Icon and myth at the same time, Princess Diana of Wales continues to be talked about even though she passed 25 years ago. This time it is because a series of letters she sent to a couple of friends (Susie and Tarek Kassem) will be auctioned on February 16.
The reason? Simple: the couple does not want the responsibility of having to safeguard such documents to fall on their children, so they prefer to keep the memory of Diana but not the memorabilia she bequeathed to them, according to El País.
“In 2023, ownership of these touching documents is a responsibility that the Kassems do not want to pass on to their children or grandchildren. They have decided to sell the letters and use the proceeds from the sale to support some of the charities they work with,” declared Lay’s Auctioneers, the auction house in charge of the process.
What Did Diana’s Letters to the Kassems Say?
These missives, mainly, were in charge of expressing to Diana’s friends how she lived some of the processes before her divorce from the then Prince Charles, to whom she was married from July 29, 1981, until December 1992, a month in which the former Prime Minister John Major announced their separation. “It is an amicable decision, and both will continue to be fully involved in the upbringing of their children,” read the official statement issued by the team of correspondents at Buckingham Palace.
But the world knows that it was not an amicable separation, especially because of the infamous interview Diana herself gave to journalist Martin Bashir on BBC’s Panorama show in 1995, in which she said that her marriage to Charles was not a two-person marriage but a three-person one and that the situation seemed “a bit overcrowded.” Her divorce was finalized a year later.
The correspondence the Princess had with the Kassems helps to better elucidate her feelings about the whole situation, as in most of the letters she comments on how ugly and desperate everything became for her after she decided to separate from Charles.
“I apologize for not coming to the opera today. I am going through a difficult time and the pressure is serious and coming from all sides. Sometimes it is too difficult to keep my head up, and today I am on my knees, and just long for this divorce to go through, as the possible cost is tremendous,” Diana commented in one of the letters, dated April 26, 1996.
Who Were the Kassems for Diana of Wales?
The media indicates that the Kassems began to relate to the Princess in August 1995, a year before finalizing her divorce, during one of the visits she made to the Royal Hospital of Brompton in London, and the moment from which both parties decided to support each other in whatever they could.
And it is something that Diana absolutely needed after having practically declared “war” on the British Royal Family with her interview, her separation process, and her breaches of protocol, as many specialists on the subject have clarified over the years. “I am immensely touched by how protective they are of me – I’m not used to that!” wrote Diana in one of the letters.
“Susie and Tarek feel extremely privileged to have had the opportunity to know the Princess so closely. Throughout their friendship, the Kassems were always amazed at the incredible effect Diana had on anyone who came into contact with her, whether on the street, in a restaurant, or anywhere else,” the auction house noted.
Other Details About the Letter Auction
There will be 32 letters that will be put under auction at the upcoming event, which, according to some major British tabloids, could reach the price of up to 90 thousand pounds. And it should be noted that this is not the first time Diana’s intimate correspondence has been put up for sale, since two years ago, the same auction house offered a collection of around 40 letters sent by the iconic woman to another of her friends, Roger Bramble, between 1990 and 1997.
One of the lots in this auction fetched 7,200 pounds, which consisted of a single letter, dated 1996, in which Queen Elizabeth II was described as “the boss” of the British monarchy. In contrast, another letter, dated 1996, describes Bramble as a welcome distraction from the mundane activities associated with an impending divorce, sold for 6,500 pounds.
The complete package of letters reached a total price of 67,900 pounds, an amount quite strong and comparable to that of other objects of the Princess that have been auctioned over the years, such as her 1985 Ford Escort RS Turbo S1, in which she was photographed behind the wheel accompanied by her children, and which was sold for 722,500 pounds.
Her amethyst and diamond necklace, which she wore at several social events, was also recently auctioned and was finally acquired by influencer and businesswoman Kim Kardashian, at the price of 63,800 pounds (1.46 million pesos).
What do you think about these auctions? Should people continue to profit from the suffering of a figure like Princess Diana?
Story originally published in Spanish in Cultura Colectiva