Puzzled

The theme of this week's Sunday Scribblings is "Puzzled". I experienced puzzlement last night when I saw the movie The Queen. It exposes what happened within the Royal family surrounding the days after Diana's death. The movie is fantastic and Helen Mirren is amazing.

In case you aren't familiar with the reaction of the Royal family during the time that the movie takes place, they made no statement about Diana's death, they did not fly the standard at half mast. And, Diana's children were taken hunting the very day after her death as a way of distracting them.

Meanwhile, the entire world mourned. Leaders from around the world made statements including Nelson Mandela and president Clinton. Yet each day that the Royal family remained silent, the grief of the people swelled. It seemed as though even in death the Royals denied her humanity. She became a symbol for everyone who has ever been betrayed and the betrayal continued all the way through to the funeral where her family, most notably her brother, and friends lauded her life while the Royals sat in stony silence. The crowds outside the church were legend in size and they cheered each time someone spoke kindly of Diana as though they were cheering as a way to send a message as to whose side they were on.

I remain puzzled by the Royal family's reaction to Diana's death. The movie tries to show insight into the Queen's behavior and tries to explain how difficult it was for her to survive within a dying monarchy but I was unmoved. I felt as little for her as she did for Diana. I felt the Royal family's reaction was beneath the most common and vulgar of people and I remain puzzled by their lack of humanity.