Prince almost as popular as princess

Well, that is sticking a Prince album on the front of a newspaper shifts almost as many copies as splashing a pictorial obituary of Princess Diana all over its pages.

UK newspaper The Daily Telegraph reported yesterday that the circulation of other UK newspaper The Mail on Sunday rose nearly a third on 16 July. It achieved sales of over 2.8m, close to the 2.84m record of the best-ever selling 1997 edition that commemorated Diana's death.

The increase was attributed to a controversial £500k deal to giveaway Prince's first studio album in years, Planet Earth, free with the newspaper.

We weren't surprised to find 833 ebay auctions for the album when we checked this morning. Could this be a damning indictment on the music itself? Hmm, less likely than a simple case of try to make a princely profit out of a freebie.

Princess's remembrance racket rolls on

Coming up to ten years after the untimely and dramatic death of Diana, Princess of Wales, the constant cashing-in on her memory continues unabated. And, with the anniversary of the accident dawning on 31 August, the US media are already calling this 'The Summer of Diana'.

The media want us to remember her passing and celebrate her life, because it sells print and puts bums on TV-viewing seats in an era when they need all the help they can get.

Expect a spate of documentaries and 'dramas based upon real life events' over the coming weeks. Plus also, up to a dozen relaunches, reissues and new issues of books about The Princess.

Hollywood has jumped on the Diana bandwagon too. There was a bidding war over the script based upon controversial book, Diana And The Paparazzi, at this year's Cannes Film Festival. The desire to make the movie is now irresistable given the recent success of The Queen, and it's likely to have an all-star cast.

It seems that the House of Windsor don't want us to forget either, organising a tribute concert to ensure the continued support of her charities.

During Diana's lifetime she was, of course, a meal ticket for numerous journalists, photographers, 'royal experts' and indiscrete acquaintances and employees. Now, 10 years on, whilst the media can no longer rely on her for their daily bread, they certainly can count on constant snacking and a bumper nosh-up from time-to-time.

Meanwhile, a whole industry dedicated to exploiting her image has crawled out from under a rock. Sorry, that should read 'celebrating her memory' and 'emerged', shouldn't it?

Don't get me wrong, I am not a avid Royalist. But, I do think that anyone who claims to mourn her passing, really shouldn't be insatiably devouring all that the media offers. And, they certainly shouldn't be boosting the business of tasteless profiteering by buying 'memories'. After all, it's they that keep the cash-registers caching-ing over Diana's memory.

Princess Sells Stories

On the 31st August this year it will be ten years since Diana Princess of Wales (I think that was her official title, post divorce) died tragically in a Paris car crash. But, so powerful is the princess's 'pull' that her image and name remains hot property for the media - worldwide.

Aside from the current ruckus over Channel 4's plans to screen a new documentary with sensational (read tasteless) new images of her receiving medical treatment immediately AFTER the crash, Diana's name is being used to peddle several other 'stories'. Take your pick from:

"Knightley to play princess Diana?" - the story of the bidding war over rights to a film adaptation of the controversial book, "Diana and the Paparazzi".

"Texas Chef's recipes were fit for Princess Di" - a thinly veiled plug for chef Darren McGrady's attempt to cash in on his four years of feeding the Royals, "Eating Royally: Recipes and Remembrances From a Palace Kitchen"

"Di's cast for dress book" - how wedding dress designer Emmanuel is selling a £1,000 book about Princess Di's wedding dress, because it comes with an off-cut of the gown's fabric!

"Princess Diana's bike goes on display" - describing how "a bicycle which was ridden by Princess Diana when she was a child has been put on show for the first time". WOW! Come on chaps, is this REALLY news?

All these stories surfaced over the weekend. But, after a quick check on Google News, it seems The People's Princess is never out of the news for more than a few days!

Although no doubt vehemently denied by those concerned, it's hard to see many of these stories and the gimmicks behind them as anything but cheap exploitation. The proof? Take 'Princess Di' out of the picture and what are you left with?

- A child's bike goes on display
- A £1000 book about a wedding dress has been launched, complete with fabric samples
- Texas chef launches cookbook
- Kiera Knightley is being considered for an acting role.

I rest my case.

Of course, by reporting on the reporting, one has to question whether we are guilty of the same? Doh!