Modern Princesses: Celebrity and the Ideal, from Princess Diana to Meghan Markle

Description

This illustrated talk examined how celebrity “princess” figures have embodied popular hopes, fears and aspirations. Presenting a range of images and drawing on extensive research, the talk showed how Princess Diana’s international, even global appeal, came in large part through her apparent ability to communicate at a personal level via mass media – and that this ability combined the “invented traditions” of the twentieth century British monarchy with recognizably American forms of celebrity. As a result, in the 1990s Diana came to be seen as modernizing the idea of the princess, in a way that was personally empowering and which allied the image of the ideal young woman with a concern for and an openness to diverse peoples.
For many, Diana’s “spirit” re-emerged in the Spring 2018 wedding ceremony of her son Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, especially via photographs of an empty seat next to Harry that were posted on social media as poignant reminders of Diana’s tragic death and continued symbolic presence. While this interpretation of the empty place was officially dismissed, its circulation evidences how widespread popular investment in modern princesses survives in forms of media that are now much more highly personalized than the press and television coverage of Diana’s era. The talk closes therefore by reflecting on how the rise of social media has shifted the ways in which we relate to modern princesses, and how in turn this has shaped the ways that Meghan has inhabited a similar role.

Period	10 Apr 2019
Held at	University of North Carolina, United States, North Carolina
Degree of Recognition	International