On the 10th anniversary of Princess Diana's fatal car accident, British Channel 4 is planning to air a documentary entitled Diana: The Witnesses in the Tunnel, complete with graphic images of the tragic scene.
Diana's sons, Princes William and Harry, who have organized a concert to honor their mother's legacy on the anniversary of her death, have made a last-ditch, public plea to the station not to air the photos, through the royal family's website and their private secretary, who said they "reluctantly feel that they have been left no choice but to make it clear publicly that they believe the broadcast of these photographs to be wholly inappropriate, deeply distressing to them and to the relatives of the others who died that night, and a gross disrespect to their mother's memory."
The boys ask a vaild, and heartbreaking, question: "If it were your mother dying in that tunnel, would you want the scene broadcast to the nation? Indeed, would the nation want it?"
In response to the sad pleas of Diana's sons, Channel 4 insists it will move ahead with what it calls "a responsible documentary." The head of the station said in a statement issued this morning "We have weighed the princes' concerns against the legitimate public interest we believe there is in the subject of this documentary and in the still photography it includes." She insists that there are no images that depict Diana or Dodi Fayed after the crash.
Personally? I think that when the still-grieving children of the world's most beloved royal politely, and sadly, ask the national TV station to have a heart, it should listen. We've all seen the photographs, we all know what the grisly scene looked like on that shocking night. Why put those boys through that again? C'mon, Channel 4. Do the right thing - if you really want to honor the late Princess, you'll listen to her children, and put their best interests first.
