Diana is still worshipped as our goddess of beauty. Here's why that's a mistake

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Princess Diana: Remembering her life and legacy

It's been 20 years since the tragic car accident that killed Princess Diana. A look back at her life and legacy

What is it about the month of August that finds so many celebrities dying?

Just this month we’ve seen the passing of Glen Campbell, Barbara Cook, Dick Gregory and Jerry Lewis. Thomas Meehan, who wrote the book for the musical “Annie,” died last week.

Prince Charles and Princess Diana ride in an open carriage from Buckingham Palace to Westminster Abbey on July 23, 1986 for the royal wedding of the Duke of York and Sarah Ferguson in London. REUTERS/Uli Michel - RTR1KFGR (Reuters)

Marilyn Monroe died in August 1962 (though she “lives” on in so many ways). Elvis Presley died in August 1977. He, too, lives on, though it now costs $28.75 just to walk by his burial plot at Graceland.

August is also awash in images and remembrances of Diana, Princess of Wales, who died in a car crash in Paris 20 years ago. Channel 4 in Britain recently aired videotape of Diana, taken during sessions with her voice coach, Peter Settelen, in which she discussed her failing marriage and her affair with former Army Captain John Hewitt.

FILE - In this Tuesday Sept. 24, 1996 file photo, Britain's Diana, Princess of Wales, arrives for dinner in Washington. It has been 20 years since the death of Princess Diana in a car crash in Paris and the outpouring of grief that followed the death of the “people’s princess.” (AP Photo/Denis Paquin, File) (AP)

On the 10th anniversary of her death, I wrote a column about Diana and the cult of beauty. Those who worship her image still remind me of those who once worshipped false goddesses. Very little has changed.

“Diana is our goddess of beauty. Her image on the cover of People magazine guaranteed robust sales. We can’t get enough of that face, the clothes, or the fairy tale story with an unhappy ending. Maybe if we keep reliving the story, the ending will be different, but it never is because worship based on externals is always bound to disappoint.

Beauty covers a multitude of sins, and Diana, like all of us, had plenty of them. We forgive her multiple affairs and her manipulative tactics because we love her looks. She makes us feel good still. We desire her even in death.

Young Prince Harry tries to hide behind his mother Princess Diana during a morning picture session at Marivent Palace on August 9, 1988, where the Prince and Princess of Wales are holidaying as guests of King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofia. REUTERS/Hugh Peralta - RTR1JW1G (Reuters)

A decade ago, the feminist writer Germaine Greer penned a devastatingly honest essay for The Sunday Times that penetrated the makeup, the clothes, the jewels and the image: ‘When Diana presented herself to her adoring public as a guileless girl who fell in love with a chap who just happened to be heir to the English throne, only to have her innocent young love spurned, she was acting a lie.’

Greer says that in adulthood Diana became ‘more, rather than less, devious.’ It is a character assessment her adoring disciples are prepared to overlook. And then Greer writes this explosive line: ‘The story of how she emerged from her dowdy chrysalis to become the people’s princess is often told, but what is seldom assessed is just how much of a performance this was.’

FILE - In this Monday, Nov. 2, 1987 file photo, Britain's Diana, the Princess of Wales, is pictured during an evening reception given by the West German President Richard von Weizsacker in honour of the British Royal guests in the Godesberg Redoute in Bonn, Germany. It has been 20 years since the death of Princess Diana in a car crash in Paris and the outpouring of grief that followed the death of the “people’s princess.” (AP Photo/Herman Knippertz, File) (AP)

We are prepared to believe lies if they affirm our deepest desire to feel good, if not about ourselves, then about a goddess statue that can be as devoid of spiritual power as the false gods created by pagan peoples.

Suppose Diana had been the mistress of Prince Charles and Camilla were his first wife. If Camilla and not Diana had been killed in that Paris tunnel would the outpouring of grief from people who never met her have been as great? Surely not.

FILE - In this November, 1995 file photo, Britain's Diana, Princess of Wales, is shown. It has been 20 years since the death of Princess Diana in a car crash in Paris and the outpouring of grief that followed the death of the “people’s princess.” (AP Photo/Eduardo Di Baia, File) (AP)

No one celebrates or elevates plainness; less so, goodness.

"The Diana cult will continue until someone younger with a better story replaces her. The public always wants a better and younger story. Consider the musical “Chicago,” when public attention and favor quickly pass from Velma Kelly to Roxie Hart and then to yet another woman with a more exciting narrative.

Germaine Greer concludes by writing that Diana was a ‘desperate woman seeking applause.’ No wonder so many still love her, because they are seeking the same thing.”