Criticized for its apparent coldness in the face of the death of Lady Di, the British royal family has tried to modernize and restore its image. But recent scandals have shown an institution that is still fragile, struggling to keep up with society.
The death of Diana in a car accident in Paris on August 31, 1997, caused immense emotion, with which the monarchy had seemed completely out of step.
The Queen and her eldest son, Charles, whose divorce had been finalized the previous year, had remained immured in their silence from their castle in Balmoral, Scotland, far from the capital, before returning to London to share the national grief .
The most famous British family has become aware of its missteps, and reviewed its copy, also trying to turn the page of a painful decade, between divorces, family quarrels and various scandals.
Before those efforts, which helped restore his popularity, were thrown into question recently by a series of crises — the sexual assault charges against Prince Andrew in the United States, which resulted in a multimillion-dollar settlement, or the departure of Prince Harry and his wife Meghan.
slow change
“Diana’s death was a whirlwind that forced the monarchy to reorient its public image, to adopt a more modern and expressive profile in order to please the public,” royal historian Ed Owens told AFP.
“This story lives on through its sons,” he warns. “Difficult times are ahead. »
A quarter of a century after the tragedy, the family manages its communication much more effectively. She has recruited public relations experts, is more reactive and present on social networks, while managing the organization of major unifying events such as the celebrations of the platinum jubilee of Elizabeth II, marking the 70 years of reign of the ultrapopular monarch last June.
Robert Hardman, author ofElizabeth II, Queen of a Century (Queen of Our Times: The Life of Elizabeth II), evokes a measured “evolution” faced with the acceleration of continuous information and the emergence of social networks.
The monarchy, believes the biographer, “changes slowly, imperceptibly, but firmly and not without reason”.
After Diana’s death, the aim was in particular to show a more “human” image of the queen, sometimes seen as being more concerned with her dogs and horses than with her subjects.
The image of Charles, who was criticized for his stiffness and arrogance, has also been worked on.
His sons, Princes Harry and William, with their long very close relationship and then their glamorous marriages, seduced the British.
“Big mistake”
Rather than “hunker down and wait for it to happen” as before, the monarchy is now more responsive to controversy, according to Mr. Hardman.
Faced with accusations of racism in the royal family launched by Harry and his wife Meghan, the queen reacted quickly in a press release to ensure that she took the matter seriously while affirming that “memories may vary”.
But the exile in the United States of Harry and Meghan in 2020 has done damage. “It deprived the monarchy of one of its saviors,” Harry, said Mr Owens.
“Meghan also embodied some of the virtues that Diana had also sought to project,” he notes, pointing to her way of expressing her emotions and being “sensitive to the concerns of ordinary people, to the lives of people in the world. in development. »
For him, the “big mistake” of the 96-year-old queen over the past two decades has mainly been the management of the crisis of Prince Andrew, often presented as his favorite son.
Accused of sexual assault in connection with the Epstein affair in the United States, Prince Andrew ended it by paying several million dollars. A month later, Elizabeth II let him accompany her to a religious service in memory of her late husband, Prince Philip.
“The Queen may not have learned the lessons of the late 1990s as well as she could have,” Mr Owens said.
The historian thinks that similar “pitfalls” stand in the way of Charles, criticized for donations of controversial origins to his associations or positions deemed unsuitable for a future king.
Unlike his mother, Charles lacks “subtlety” according to Mr Owens. “It will cause problems. »