Our queen of hearts' - the glorification of Lady Diana Spencer: a critical appraisal of the glorification of celebrities and new pilgrimage

Authors

• Céline Grünhagen University of Bonn

DOI: https://doi.org/10.30674/scripta.67363

Keywords:

Diana, Princess of Wales, 1961-1997, Religious change, Pilgrims and pilgrimages, Popular culture, Celebrities, Implicit religion, Nobility, Death, Great Britain, Mourning, Symbolism, Media and religion, Memorials, Tourist trade, Worship, Gender, Women

Abstract

Religiosity and spirituality respectively have always been and will be subject to change. The emergence of the manifold forms of new religious and spiritual movements in the last century includes a variety of cult-like vener­ations of specific individuals, such as politicians (e.g. Mao, Lenin) and modern idols (e.g. Elvis Presley, Princess Diana, Michael Jackson), who are glorified like saints. Devotees gather annually for memorials of their departed idols or travel­ long distances to visit the tomb, former home, etc. of a specific person to pay tribute to him or her. Due to the motivations of these devotees, the trouble they take, the practices and the tangible emotionality that are connected with this phenomenon, it can be considered a form of pilgrimage. This article presents some thoughts about the glorification of celebrities which leads to these considerable forms of cult and pilgrimage, using as an example the case of Lady Diana Frances Spencer (d. 1997).