GOODBYE, ENGLAND’S ROSE

by Desmond Kelly “the Star of eLanka”

Image source: Best Women

They say “time flies”, but who will ever forget Princess Di, the “Princess of the People”who died as the result of a car smash-up, exactly twenty years ago.I write this “story” for readers of ELanka and also for my readers of The Lanka Times, in Melbourne who, perhaps missed an excellent “Sunday-Night” Special, which I have just watched. It was shown on Channel 7, advertising & all, but I did HAVE to watch it because it WAS about Princess Diana, indeed, one of the most beautiful of English Roses who ever grew, not just in England, but anywhere else in the whole wide World.

Sir Elton John, played piano and sang his dedication to the Princess, with the above “title” replacing the “hit” of 1973, “Candle in the wind” which, strangely, was another “dedication” to Marilyn Monroe who had also died very young, under tragic circumstances. Two of the most beautiful women in the World, taken away much too early in life. Stranger, too, was the fact that both Marilyn Monroe and Princess Diana died at the tender age of 36.

Marilyn Monroe was born on the 1st of June 1926 and died on the 5th of August, 1962. Princess Diana was born on the 1st of July 1961 and died on the 31st of August, 1997.

Another lesser-known, but still very important fact is that the man who did BOTH tributes in song has vowed NEVER to sing those songs again. Sir Elton was visibly emotional as he sang the final stanzas of the song “Goodbye, England’s Rose” It was also the BEST song that I have watched him do. Elton had no trouble in writing the “music” to the song, when partner Bernie Taupin submitted the touching “lyrics”

How could one elaborate on an unforgettable personility? . She was still a teenager when she came to the notice of the Royal Family, met Prince Charles,heir to the British Throne when his mother Queen Elizabeth passes away(Her Majesty has already made it very clear that SHE will “Serve” her people as long as she lives), fell in love with her “Prince” and married him when she was just 19 years old, gave Prince Charles & England two future “heirs” to the Throne, in Princes William & Harry, before their marriage started to fall apart, as CAN happen, even with Royalty.

For the short time that THEY were together, Princess Diana did CHANGE the look of the staid British Royal Family, including the Queen & Prince Phillip, for the better. Rumours spread, as they will, that she was not at all popular with the “Staff” who worked at the Palace but I do NOT believe that for a second. She didn’t have an easy time of it with Prince Charles who was 13 years, her senior, had already met & wooed a woman by the name of Camilla Parker-Bowles, and, as Charles himself, once said “I’m amazed that she (Diana) would take me on”.

They came to Australia together. Nobody even noticed the future heir to the British Throne when Diana stepped out of the “Limo”. The Press, mostly men, were not interested in Heirs to the Throne, they wanted to see Diana and she did not disappoint them.

NO male, that I know of, would have been able to take their eyes off the most beautiful Princess on the Planet. She had a natural beauty, all of her own, and, to go with that, a smile & warmth she shared with everyone around her. At the time when people were terrified that “touching” anyone with “aids” would mean that they would get the disease too, Princess Diana, actually sat with some terminally ill patients who had been diagnosed with aids, held their hands and comforted them. This was why she was known as the “Princess of the People”.

The main reason for this particular article is to inform those of you who “missed” the 7 Special on the 12th of March, 2017, that there is a chance of a “repeat”
and, if this happens, please try not to miss it. There is much more to this “story” & I could write it in detail, but it would be much better to watch it on television.
I congratulate Channel 7 for this tribute to someone who thoroughly deserves it, and let me finish this article as I started it, saying “Goodbye Englands Rose”
I will never forget you.

Desmond Kelly “Star of eLanka”.