PARIS: The 20th anniversary of Princess Diana’s death has filled magazines, newspapers and television screens in Britain for weeks, but not only there: across Europe, media groups are marking the occasion, underlining her international appeal.
Britain’s celebrity press have offered special editions, supplements and reams of news articles picking over the impact of her tragic life and death as well as her relationships with her sons and Prince Charles.
The popularity of Charles, the heir to the British throne, has plunged as a result of the renewed attention on his former wife and their apparently loveless marriage.
In Europe, many media groups have commissioned documentaries, special reports or their own investigations two decades after her death in a Paris car crash on August 31, 1997.
In Austria, public broadcaster ORF will screen several documentaries about the princess this week, including one entitled “Diana — Forever and Ever,” a retrospective of her life inside Buckingham Palace.
“It shows a life inside a golden cage, imprisoned by traditions, and Diana’s repeated attempts to break out of this golden cage,” ORF’s royal expert Lisbeth Bischoff said in a statement to AFP.
On August 31, the anniversary of her death, Radio Vienna will dedicate its entire programming to the princess, led by Austrian journalist and Diana fan Ewald Wurzinger who raised a monument to her in a Vienna park in 2013.
In France, the public channel France 2 will offer a day of programming about her on Sunday which is to include several documentaries and an investigation.
“Twenty years after, it’s time to look again at what she brought to the monarchy in spirit and who she was really,” said one of the channel’s royal experts, Stephane Bern.
He said her enduring appeal was her “tragic destiny” which put her among stars whose early deaths have immortalized them, such as American actresses Grace Kelly or Marilyn Monroe.
Matthias Gurtler, director of the celebrity weekly Gala, said the magazine had published a special edition on Diana in response to French interest in the British princess.
The attraction for her was linked to her image as a rebel and someone who “broke the rules in a stiff and uptight world,” he said.
In Poland, women’s magazine Wysokie Obcasy put Diana on its front page this month.
“We’re taking the anniversary very seriously. Poles are still captivated by her,” said editor-in-chief Ewa Wieczorek. “Diana’s story is a modern-day fairy tale turned legend.”
One of Bulgaria’s most popular newspapers, 24 Chasa, recently published five pages of stories and a large photo spread about the BBC’s new documentary on Lady Diana and her sons.
“Princess Diana’s life and the circumstances of her death still interest the public, that’s why we wanted to be the first to run a large story,” 24 Chasa editor-in-chief Borislav Zumbulev told AFP.
Public broadcaster BNT will also screen the BBC documentary “Diana, 7 days” in which the princes talk about their mother’s death.
They have given a series of interviews in the run-up to the death anniversary, including for a separate documentary on Britain’s ITV channel, in which they open up about the last time they spoke to their mother and their relationship with her.
‘Diana-mania’ spreads from Britain as death anniversary looms
‘Diana-mania’ spreads from Britain as death anniversary looms
Junta leader Gen. Mamdi Doumbouya is declared winner of Guinea’s election, provisional results show
- Mamady Doumbouya took power in 2021 coup
CONAKRY, Guinea: Guinea coup leader Mamady Doumbouya has been elected president, according to provisional results announced on Tuesday, completing the return to civilian rule in the bauxite- and iron ore-rich West African nation.
The former special forces commander, thought to be in his early 40s, seized power in 2021, toppling then-President Alpha Conde, who had been in office since 2010. It was one in a series of nine coups that have reshaped politics in West and Central Africa since 2020.
The provisional results announced on Tuesday showed Doumbouya winning 86.72 percent of the December 28 vote, an absolute majority that allows him to avoid a runoff.
The Supreme Court has eight days to validate the results in the event of any challenge.
Doumbouya’s victory, which gives him a seven-year mandate, was widely expected. Conde and Cellou Dalein Diallo, Guinea’s longtime opposition leader, are in exile, which left Doumbouya to face a fragmented field of eight challengers.
Doumbouya reversed pledge not to run
The original post-coup charter in Guinea barred junta members from running in elections, but a constitution dropping those restrictions was passed in a September referendum.
Djenabou Toure, the country’s top election official who announced the results on Tuesday night, said turnout was 80,95 percent. However voter participation appeared tepid in the capital Conakry, and opposition politicians rejected a similarly high turnout figure for the September referendum.
Guinea holds the world’s largest bauxite reserves and the richest untapped iron ore deposit at Simandou, officially launched last month after years of delay.
Doumbouya has claimed credit for pushing the project forward and ensuring Guinea benefits from its output.
His government this year also revoked the license of Emirates Global Aluminium’s subsidiary Guinea Alumina Corporation following a refinery dispute, transferring the unit’s assets to a state-owned firm.
The turn toward resource nationalism — echoed in Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger — has boosted his popularity, as has his relative youth in a country where the median age is about 19.
Political space restricted, UN says
Political debate has been muted under Doumbouya. Civil society groups accuse his government of banning protests, curbing press freedom and restricting opposition activity.
The campaign period was “severely restricted, marked by intimidation of opposition actors, apparently politically motivated enforced disappearances, and constraints on media freedom,” UN rights chief Volker Turk said last week.
On Monday, opposition candidate Faya Lansana Millimono told a press conference the election was marred by “systematic fraudulent practices” and that observers were prevented from monitoring the voting and counting processes.
The government did not respond to a request for comment.
