@hawkeye10,
Quote:Diana would have amounted to nothing with out the paparazzi.
Are you kidding?
What's your definition of "amounting to nothing". She was a member of the British nobility before ever marrying Prince Charles, and, had she not married him, she probably would have married someone else from the same social circle, and level of British society she moved in, and lived a posh, and comfortable, and
private existence, which would have allowed her to pursue her own interests, rather than having to focus on satisfying the demands dictated by a Royal public existence.
And, if her marriage to Prince Charles hadn't ended in divorce, she would have become the Queen of England, even if the paparazzi had totally ignored her. What's your idea of "amounting to something" if that isn't it--and that's not determined by the media, it would have been determined by her marriage to a King.
Diana was hounded by the paparazzi as soon as they sensed she was involved with Prince Charles, and she clearly hated it from the getgo. Sure, later, really
much much later, she learned to use the media to her advantage, but it was mainly to defend herself from the Royals who were trying to trash her image at that point. But mainly the paparazzi and the tabloid press were using her all along--she made for good copy, and photos, she helped them to sell their rag sheets, and they used her to the hilt.
And they literally hounded her until death--by taking and publishing photos of her dying in that car, after they had pursued that car into the tunnel, which was the reason her drunk driver was speeding when he entered the tunnel and hit that column--he was trying to keep the paparazzi away from her.
Without the paparazzi, she'd probably be alive today.
Fortunately, Kate Middleton is considerably older and more mature than Diana was when she became a Royal. Kate also dated the Prince for a very, very long time, which allowed her to adjust to what her life would become after her marriage, so she's probably less emotionally vulnerable to the paparazzi onslaught than Diana, and she seems to have a more genuinely supportive husband than Diana did. And maybe all of those factors will help William and Kate to draw a firmer line with the paparazzi craziness.
Regardless of your personal view of the monarchy, it represents something of enduring historical and traditional value in Britain, and a consistency of identifiable national image that we just don't have in this country. Just consider how many Prime Ministers and U.S. Presidents the Queen has seen come and go, while she's remained the one most stable, and identifiable personification of her country, and it's people, and their history. Her image, and person, embodies a great deal
The Royals aren't really "celebrities" or analogous to Hollywood stars, or just pitchmen for the British tourist industry, as you have been suggesting. They really occupy their own niche, and I'm not sure that those of us on the other side of the pond can really understand that. And when the future Queen of England is humiliated, and treated in a downright disrespectful manner, it's not just a personal insult--it becomes much closer to being a national insult, or a deliberate slap at the monarchy, particularly when it's coming from publications with ties to people who seem to have had grudges with the Queen.