Princess Diana: A Real Life Fairy Tale

In Norfolk, England on July 1, 1961 a baby girl was born into the Spencer family, and after one week she was given the name Diana. She grew up in a very respectable family in Northhamptonshire. There her and her siblings were mainly raised by her father, Lord Spencer.

As she got older Diana know she only wanted to get married once, and once for love. She had seen how her parents had ended up in result from a loveless marriage. Diana wished for something more, she wished for her prince charming. At age 20 it seemed like everything had fallen into place. She was getting married in London at St. Paul’s Cathedral to Charles, the Prince of Wales. On July 29, 2981 she was a very shy bride and the cameras and television crews were everywhere, but that was the price she had to pay to be Her Royal Highness Diana, Princess of Wales.

Very quickly she became very popular among the masses of England; people fell in love with her beauty, her grace, and her compassion. Wherever she went people poured their hearts to her and showed her how much she was loved. But with this new found fame she also had to deal with the paparazzi documenting her life every step of the way. At times all the cameras seemed to be too much but she tried her best to ignore them and live her life.

In the late 1980’s things in the marriage appeared to be less than perfect. It seemed as if the marriage that the whole world had fallen in love with and looked to as the picture perfect match was just that, it was crumbling right below the surface. Things carried on for years like this with Prince Charles and Princess Diana simply existing next to each other. During this time it is assumed that Prince Charles resumed his love for Camilla Parker Bowles, an affair that many people believed never truly died during his and Diana’s marriage. Diana is remembered quoting to the BBC “Well there were three of us in this marriage so it was a bit crowded”.

Eventually on August 28, 1996 the divorce between Prince Charles and Princess Diana was finalized and the divorce brought even more pain with the paparazzi following Diana’s every step. The marriage she had wanted to be filled with love failed and she was dismissed by the royal family.

After the divorce Charles went back to Camilla Parker Bowles, the woman he had loved all along, and Diana went on alone. She dated around a bit until she met Dodi Al-Fayed. Their whirlwind romance brought them to Paris on August 31, 1997. On this fateful night Princess Di, Dodi, and the security manager Henri Paul were leaving Hotel Ritz when they were being chased by the paparazzi who hoped to get a glimpse of Princess Di. Paul tried to lose them but by the time the Mercedes-Benz reached the Pont de l’Alma road tunnel the car had gotten out of control and hit a pillar in the tunnel. Both Diana and Dodi ended up dying.

The whole world mourned her death, she was the people’s princess and she had left the mortal world forever. Even to this day if you go to England you will find bits of Princess Di everywhere from pictures of her in people’s homes, her quarters in Kensington Palace preserved with her most famous dresses to everyone’s fond memory of her. Her memory will never fade as long as there are people in England who still remember and love her.

Living among fairy tales...

Fairy tales seem to strike a chord with everyone, no matter what the age. Maybe you heard a fairy tale once when you were younger and it has stuck with you all the way into your adulthood. This idea of a following fairy tale is evident even in physical forms around the world. People love to be reminded what it was like to be a kid hearing about such far away places, enchantments, and to be truly excited to hear a story. Maybe that is why these statues of favorite fairy tales from people's childhoods show up all around the globe. People want to be reminded how wonderful it was to be immersed in such captivating stories.

One example is the Peter Pan statue in Kensington Gardens in London. J.M Barrie, the author of the boy who never grew up, had this statue installed overnight in 1912 so it was if appeared out of nowhere; keeping the idea of magic still alive.

Another example is the Alice in Wonderland Statue in Central Park. This statue was not given to Central Park until 1959 when it was received as a gift from George Delacorte who had it commissioned in honor of his wife Margarita and given to the children of New York City.


A final example is the Little Mermaid statue that sits in Copenhagen, Denmark. Unveiled in 1913 the statue was a gift to Copenhagen from Carl Jacobsen, who was part of the Carlsberg brewing family. The statue sits overlooking the Copenhagen Harbor and is one of the most popular tourist destinations in the city.

Who were the Grimm brothers???

The Grimm brothers are wildly known throughout the land of fairy tales for children and folklore. They are both credited as being German children authors when in truth both of their lives spanned a time when Germany was not even a country but merely an extended area of the now long gone Prussian Empire.
Brothers Jakob and Wilhelm were born within a year of each other. Jakob being born on January 4, 1785 while Wilhelm was born on February 24 of the next year. The brothers barely spent anytime apart and their personalities complemented each other as they worked side by side creating such stories.
A Romantic period rose up through the beginning of the 19th century that brought a popular light on things like nature along with knowing the roots of popular German folklore. Literature of this time period reflects such a movement. Here is when the Grimm Brothers really fell into their stride producing books like Kinder-und Hausmärchen (Tales of Children and the Home) in 1812 followed by Deutsche Sagen (German Legends) a few years later.
The Grimm Brothers are still very much part of our culture's popular literature, even though throughout the decades their stories have been tweaked and changed to seem more appropriate for children of the present; companies like Disney have had a large part to do with this. When the brothers passed away in 1859 and 1863 respectively they most likely did not have any inclination that their stories and legends that they brought to life would ever have such an impact on the world as we see it today.

Don't Act Like You Don't Remember This Show...

Remember Grimm's Classic Fairy Tales on Nickelodeon growing up? It only had the most amazing theme song that always got stuck in your head!!! It had the best fairy tales on the show including Puss N' Boots, Cinderella, The Goose that lays Golden Eggs, and loads others. Weirdly enough it was a Japanese program that was aired in 1988 on Nickelodeon. After reading some of the Grimm brother's fairy tales in Tatar's book one can instantly recognize that the lyrics to the show do not line up with the original Grimm fairy tales...

Hey, come along and join the fun.
It's a time for fairy tales.
Magical kingdoms in the sun.
Come along, come along.

Meet friendly elves and witches too
In a world of fairy tales.
Enchanted castles wait for you.
Come along, come along.

To where life is a fantasy,
and every story ends so happily (giggles).

This is the place where dreams come true.
A world of fairy tales for you.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bBzlKHMwK6Q


The lyrics are really geared towards children and their innocence. The theme talks about how one can meet friendly elves and witches too. Also that line stating that every story ends so happily. Lest be honest, we all know thats not the truth. Interesting that stories for children had to be even more removed from the original state of the story to be presented to children once again.

Little Red Riding Hood...

The introduction to Tatar's book mention different reactions to Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm's classic story Little Red Riding Hood. She mentions Luciano Pavorotti's reaction to the story who connected with the main heroine and did not want her to die while on the other hand Charles Dickens responded to Red Riding Hood with an affection of love. These two reactions are not that far apart form each other. The first reaction that I can remember when I first heard this story when I was younger was a feeling of jealousy. I was really upset that Red Riding Hood got to go out all on her own to her grandmother's house without any supervision. I wanted to know why I was not allowed to do something like that since I assumed at the time Red Riding Hood and I were the same age. Once my mom got to the end of the story I really had no desire to have as much responsibility as I had previously wished; but still for a little bit I was really jealous of Red Riding Hood.

Once Upon a Time...