Germaine Greer calls Princess Diana "a moron"



Posted: Tuesday, August 21, 2007

by
Aidan Maconachy

Germaine Greer is nothing if not outspoken.

Part of Greer's appeal lies in her willingness to say things a lot of people would rather not hear. She established this reputation with her 1970 feminist polemic, The Female Eunuch, and with a few minor digressions has stayed pretty much true to form. You get the feeling Greer's need to cut a controversial swathe, is as much about grabbing attention as anything else. But sometimes she gets it right.

This time her target is Diana, the late Princess of Wales.

While appearing recently at the Edinburgh International Book Festival to promote her new book, Shakespeare's Wife ... Greer went into attack mode when the subject of Diana came up. She described the royal icon as a "devious moron" - not to mention "neurotic" and "stupid".

When Diana was acting out in ways that would be considered dysfunctional by most standards, her legions of fans never looked much further than the glossy celebrity facade. The cult-like Diana worship that has been going on in the UK became at times an absurd spectacle. This was young woman who was acting out because she felt humiliated. What was fascinating about Diana for many was her rebellious streak and a determination to do it her way even though it was clear to anyone capable of reading between the lines that it was all downhill. She had lost control of her life and was lurching from disaster to disaster, driven by demons that seemed to consistently overrule her better judgment.

Greer points out that Diana made a complete hash out of being Princess of Wales. She also notes that after the marriage broke up she continued to make a monumental mess of her life and seemed incapable of getting a grip on reality.

Greer's most scathing criticism is reserved for Diana's willingness to go after married men, apparently oblivious to the damage she was causing to families as she assumed the role of seductress. She had an affair with Will Carling, former England rugby captain, and then Oliver Hoare, the antiques dealer.

Greer puts it this way ... "This still puzzles me. Diana did that no-no thing - she slept with married men. You do that in Hello magazine and you are out of the human race. You are beyond contempt."

When Hoare decided he was getting in out of his depth and beat a retreat back to his wife, Diana's behavior became seriously unhinged. She made a total of 300 nuisance calls to his home. The is the type of behavior you might associate with a teen girl with a few undiagnosed emotional issues.

A lot of people who viewed Diana through the pages of magazines and tabloid TV shows that hyped her legend, thought of her pretty much the way they might view a favorite soap opera star. The fact that there was a wounded woman behind the facade who was behaving in self-destructive ways, didn't stop the audience from applauding and demanding more. In the end it became painful to watch.

Although the crash that ended her life was a terrible tragedy, it seemed almost a fitting outcome for someone who tempted the fates with reckless abandon. Greer might argue with "neurotic" abandon.

Aidan Maconachy is a freelance writer and artist based in Ontario. You can visit his blog at http://aidanmaconachyblog.blogspot.com/
This Article has been viewed 1,460 times. (Not updated in real-time.)
No comments yet.
We want your comments! If you can read this, you don't have javascript enabled, so you can't use this comment system. Please enable javascript.