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With the 20-year anniversary of Princess Diana’s death arriving in September, specials and films dedicated to her are popping up. HBO’s Diana, Our Mother: Her Life and Legacy premieres July 24. That 65-minute film, executive produced by Nick Kent, features both Prince William and Prince Harry, talking about their mother.
TLC airs the three-hour special Princess Diana: Tragedy or Treason? starting July 31. A new series on Reelz called The Kitty Kelley Files offers a close-up of the Princess of Wales in an episode airing Aug. 26.
Smithsonian Channel, meanwhile, airs two new specials: Diana and the Paparazzi and Diana: The Day We Said Goodbye. Both premiere Aug. 27. Narrated by Kate Winslet, The Day We Said Goodbye looks at, among other things, Elton John and Bernie Taupin rewriting lyrics to “Candle in the Wind” because Westminster Abbey did not approve of some of them for the funeral. (John performed the new version, called “Goodbye England’s Rose,” at Diana’s burial.)
“Insider stories like that are fascinating,” said Charles Poe, senior vice president of production at Smithsonian Channel.
Princess Diana married Prince Charles in 1981 and the two divorced in 1996. She died in a car crash in Paris a year later. Diana was a media star then, and still is today.
“Diana was a global icon,” said Poe, “not just a princess in the United Kingdom.”
