Crises threaten UK monarchy’s image 25 years after Diana’s death
The royal family’s perceived botched response to Diana’s death sparked a gradual and largely successful shift in its image management, but recent crises have renewed questions about that modernisation effort.
The death of the princess of Wales on August 31, 1997, prompted an outpouring of national grief that senior royals, including Queen Elizabeth II and her son Prince Charles, initially seemed out of step with.
There was eventually an acknowledgement missteps were made and that the family needed to turn the page on a damaging decade of divorces, family infighting and scandals that had dented their public standing.
A quarter-century on, the monarchy now has a far more nimble PR operation, adept at social media and rapid-response while still able to stage grand events like June’s Platinum Jubilee celebrations with aplomb.
However, recent controversies — notably Prince Andrew’s links to billionaire paedophile Jeffrey Epstein, and Prince Harry and his wife Meghan Markle quitting frontline royal duties — have cast doubts on the monarchy’s remoulding.
