Tribute to Diana

I stand before you today the representative of a family in grief, in a country in mourning before a world in shock.

"We are all united not only in our desire to play our respects to Diana but rather in our need to do so. For such was her extraordinary appeal that the tens of millions of people taking part in this service all over the world via television and radio who never actually met her, feet that they too lost someone close to them in the early hours of Sunday morning. It is a more remarkable tribute to Diana than I can ever hope to offer her today.

Diana was the very essence of compassion, of duty, of style, of beauty. All over the world she was a symbol of selfless humanity. All over the world, a standard bearer for the right of the truly downtrodden, a very British girl who transcend nationality. Someone with a natural nobility who was classless and who proved in the last year that she needed no royal title to continue to generate her particular brand of magic.

Today is our chance to say thank you for the way you brightened our lives, even though God granted you but half a life. We will all feel cheated always that you were taken from us so young and yet we must learn to be grateful that you came along at all. Only now that you are gone do we truly appreciate what we are now without and we want you to know that life without you is very, very difficult.

We have all despaired at our loss over the past week and only the strength of the message you gave us through your years of giving has afforded us the strength to more forward.

There is a temptation to rush to canonize your memory, there is no need to do so. You stand tall enough as a human being of unique qualities not to need to be seen as a saint. Indeed to sanctify your memory would be to miss out on the very core of your being, your wonderfully mischievous sense of humor, with a laugh that bent you double.

Your joy for life transmitted wherever your took your smile and the sparkle in those unforgettable eyes. Your boundless energy which you could barely contain.

But your greatest gift was you intuition and it was a gift you used wisely. This is what underpinned all your other wonderful attributes and if we look to analyze what it was about you that had such a wide appeal we find it in your instinctive feel for what was really important in all our lives.

Without your God-given sensitivity we would be immerse in greater ignorance at he anguish of Aides and HIV sufferers, the plight of the homeless, the isolation of lepers, the random destruction of landmines.

Diana explained to me once that it was her innermost feeling of suffering that made it possible for her to connect with her constituency of the rejected.

And here we come to another truth about her. For all the status, the glamour, the applause, Diana remained throughout a very insecure person at heart, almost childlike in her desire to do good for others so she could release herself from deep feeling of unworthiness of which her eating disorders were merely a symptom.

The world sensed this part of her character and cherished her for her vulnerability whilst admiring her for her honesty.

The last time I saw Diana was on July 1, her birthday in London, when typically she was not taking time to celebrate her special day with friends but was guest of honor at a special charity fundraising evening. She sparkled of course, but I would rather cherish the days I spent with her in March when she came to visit me and my children in our home in South Africa. I am proud of the fact apart from when she was on display meeting President Mandela we managed to contrive to stop the ever-present paparazzi from getting a single picture of her that meant a lot to her.

There were days I will always treasure. It was as if we had been transported back to our childhood when we spent such an enormous amount of time together the two youngest in the family.

Fundamentally she had not changed at all from the big sister who mothered me as a baby, fought with me at school and endured those long train journeys between our parents' homes with me at weekends.

It is a tribute to her level-headedness and strength that despite the most bizarre-like life imaginable after her childhood, she remained intact, true to herself.

There is no doubt that she was looking for a new direction in her life at this away from England, mainly because of the treatment that she received at the hands of the newspapers. I don't think she ever understood why her genuinely good intentions were sneered at by the media, why there appeared to be a permanent quest on their behalf to bring her down. It is baffling.

My own and only explanation is that genuine goodness is threatening to those at the opposite end of the moral spectrum. It is a point to those at the opposite end of the moral spectrum. It is a point to remember that of all the ironies about Diana, perhaps the greatest was this a girl given the name of the ancient goddess of hunting was, in the end, in the end, the most hunted person of the modern age.

She would want us today to pledge ourselves to protecting her beloved boys William and Harry from a similar fate and I do this here Diana on your behalf. We will not allow them to suffer the anguish that used regularly to drive you to tearful despair.

And beyond that, on behalf of your mother and sisters, I pledge that we, your blood family, will do all we can to continue the imaginative way in which you were steering these two exceptional young men so that their souls are not simply immersed by duty and tradition but can sing openly as you planned.

We fully respect the heritage into which they have both been born and will always respect and encourage, them in their royal role but we, like you, recognize the need for them, to experience as many different aspects of life as possible to arm them spiritually and emotionally for the years ahead. I know you would have expected nothing less from us.

William and Harry, we all cared desperately for you today. We are all chewed up with the sadness at the loss of a woman who was not even our mother. How great your suffering is, we cannot even imagine.

I would like to end by thanking God for the small mercies he has shown us at this dreadful time. For taking Diana at her most beautiful and radiant and when she had joy in her private life. About all we gibe thanks for the life of a woman I am so proud to be able to call my sister, the unique, the complex, the extraordinary and irreplaceable Diana whose beauty, both internal and external, will never be extinguished from our minds.

今天,我作为一个悲恸的家属代表,站在你们面前,站在一个受到震惊的世界面前,站在一个举国哀悼的国度里.

我们所有的人都连结在一起,不仅仅是因 颐强释 泶锒源靼材鹊木匆?而是因为我们需要这样做.由于她的特殊强大的吸引力,全世界几千万人,甚至没有见过她的人,今天都能够通过电视收音机参加这个葬礼,他们都感到本星期天凌晨失去了一个可亲的人.这个事实本身, 对戴安娜来说,就是比我今天希望表达的悼词要强烈和深刻得多的殊荣.

在全世界,戴安娜是无私和人道的象征,是同情心,责任心,风度和美丽的化身,是维护真正被践踏的权益的旗手,是一个超越国界的真正的英国女孩,是一个带有自然的高贵气质的人,是一个不分阶层的人.在最后一年里,她已经证明,她不需什么皇家头衔也可以继续发挥她那独特的神奇力量.

借今天这个机会,我们要向你说声谢谢,虽然上天只给了你一半的生命,但是你的榜样照亮了我们的生活.我们常感到像受骗受欺似的,你那样年轻,就离开了我们,然而我们必须学会感恩,你毕竟来过.今天,只是你走了我们才真正明白我们失去的是什么.我们要你知道,没有你的日子是多么艰难. 一个星期以来,我们全家都生活在痛失亲人的绝望中,惟有你多年慷慨留下的信心和力量才让我们有力量继续走下去.现在有股风潮,大家争抢对你的回忆,实在没有必要这样做.作为一个有杰出品质的人,你已经站得很高了,你没有必要被看作圣人.的确,圣化对你的回忆就是忽视你的最本质的东西.无论什么时候,你那奇妙的,带点调皮的,忍俊不禁的诙谐,你那令人难忘的微笑闪烁的眼神,总把生活的欢愉带给别人,你旺盛不竭的精力好象刚刚是你身体所能容纳的.

你最大的天赋是天生待人处事的贤淑,这个天赋你运用得那么聪明和恰到好处.你的其它种种的优良品性就是从这个天性衍生出来的.如果我们试着分析你怎么有这样巨大的吸引力,我们就会找到答案,答案就在于你对我们大家生命中真正重要的东西有同情心.

如果没有你那天赐的敏感,今天我们对艾滋病病人的痛苦,对无家可归的人的窘境,对被地雷随意杀伤的人的不幸,要冷漠得多.戴安娜有次对我说,她内心深处的痛苦使她有可能同那些被社会摈弃的人们往来.这是我们可以看到她身上的另一个事实,不管社会地位多么显赫,多么光彩照人,不管人们怎样颂扬,戴安娜内心始终是一个受损伤和没有安全感的人,她像孩子似的竭力对别人做点好事,以解脱她内心深处的压抑,她的饮食失调也是这种忧郁心情的一个病症.全世界都感受到她性格中的这个部分.人们不仅缅怀她的真诚,更缅怀

她的被贬受挫的一面.

我最后一次见到戴安娜是今年7月1日在伦敦她的生日晚会上,那是很典型的一天,她没有时间同朋友们一起庆贺自己的这个特别的日子,只是作为贵宾出席了一个为慈善筹款的晚会.那天她是光彩夺目的,但我觉得更珍贵的是今年3月我们在一起的日子,那时她来到南非我的家中,来看我和我的孩子们.我感到骄傲的是,那次她除了同曼德拉总统见面是在公众场合外,我设法不让那些纠缠的记者拍一张照片,她对此感到舒畅.

我珍视少时和她在一起的日子,我现在好像又回到了从前,我俩一起生活很多年的日子,我和她是家里最小的两个孩子.她基本上同小时候我心目中的戴安娜一样,一点没有改变.在学校里打架,忍受与我一同度过往返双亲各自家中的漫长的火车旅行.她性情温存,内心坚定.在童年以后,即便身处复杂奇怪的环境,她总保持完整和自己的真实.

毫无疑问,她一直在找寻一个新生活方向,她不时说起要离开英国,主要是受不了报纸对她的围攻.我想她始终不明白为什么她的真诚善意会被传媒扭曲嘲弄,为什么周围总有一股永远把她拉倒的代表传媒的势力,这些确实令人难以理解.

我自己唯一的解释,就是真正的善与美对那些位于道德光谱另一端的人来说,是一种威胁.但是,在一切有关戴安娜的嘲讽中,也许最大的讽刺是:一个女孩子,她的名字是古代狩猎女神(Diana),自己最后却成为现代社会最受围剿的一个人.她会要我们今天誓言保护她钟爱的孩子威廉和哈里,免遭相同的命运.戴安娜,我在这里代表你起誓,我们决不会让他们遭受与你那种惯于把你逼到绝望落泪的苦难.

另外,我代表你母亲和两个姐姐起誓,我们,你的骨肉亲人,将尽一切能力继续走你那极富创意和深具爱心的道路,引导这两个杰出孩子,让他们的心灵不是束缚在职责的传统中,而是能如你所期盼地自由地放声歌唱.

我们完全尊重他们出生的传统,我们也常尊重和鼓励他们肩负王室成员的职责.但我们也像你一样,认识到他们需要在尽量多的不同的生活层面上实践,以使他们在精神和情感上得到武装,能够面对未来的挑战.我知道你一定要我们做到这一点.

威廉和哈里,我们全家今天竭尽全力地爱护你们,我们大家正被失去亲人的痛苦折磨,我们无法想象你们忍受的创痛是多么的剧烈.最后,我要感谢天主,在这可怕的悲痛的同时,还是给了我们许多的安慰.感谢天主,在戴安娜最美丽,最放光彩的时刻,在她私生活里最快乐的时候，把她带走了。

总之，我们对一位女士的生命感恩，她，我如此骄傲。我可以称她做姐姐—这个最优秀的、精细复杂的、特殊的、不能取代的戴安娜。她的美丽，不论内在外表，在我们心里用不磨灭！

致戴安娜