Princess Diana (1961-1997) the Woman We Loved

Read this text and answer the questions below.

He was the most eligible bachelor in the world, the future King of England. She was the girl next door, a twenty-year-old who had grown up on an estate in the shadow of the royal family. When Prince Charles and Lady Diana Frances Spencer married on July 29, 1981, three quarters of a billion people in 74 countries tuned in to a brilliantly organized performance, the Wedding of the Century.

As a child of divorce, she was determined to make her marriage work. Diana was just six in 1967, when her mother, Frances, left her father for a wealthy businessman. Her two elder sisters, Sarah and Jane, were in a boarding school, but Diana and her younger brother, Charles, spent much of the next few years shuttling unhappily between their parents’ homes.

When she was 12, Diana attended the exclusive West Health School in Kent, where she hung a picture of Charles above her bed and soon told her class-mate: “I would love to be a dancer – or Princess of Wales”.

At the time of their engagement, Diana seemed to be a perfect choice for Charles. Her ancestry was impeccable; the Spencers are among the most aristocratic families in Britain. Her father had been an equerry to both George VI and Queen Elizabeth. Her maternal grandmother, lady Fermoy, was lady-in-waiting to the Queen Mother. Just as important, Diana was a virgin; no old lovers, nothing of the kind. Her husband’s past was not so pure – and even before the wedding, Charles and Diana fought about his relationship with his long-time friend Camilla Bowles. Diana was furious when she discovered that Charles had given Camilla an engraved gold bracelet just before the ceremony.

In public, however, they remained a perfect couple, efficiently producing the requisite “heir and spare” - William in 1982 and Harry in 1984.

In the first seven years of their marriage, the couple made official state visits to 19 countries. At almost every stop, Diana was the star, the one the crowds waited hours to see. Charles was clearly an also-run, and his resentment was intense.

With the media attention came a lot of jealousy, a great deal of complicated situations arose because of that.

Charles could not seem to compete with Diana’s glamour or her almost instinctive ability to connect with ordinary people. She shook hands with AIDS patients when many people were still afraid to touch them. She took her sons to homeless shelters so that they could understand the real world.

Indeed the couple had few common leisure-time activities. Charles loved horses and New Age philosophy. Diana’s tastes veered toward pop music, romance novels and spending time with children. He liked hunting; she hated it. He had long ago adjusted to the strictures of royal life. She kept trying to break free. The gap between them grew much larger than their 12-year age difference.

Reports of trouble in the marriage began surfacing in the mid-1980s. By that time, Charles had returned to Cammila Parker Bowles: Diana then began an affair with a cavalry officer, James Hewitt.

As their marriage broke down, Charles spent more time at his country house, painting and gardening. Diana stayed in town. They were together only at ceremonial occasions and even then seemed to go out of their way to avoid physical contact. Their body language was chilling. It was almost as if they inhabited two separate emotional universes. But no matter what went on behind palace doors, in the War of the Wales Diana remained the public favourite. Charles was seen as remote, a cold fish. She won sympathy not only for her charity work but also for the loving attention she gave her sons.

In a June 1994 television interview Charles admitted he had been unfaithful. Four months later, in his biography, he said that he had never loved Diana and married her because of pressure of his father. Despite gossips that she was headed for a nervous breakdown, she remained composed and in control. Her personal goal was to be a “queen of people’s hearts.”

In the last year of her life, Diana appeared to be making efforts to create a life on her own terms. She changed her personal style, favouring sleek clothes that showed off her well-toned figure. In many ways, her days were not those different wealthy divorcees’. She worked out regularly at the gym, lunched with friends, and enjoyed her time with her sons. She talked about her desire to have more children, but she seemed in no hurry to remarry. She concentrated on the causes she cared about most, particularly the campaign against land mines.

But even when she moved toward more independence, she was frustrated. The press had made her life so miserable that she would move to another country if she could. Only her sons kept her in Britain.

But it was her romance with Dodi Fayed that drew the most publicity.

As she returned from a luxurious vacation on the French Riviera and looked forward to rejoining her sons in Britain, Princess Diana’s life was suddenly cut short inside a Paris tunnel. The events leading up to her death:

1. After dining at the Ritz Hotel, Princess Diana and her companion, Emad (Dodi) Fayed, left through a back door in an attempt to avoid press photographers.

2. They drove southwest toward Dodi’s father’s town house. At the wheel was a hotel security man; a bodyguard also accompanied them.

3. Chased by at least one photographer on a motorcycle, their Mercedes raced along the Cours la Reine and entered a tunnel beneath the Place de l’Alma.

4. Shortly after midnight, the car smashed into a concrete column at a speed of about 85mph. It then bounced off a wall, flipping 180 degrees.

5. Fayed and the driver died instantly; Princess Diana and the body-guard were rushed to the hospital in critical condition. Diana suffered a massive lung and chest injuries. Doctors managed to close a wound, but two hours of heart massage failed to revive her. She was pronounced dead at 4 a.m.

From “NEWSWEEK”

QUESTIONS:

1. How was the marriage of Diana and Charles characterized?

2. What was Diana’s lifetime dream?

3. Was Diana a suitable partner for Charles?

4. How did the couple get on during the first years of their marriage?

5. Did Diana and Charles have common interests?

6. How many years were there between them? Did it have any impact on their life?

7. How did they behave when the marriage broke down?

8. What was Diana’s personal goal?

9. Who kept her in Britain?

10. What were the last episodes of Diana’s life?

Exercise 10

Translate the following sentences into English:

1. Відречення дядька від трону зробило батька Єлизавети єдиним спадкоємцем.

2. Єлизавету коронували в Вестмінстерському Абатстві.

3. За останні роки Леді Ді завоювала любов багатьох людей.

4. До того ж принц Ендрю покинув службу пілотом гелікоптера.

5. Він набув репутації високомірної людини.

6. Діана підтримувала старих та хворих на СНІД людей.

7. В щорічних радіопередачах королева розповідає про свої поїздки в країни співдружності, чиє благополуччя дуже важливе для неї.

8. В засобах масової інформації дружину Чарльза часто називали Леді Ді. Вона завоювала любов людей своєю скромністю, сором’язливістю та красою.

9. Дуже важко знайти спільну мову зі старими дівами, як правило вони пихаті, неприступні і зосереджені на своїй особі.

10. Як пара, вони не були близькі ні в емоційному, ні в географічному плані, тому вирішили розірвати стосунки.

Names

 Reading

QUIZ

See how easily and quickly you can find the missing names in the sentences below. The answers are printed after the exercise to help you.

1. William F. Cody (1846-1917) was nicknamed…..

2. Mozart’s Christian names were…….

3. Queen Elizabeth’s youngest son is called…….

4. The Idlewild Airport in New York was renamed………. after this man’s death.

5. …….’s real name is Richard Starkey.

6. A Swedish actress by the name of Greta Gustaffson adopted the screen pseudonym of………

7. Bach’s initials, J. S., stand for…….

8. Mrs Mark Phillips’ maiden name was…….

9. The newest airport in Paris is named after…….

10. Most Englishmen have pretended at some time in their life to be William Younger, alias……..

11. Samuel Clemens’ pen-name was ……

12. The stretch of coastland between Toulon in France and Spezia in Italy is known as ……..

13. The tallest building in Paris takes its name from the engineer………

14. Someone christened Adolph Schickelgruber became world-famous under the name of ………

15. The film recognised as the first ‘talking picture’ was entitled……

16. During the seventies a certain Cassius Clay changed his name to……

Answers: 1. Buffalo Bill 2. Wolfgang Amadeus 3. Prince Edward 4. Kennedy International Airport 5. Ringo Starr 6. Greta Garbo 7. Johann Sebastian 8. Princess Anne 9. Charles de Gaulle 10. Billy the Kid 11. Mark Twain 12. The Riviera 13. Eiffel 14. Adolph Hitler – the best known false name in the world 15. The Jazz Singer 16. Mohammed Ali.

Speaking

Answer these questions:

1. How do parents usually choose a name for their baby?

2. How do we attach emotions to certain names? (e.g. We expect someone named Alexander Charleston Fremont Fairchild to be quite formal)

3. Does a person’s name sometimes fit his personality?

It is interesting to know

Throughout history names had often had a kind of magical quality. In some societies, Arab or Chinese, for example, a beautiful child may be called by a deprecating name – ‘Dog’, ‘Stupid’, ‘Ugly’, - in order to ward off the evil eye. Alternatively, two words may be combined together, e.g. gold and treasure, to produce a unique name, which it is hoped will bring its owner good luck

In the West, names are very rarely unique – many parents still name their children after saints, though some might call a succession of children First, Second, Third (as in Italy). Some fathers simply name their children after themselves (Frank Sinatra junior), others take this to extremes – George Formby, the American heavyweight boxer, named five of his sons ‘George’.

In Africa, however, many children are given unique names, and some have to wait several years before receiving one. Where child mortality is high, children are often treated as visitors to this planet, and are simply given a name which corresponds to how old they are. Then on their fifth birthday they are given a name. Not always a first name and a surname, but just one unique name.

In modern society many artists, especially musicians and actors, actually change their names in the hope that it will bring them fortune- Madonna and Prince, for example. Other rock stars have given their children strange names, Frank Zappa called two of his children Dweezil and Moon Unit; and David Bowie introduced the fashion for names like Ziggy.

More recently parents tended to name their children after their idols – stars of the cinema and football – in the hope that some of the magic of these heroes and heroines will somehow be miraculously transferred to their offspring.

Speaking

Answer these questions:

1. Why did your parents give you your first name? Do you know the origin of your name? Does it have an equivalent in English?

2. Should we just be given temporary names until we are old enough to choose our own name?

3. Do you like your name? Would you change your name if you could? What famous people have changed their names? Why did they do it? Is the new name better than the original one?

4. What are your favourite names: a) in your own language? b) in English?

It is interesting to know

DIALOGUE

The other day I was sitting at home, enjoying a pipe and a book, when my younger son interrupted me. His name is Christopher; we call him Chris for short.

Chris: I say, Dad.

I: Well, what do you want? Can’t you see I’m reading? I wish you’d live me in peace.

Chris: But I want to ask you something.

I: Oh, well, go ahead.

Chris: We were talking the other day about nicknames. It seems a funny word.

I: What does?

Chris: Nickname.

I: Do you really want to know the origin of nickname? Then listen carefully. The meaning of the old English word eke meant “also”. And if you say “an eke name” quickly it sounds like a “nickname”.

Chris: So it does. A nickname is another name or additional name?

I: You’ve got it. At first people had only one name, Thomas, John, Richard, etc., but Christian names, we now call them, were not very numerous in England. So to distinguish one John from another, for instance, an additional name was necessary. Sometimes the other name was a place name. John who lived by the church was called John Church, whereas John who lived on the Hill was called John Hill. Some men were given their father’s names. Thomas the son of Richard was called Thomas Richardson. Many English family names end in “son”.

Chris: What about the name Smith, the commonest among English surnames?

I: Of course. Smith means a blacksmith, and blacksmiths were very numerous in old times, far more numerous than they are now. Very often the second name was given according to the work or occupation of the person. That’s how we get the family names of Taylor, Dyer, Farmer or Clerk. Sometimes a man was called after some characteristic. For instance, the first John Long was certainly a tall man; just as the first Mr Small was undoubtedly a short man.

Chris: But such names are not nicknames, they are family names.

I: You’re quite right, but they were nicknames once. Nowadays the word has changed its meaning: it now means a special name, not a real name that is used by a person’s friends and familiar acquaintances.

Speaking

Discuss in pairs or groups the following statements:

1. What nicknames have you had, if any? Why did people choose them?

2. What’s the derivation of the most popular surnames in your country?

3. What origin does your surname have? How would you translate it into English? What are the worst surnames in your country and why are they so bad?

4. Have you had any problems as a result of having the surname you were born with?

5. When is using first names and surnames appropriate in your country?

6. Should women keep their maiden name when they get married?

7. How has the fashion in first names changed in your lifetime?

8. How important do you think a good name is for pop and film stars?

9. How important is a good name for commercial products like shampoo, soap, cars or cigars? Can you think of any examples of names which have ruined a product’s success?

Role play:

You are a husband and a wife. Try to agree on names for your expected child.

Exercise 1

Translate the following sentences into English:

1. Шпигун на прізвисько Бім відмовився назвати своє справжнє ім‘я.

2. Коли дівчата виходять заміж, вони часто змінюють свої дівочі прізвища на прізвища своїх чоловіків.

3. В 60-ті роки було дуже небезпечно писати вірші під справжнім іменем, тому письменники змушені були брати псевдоніми.

4. – Я не знаю як назвати твір про королеву Єлизавету. – Використай ініціали.

5. Назва цієї вулиці походить від імені відомого письменника.

6. Головний університет м. Києва названий на честь Т. Шевченка.

7. Не обзивай людей! Це образливо.

8. Мого племінника звуть Білл, отож ми - тезки.

9. Моя мрія – написати словник зменшено - пестливих імен.

10. Вчитель намагався називати своїх студентів по іменах.

11. Останнім часом багато вулиць були перейменовані.

12. “MM” означає ‘‘ засоби масової інформації ‘‘.