A Princess’ Story Still Fascinates

It’s been nearly five years since news reports from Paris brought us images of the twisted wreckage that spelled the end of the charmed yet in many ways cursed existence of young Diana Spencer.

And in a summer that will also mark the anniversaries of Lady Di’s birth (she would have turned 41 on Monday) and ill-fated marriage into royalty (July 29), BBC America has planned a prodigious block of programming aimed at feeding this country’s apparent ongoing fascination with the late princess.

The cable/satellite channel, launched four years ago with such cultishly popular crossovers as “Monty Python” and “Absolutely Fabulous” running interference, now is available in nearly 30 million U.S. homes. Today at 5 p.m., it will begin airing its sprawling, summer-long overview of just about every aspect of the tragically short life of the blond mother of two under the umbrella title “Diana Forever.”

Included in the package are the controversial interview she did shortly after her marriage breakup and “Diana: The Wedding Story,” which features segments never before seen in this country.

Forever indeed. Pop periodicals and TV newsmagazines that covered the princess’ every move haven’t missed a beat with the royal family since her death, and Paul Lee, BBC America’s chief operating officer, said Diana’s openness and broad interests chronicled in this series of specials helped usher that in.

“Diana was a deeply modern woman who spoke to many modern issues,” Lee said, citing her involvement on AIDS and land mines in Angola as examples. “Later, she became afraid that her presence might become a threat to the royal family. But it really reinvigorated the whole story. You could see that with the [recent] coverage of the [Queen Elizabeth] jubilee. Diana made Charles and the family take a real look at what they stood for.”