AWAITING A NEW PRINCESS OF SALES
Charlotte Edwardes asks who the glossies will rely on now for their covers - and suggests an answer PRINCESS, saviour, saint and — ultimate- ly — cover girl. In death, as in life, Diana, Princess of Wales is shifting pile after pile of glossy magazines. In the past week, Vogue has done a last-minute volte-face on its cover; so has Vanity Fair. Country Life, Hello!, OK! and Paris Match all carry trib- ute covers, tribute sections, tribute trib- utes. Sales have increased by around 40 per cent across the board, according to their publishers, and are expected to con- tinue to rise. But, as circulation figures soar, the question is not just, how long can it last? but also, who next? What can replace the must-have face and the where- is-she-now cover story? Without Diana `The Princess of Sales' they called her the glossies and photo weeklies are bereft.
`The short answer is no, there is no one to replace Diana,' says Judy Wade, the royal correspondent of Hello! `When we were stuck for a cover we knew that a pic- ture of her was worth its weight in gold.' Roy Greenslade, the veteran media pun- dit, says, `There are categories: crime, sport, politics, Diana. If there was no news it was always a case of "Let's do Diana".'
So who will they `do' now? Of the British royal roster — Helen Taylor, Sere- na Linley, Sarah Chatto — most have learned to confound the limelight with their ordinariness, while the Euro-royals are too diffuse and their names too long for cover lines. Which leaves, by default, the Hollywood crowd, the Elizabeths, the Jodies and the Madonnas.
Nicholas Coleridge of Conde Nast does not think that Diana is replaceable. `Undoubtedly there will be another glam- orous woman who comes to the fore,' he says, 'but Diana had a very broad appeal. On some occasions she made a difference to sales, but not always. It was when there was a new picture of her — when Vogue would be the first to have it — or a proper story that really affected sales figures. The pictures by Patrick Demarchelier are an example (we have a previously unseen Demarchelier photo on the cover of this week's new Vogue) or Mario Testino's shoot for the cover of Vanity Fair. I am constantly being asked for copies of that issue. But we have also had really good sales from covers with Madonna, Cindy Crawford, Linda Evangelista and Demi Moore. And Jemima Khan has done very well on covers. I think there will always be someone who arrives and takes the indus- try by storm. But people were truly fasci- nated by Diana. She will be frozen as an icon as a result of the tragedy.'
Would Jemima Khan be able to pick up the glossy baton? Her husband Imran reportedly once said, 'I'd like to think that Jemima will become even more popular in Pakistan than the Princess of Wales is in Britain.' Indeed, when the Princess visited the couple in Lahore photographers claimed they sold more pictures of Jemi- ma than of the Princess. But the maga- zines are reluctant to endorse her. 'Vanity Fair's sales increased by 150 per cent when Diana was on the cover. OK's circulation was pushed up 10-20 per cent on the previ- ous issue if they carried a picture story of her. Jemima, for all her beauty, can't com- pete with that.' says Mr Greenslade. Hello! adds: `Jemima's conversion to Islam and her modesty is a problem. You are never going to get those pictures of her posing in a strappy Versace dress.'
Terry Mansfield, the managing director of the National Magazine Company, home of Harper's & Queen, says: Diana's rela- tionship with the fashion world was inter- changeable. In 1981 when she married Prince Charles she was no fashion icon. The magazines contributed greatly to her becoming that. People like Anna Harvey gave her advice and counsel on her style and we in turn saw her contribute greatly to the well-being of the British fashion industry. Basically she had an incredible ability to wear clothes. She was tall with an athletic build and she was beautiful. She could wear a bin liner and look fantastic.'
In the United States, the Princess has been responsible for a similar sales boost. `Sassy but vulnerable' is how America's three million plus-selling People magazine which has had Diana on its cover no fewer than 45 times in the past few years describes her singular appeal. The People people talk about the 'classical fairytale fig- ure' and offer 'poisonar condolences, but eventually admit that, yes, she sold maga- zines like no one else. 'Of the other people who have made our covers I can't think of anyone who has her magic,' says People's Susan 011inick. 'Not even Marilyn's death had the same impact as Diana's. As far as replacing her or building up someone who could replace her, well, perhaps one of the younger royals will have photographers camping out in her garden. But many of our readers never have heard of Monaco. And the problem with actresses is that they can never have the same impact because their profession is artifice. Di was no movie star — she was real.'
There is, however, a drawback for any royal contender: complicity. Who of the potential candidates could possibly agree to the unholy alliance with a media that both helped to cultivate Diana's superstar image and pilloried her? Even without the film star style publicist, 'Diana knew what it meant to be a celebrity in the late 20th century,' says Hello!. 'Who will dare tread where Diana and Fergie went after what they went through? Smart girls like Sere- na, Sarah and Sophie Rhys-Jones stay well out of the spotlight.'
There is, pace Lord Wakeham, a more likely candidate. Universally, the magazine editors agree that the next Diana-strength cover girl will be Prince William's first seri- ous girlfriend, or, if they decline to pry into his teenage romances, his fiancée. But no matter how charismatic and media-friendly she is, she is likely to live forever in the shadow of the prince's late mother.
Cheated of Diana as a Jackie 0 figure in her later years, withdrawn and sequestered, the magazines will undoubt- edly continue to rake over the minutiae of the Princess's life. Nostalgia for her will provide the raw material for years to come. 'Our readers are desperate for us to retell all the old stories of Diana,' says Hello!. And, given that she was 'the most photographed woman in the world', there is plenty of archive material to satisfy the demand. Judy Wade continues, 'We'll all miss those exciting press trips. Following the Princess of Wales to this function, that country or on the holiday. I really believe it'll never be the same for magazines.'
The author wirtes for the Express.
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