Was Princess Diana fated to die?

Diana’s mental illness and personality disorder put her at risk…and the paparazzi finished her off.

I’ve watched all the seasons of The Crown. This last one, season 4, gets into the flawed, tragic relationship of Diana and Charles. At first, you really see Diana as a victim. And Charles and Camilla monsters, using this innocent girl for their own political purposes.

But as the season continues, you realize how miserable all of them are. Camilla and Charles were in love. And could not be together. Diana, at 19, was ambitious to be a famous lady and yet also painfully unaware of what she was getting into.

Who do I blame? The Windsor family. The Queen and Prince Philip who forced their son to live in this untenable state. Now certainly we can see that they were terrified that history would repeat itself and Charles would end up like his uncle — abdicating his role and future king for this married woman.

That said, there was so much that could have been done to avoid the tragedy of Diana.

First of all, we must see that Diana was in a very fragile mental state. I was in graduate school in psychology when one day, our professor wanted us to look at Diana’s behavior and see if she fit any criteria for mental illness. Her bulimia was public at that time, so it was obvious her eating disorder indicated anxiety and depression. But her personality? Did she have a personality disorder? A look into her unhappy childhood and her need for constant attention hints at Borderline Disorder. If so, Diana was never given the help she really needed. Instead, her popularity would have actually fueled her mental problems.

I have great sympathy for Charles. He was stuck by birth. That said, his constant attention to Camilla was constant torture to Diana. The bottom line: Someone should have stepped in and helped these people.

Diana, in her own words, discussed an assortment of psychiatrists and psychologists who instead of providing helpful therapies, basically provided pills as the answer. Valium was supposed to keep her calm. Frankly, they were just trying to sedate her. No one offered her meaningful psychological cognitive-behavioral therapy.

You’d think the divorce would have set things on a better path. Charles could be with Camilla (and eventually marry her after the death of Diana) but Diana’s need for public attention, her desire to punish Charles, led to making several choices that would continue to upset the monarchy. Now, I’m not saying she didn’t have a right to pick whomever she wished. But Dodi Fayed was an exceptionally bitter pill for the monarchy. Why did she choose him? Frankly, I think it was spite and also part of her fragile mental thinking.

There’s always been this underlying suspicion that Diana’s death was orchestrated by the crown. There have been several investigation that did not show any evidence. But it cannot be denied that Diana was a problem for the monarchy. She was living on the edge. And perhaps the monarchy had a hand in getting her driver drunk? Or that it was fate…but Diana’s death saved the house of Windsor.

Little girls dream of marrying the handsome prince. Diana’s story is a warning for all people that what something looks like may not be reality. Whether it’s the fairytale wedding of a prince and young girl, or all those rosy Facebook lives that make people look so happy and fabulous.

Real life is messy. And sometimes difficult. And we all need support and help. Ultimately, I just feel very bad that Diana was actually doomed from birth to have this life. No one saw the warning signs of mental illness. Of poor judgement. Of an out of control eating disorder. Of depression. No one helped her.