. St. Louis was where Lewis and Clark left to explore the Louisiana Purchase, an expedition financed by Jefferson. Incidentally, the Gateway Arch on St. Louis’ riverfront is officially named the “Jefferson National Expansion Memorial....”
The recent ceremony at the statue wasn’t to laud Jefferson. Rather, it was to unveil several new plaques attached to the base explaining that Jefferson was a slave owner and father to several children by slave Sally Hemmings and should be remembered in that light. It’s part of the current wave of robust political correctness. At some point, that may well extend to Jefferson’s portrait on our nickel, two-dollar bill, and many US stamps.
Geographically, the home of General Ulysses S. Grant – commander of the Union armies during the Civil War – sits just a few miles from the Jefferson Memorial. Grant is said to have once owned a slave. The family of his wife Julia owned upwards of 30. Consequently, in some circles, the winning general of the war where slavery was abolished is looked at askance. That might someday throw a wrench onto our circulating $50 bill with Grant front-and-center.
Fast forward to the 1980s. Forget the Berlin Wall; the Iran/Iraq war or Sandra Day O’Connor and Sally Ride respectively becoming the first woman Supreme Court justice and female astronaut. The headline-maker was a young, innocent and nubile Diana who married Prince Charles. It was, far-and-away, the fairy tale wedding of the century. Or not.
The controversial stamp came shortly after the wedding. It shows Charles and Diana side-by-side with Charles a full head taller than Di. In life, they were the same height. For reasons of masculinity, someone felt Charles needed to appear taller and more dominant.
That taller/shorter stamp may not have been the cause but the marriage soon showed signs of strain. The press doted on Diana yet all but ignored Charles. Diana had a natural “show” quality with a dazzling smile and demure look of purity. Charles, often seemed stodgy and stiff. Oh, and there was that little “chink in the armor” involving Charles and Camilla.
As the marriage regressed, Diana continued to charm the world. She appeared on more and more stamps. Then, in August of 1997, while being pursued by paparazzi, Diana died in a car crash in Paris. The postal and numismatic floodgates opened with endless stamp and coin tributes. Especially this year, with the 25th anniversary of her death, that’s sure to rematerialize.
The question is: for how long? After all, Diana was a divorcee. Some religions frown on that and even refuse to recognize it. Moreover, there were her dalliances while married. With Charles spurning her and chasing Camilla, it is suggested Diana had affairs with a bodyguard; a horseman; a rugby player; a rock star; a doctor; a US President's son; and others. Traditionalists will condemn and malign her for that.
With her gone, we will probably never know the full truth. It’s just curious how, for some luminaries, after achieving so much success and admiration, the tables can so diametrically turn sour.
On top of her out-of-wedlock trysts, what if someone unearths information about the Spencer family centuries ago being involved in the British slave trade? Not that they were but, what if? It’s amazing the number of footnotes that may end up on the lives of those we admire. In the meantime, the thousands of Princess Diana stamps out there continue to be a wildly popular area of collecting.
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