“You are one horrible little man”: Queen Elizabeth II Was Pissed Off After a Photographer Showed No Respect to a Very Scared Princess Diana
- The British Royal Family and Princess Diana often felt distressed by the paparazzi culture.
- Queen Elizabeth II once bashed a photographer for taking intrusive photos of Princess Diana.
- Princess Diana's tragic car crash still serves as a reminder of the dangers of invasive media culture.
It is hard to maintain a private life for public figures and celebrities across the globe. Media and photographers, especially those who are into the paparazzi culture, are often seen crossing their boundaries to get more candid pictures of the personal lives of celebs.
The British Royal Family has also been a victim of this culture. Princess Diana became a prime focus of paparazzi, being the wife of Prince Charles and mother of the future of the British throne. However, sometimes the photographers were reminded when they crossed their lines, and once, it was none other than Queen Elizabeth II herself who took that role.
Queen Elizabeth II Bashed a Photographer Taking Princess Diana’s Photos
During the 80s, Princess Diana used to learn horseriding along with some grooms. Once, Queen Elizabeth II was overseeing the practice session, and she saw Diana uncomfortable and struggling to handle the horse, being a beginner at that time.
According to The Sun, Diana and others rode down a main road near Anmer Hall, where Prince William and Kate Middleton now live. The horseriding group encountered a group of photographers there, and one of the photographers was Jim Bennett, who has been a Royal photographer for years.
In his interview with The Sun, Bennett said that he was expecting Diana and others to change their direction in order to avoid the photographers, but they didn’t. Talking about Diana’s struggle, he said,
They saw us, and I expected them to sort of veer off, but obviously, Diana was very unstable on the horse. I mean, she was gripping like, ‘please, you know, let me get on with it. And let me get off.’ But they kept on coming, and we did the pictures.
At one point, he saw the Queen was getting closer to him, so he decided to move. It was that moment when Queen Elizabeth decided to scold the photographer for taking Diana’s pictures. Bennett said,
And literally, as they got level with us, she looked down at me, and she said, ‘You are one horrible little man.’ At that very moment, I felt, I wish there was a big hole I could disappear into, because just by her saying it and looking at you, she, just, there was something about her.
Bennett felt way too embarrassed by the Queen’s remarks. However, he again got the chance to take their photos during one of their tours in Jordan. Bennett revealed in the interview that he couldn’t even lift his head when the Queen was greeting all the photographers, and he was looking at his feet the whole time.
The Queen’s reaction showed her protective nature towards her family, particularly towards Princess Diana, who often felt vulnerable in front of constant media and photographers’ attention at the time.
Princess Diana’s Relationship with the Paparazzi
Princess Diana’s troubled relationship with the paparazzi is well-known around the world. Although she never felt like taking legal action against the photographers, she used to feel distressed quite often due to their constant pursuit to get a glimpse of her personal life.
Diana often had to remind the photographers to stay within their limits. Once, in the year before her tragic death, she was coming out of the theater with her sons after watching Jurassic Park. She got so troubled by the paparazzi that she left her sons, walked toward the photographers, and yelled, “You make my life hell!!” (via Orlando Sentinel).
However, her warnings didn’t have much impact on them. According to Los Angeles Times, the paparazzi termed such incidents “loon attacks,” and they took it as an opportunity to capture Diana’s outbursts and weird expressions.
In an interview with HuffPost, English journalist Andrew Morton, who authorized Diana: Her True Story, revealed that even when Diana attended her therapy sessions, many photographers used to abuse her and pass provocative remarks just to get a reaction from her. This definitely took a toll on her mental health.
In the HBO documentary Diana, Our Mother: Her Life and Legacy (via Daily Mail), Prince William revealed how photographers used to spit at Diana and call out her and how she used to cry for all that.
Diana’s car crash on August 31, 1997, is probably the most infamous example of how extreme paparazzi culture can even create fatal scenarios. Her life and interaction with media still serve as a reminder of the dangers of paparazzi culture.
