Television
Media darlings
Alexander Chancellor
I nsufficient credit seems to have been given to Miss Tina Brown, editor of Vanity Fair in New York, for the 'unique' televi sion interview accorded last Sunday to Sir Alastair Burnet of ITN by the Prince and Princess of Wales. Despite all the rubbish that has been written all over the place about the Royal couple — 'There's far too much about me in the newspapers, far too much,' said Princess Diana — it was Miss Brown's article 'The Mouse that Roared' in the current edition of Vanity Fair which clearly caused the interview to take place and inspired most of Sir Alastair's reveren- tial questions.
The Princess, Miss Brown had written, 'spends hours cut off in her Sony Walkman dancing on her own to Dire Straits and Wham!' (These are 'pop' groups.) Like the old lady on a white horse, she confesses to having music wherever she goes, but the music she prefers is 'classical' — Grieg, Rachmaninov and Schumann. Her dancing appears to be confined to a weekly session of ballet, tap and jive. Then there is the question of the couple's social life, which, according to Miss Brown, is 'non-existent' because they don't like the same people. This was also denied by the Princess, though she pointed out that their separate schedules make the joint entertainment of friends fairly rare. As to the claim that she bosses and bullies her husband, this was firmly rejected. Her efforts to change him, she said, were confined to advice on the odd tie or pair of shoes.
Prince Charles's supposed interest in mysticism and spiritualism was another theme of Miss Brown's article. The Prince was indignant at the suggestion that he liked `to make contact on a ouija board with the shade of his beloved "Uncle Dickie" Mountbatten'. He said he didn't even know what a ouija board was (what, indeed, is it?); also that he didn't particu- larly like the idea of contacting Lord Mountbatten in the other world. As to being a 'fish-and-fowl freak', the Prince admitted to seeking 'a balanced diet' and to feeling better if I don't eat too much meat'. But he denied being a freak. He defended his interest in alternative medi- cine and in parapsychology as symptoms of open-mindedness. 'What I find so annoying is that it should be reduced to a level of total absurdity.' He also said it was part of his job to start controversies (e.g. over modern architecture) so long as they were not party political controversies.
So what, at the end of the day, did this interview achieve? It must have convinced most viewers that the couple are neither mad nor incompatible. But while the Prin- cess described her role as 'supporting my husband whenever I can, and always being behind him, encouraging him', she seemed at the same time to be confidently ploughing her own furrow. Meanwhile, the Prince's comportment tended to confirm Miss Brown's impression that 'he is a very old 36'. He not only described himself as `an ancient old thing'; he behaved with his children rather in the manner of a self- consciously jovial old uncle. Perhaps he has been driven into this fuddy-duddy corner by the fact that his wife is a mega-star. Whatever the reason, he appears more like a consort than a future king. In its coverage of the interview, the BBC's television news did not even quote him once; it concentrated exclusively on Princess Diana. For the moment at least, his must be a very trying role; and the media don't help.
Finally, there is the good news that Bob Geldof has decided to take more of a back seat in the affairs of Band Aid. There is nothing the matter with Geldof, but televi- sion seems almost as obsessed with him as it is with Princess Diana. His latest visit to the drought-stricken regions of Africa re- ceived daily coverage on the news, and it is getting a bit monotonous. I am wondering, by the way, whether it is really true, as Christopher Morris said on the BBC nine o'clock news last Monday, that Ethiopian peasants call a helicopter 'the big bird in the sky'. They must have seen enough relief helicopters by now to have thought of a better description, even if they don't like the Ethiopian word for helicopter.
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