The Queen

If you were alive the last week of August in 1997, I am sure you remember the announcement of the tragic death of Diana.  The world mourned the loss of one of its most famous members of the royal family.  It was hard not to as we watched on our televisions the public displays of grieving across the globe.  While disliked by members of the royal family she married into, she was loved by the world who so endearingly named her the People's Princess.

Her untimely death created an outpouring of grief, yet we see the other side of society in the movie, The Queen, where we experience first hand the reactions of Queen Elizabeth II and her family to Diana's death.  In the title role, the amazingly talented Helen Mirren, delivers a very honest and human portrayal of a woman's reaction to a princess loved by the masses but seen as the black sheep of the royal family.

The royal family's grief was not the public display that the masses in England expected and desired to see from them as they mourned their Princess.  The movie demonstrates this through the Queen's interactions with Prime Minister, Tony Blair.  As the royal family disappears from the eyes of the public during the week following Diana's death, the Queen's ratings plummet.  Tony Blair tries to console the distraught crowds while sympathizing with the Queen as we view a woman who is human, yet a figurehead who we may forget has very human emotions.

Stephen Frears has made a brilliant movie that recreates for us in a new light how a Queen and her people live and deal with a great tragedy that will live on for many years in the hearts of those who came to know Diana, the People's Princess.