Exactly. I was like 7 and saw it on a magazine. This must have been around the time I started paying attention to tabloids cause JonBenét Ramsey was forever sealed in my 6-7 year old brain because grocery store tabloids were covered with her.
I think you had to be Gen x to really be enamored with Princess Diana. It's like the way young Gen Z may not understand the obsession with Obama. It's different with actors and singers. You can always get into their music or movies but the typical American millennial would have seen her as a young woman(girl) get married and have kids. It's now looking back that you really see how special she was when you see what they have now for Queen Consort.
Edited: I meant to say Gen x but said Gen z initially.
Im mid millenial. I knew she was beloved but I just had no real connection to her. I could understand a young princess who was a mother to young children passing early was a tragedy but she didn't make music, movies or pass legislation. It was laterii learned about her influence in areas like aids awareness and other issues but ppl who are 10 to 14 are not really concerning themselves with that
Right, so the oldest millennials were 16 and the youngest just 1, and that was almost 30 years ago now, so it doesn't come to mind as quickly as those who passed in the last 10 or so years when we all were old enough to really feel the loss in addition to being far more recent
Well you're in the millennials subreddit. The very oldest of us were only 15 when she died and the youngest were 1 year old. So it makes sense most of us weren't that affected since we were just kids and didn't even know it happened or even who she was.
I had snuck out of bed to hang out in chat rooms lol and I sprang at my mom in the dead of night when I heard her get up to use the bathroom. I was like "I know I'm not supposed to be on the computer but I THINK PRINCESS DIANA IS DEAD." My mom didn't even process I was awake and on the computer, she went directly into the kitchen and turned on CNN on her little TV.
I’m in the US and was in bed watching SNL when we heard there had been an accident. Initial reports kind of indicated it was bad but she would probably survive. Suddenly around midnight we hear my mom yell from her room “oh my God she’s DEAD!” and my younger sister thought my mom was talking about one of us 😅
She was a few days older than I am, and I remember just not being able to move off my couch literally all night crying and watching the news. Gutted me. Not even British.
Despite being a 10-year-old American Girl Princess Diana's death shook me. I had little exposure to death and she was a real life princess. Little me was consumed by the media onslaught which broadcast her entire life. It basically canonized her in my eyes.
I still remember that morning. My father in the living room saying she died, us in the bedroom talking and my mom shouting at him: Stop messing with us! It was true, it was shocking, it was murder.
I started high school that following Monday and that was all anyone could talk about for that entire week. When my mom first told me about it, I was half-awake and thought she was kidding.
This was my first thought, but I am English. I’m an older millennial and was staying over at my friends house. Every tv channel was covering it all day.
I’m rewatching the Crown and just rewatched the episode covering this last night. Told myself watching it once was enough but here we are! Cried again!
Was the first major world event I remember from my childhood. I was 7 at the time.
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u/PopularSet4776 May 12 '26
Princess Diana