Friends shocked to learn Princess Diana is dead (Historic 1997 video)
Historic event - The unexpected death of Princess Diana.
Friends playing cards learn that Princess Diana was injured in a car accident, then react when TV news says she has died. I recorded this home video in 1997 and it sat in a box for many years. This is the full, unedited version as I recorded it that night, from the original videotape.
To answer some questions that have popped up - Why was I recording? I was trying out a new camcorder by recording friends playing the card game UNO. We had been having a great time, laughing and joking, for more than an hour when my mom called me to say that Diana was in a car crash and we should turn on the TV. We kept playing UNO and joking around as usual - Ken made fun of how the TV announcer kept repeating himself - and gradually the seriousness of the situation began to sink in. It took a few minutes to transition from our upbeat party mood to serious. When the screen text changed to "Diana dead" the true reality of the situation hit like a ton of bricks and we stopped playing UNO of course, and rushed over to the TV. This was recorded in America, in the state of Iowa. All of the guys in the video are still alive today (as of today, November 20, 2023). The guy who screams when he learns Diana has died is my friend Ken who still lives in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. It is his genuine reaction to the news of Diana's death. Some people call it a "Wilhelm scream." (Apparently that's a movie term). The guy who stifles a smile after Ken's scream is Scott. (His brief smile was a reaction to Ken's loud silly scream, NOT to Diana's death). When CNN announced that Diana had died I didn't turn the camera back to the TV because my instinct was that it would be more interesting to capture my friends' reactions. Some people call this video the first of what are now called "reaction" videos, a term that didn't exist in 1997 (and neither did KZhead, which began in 2005). I don't think this really is the first "reaction" caught on camera. I mean, there is footage of an announcer reacting to the Hindenburg disaster in 1937, for example, and many others on film. - I keep in touch with all the guys today.
To answer some questions that have popped up - I recorded this home video in 1997 the night Diana died and it sat in a box for many years. Why was I recording? I was trying out a new camcorder by recording friends playing the card game UNO. When my mom called me to say that Diana was in a car crash I turned on the TV, on silent, and we kept playing the game while monitoring the text on the bottom of the TV screen. When the screen text changed to "Diana dead" the true reality of the situation hit like a ton of bricks and we stopped playing UNO of course, and rushed over to the TV. This was recorded in America, in the state of Iowa. All of the guys in the video are still alive today (as of May 21, 2023). The guy who screams when he learns Diana has died is my friend Ken who still lives in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. It is his genuine reaction to the news of Diana's death. Some people call it a "Wilhelm scream." (Apparently that's a movie term). The guy who stifles a smile after Ken's scream is Scott. (His brief smile was a reaction to Ken's loud silly scream, NOT to Diana's death). When CNN announced that Diana had died I didn't turn the camera back to the TV because my instinct was that it would be more interesting to capture my friends' reactions. Some people call this video the first of what are now called "reaction" videos, a term that didn't exist in 1997 (and neither did KZhead, which began in 2005).
The fact that Americans were this shaken, goes to show how beloved she was.
Props to the camera man. Showed a little tv footage, but kept to the viewers to see how people followed the breaking events. So real.
The COMPLETE shift from the jokes to dead seriousness is astonishing.
Whoever filmed this deserves an Oscar
Them having the realization that she died and moving onto the couch to holding each other is so heart-sinking.
bruh the mood of the room changed so fast when they announced she was dead.
This just shows me what people meant when they said the whole world stopped
I wasn’t alive when Princess Diana died, but I remember after hearing and reading about all the things she did and how terribly she was treated by her ex-husband, I felt the need to cry. She seemed like a genuinely wonderful person and the fact her husband had the nerve to cheat on her, bring the woman who he cheated on her with to the funeral, and then marry the mistress, pissed me off to no ends meet. That woman deserved so much better and a longer life.
This video is insane to me - I'm 24 years old and have lived in London my entire life. I've never felt the impact of Diana's death so I imagined that this video wouldn't have an impact on me, but the real impact of this video was the heart warming and human approach a group of friends had to a tragedy that they had no personal connection to. People my age now not only have very different kinds of friendships, but it almost feels like the humanity in people has been lost. Everything is covered with drama and a TV, laptop or phone is so accessible that people my age don't seem to have this kind of connection and experiences with their friends, or at least from my perspective they don't anyway. Thank you for this video, I hope you are all well and healthy.
The reaction was so sad because Diana was the closest thing in the royal family to a normal citizen
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I remember my young son asking me what was going on. I told him the Princess of Wales died. He thought for a moment and asked, "Who's gonna take care of the whales?" Chokes me up even now.
My mom told me this was one of those moments “where you remember exactly where you were and what was happening when you found out”
Nearly 26 years later and her death still makes me cry. I was a party and the tv was on. When the news broken that she died, everyone was shocked and saddened. Several of us were in tears. Princess Diana was loved.
My mom used to tell me that she cried when the news broke out. She was utterly shocked and she loved her and her compassion so much. We are from the Philippines. She was and is indeed very much loved.
It’s chilling how the mood shifts right when they see that she passed away.
It's so insane to think that Americans would have heard and reacted to this news first before the British and they would have woken up to it
Idk if she knew it but that woman was so genuinely loved all over the world. People felt connected to her. This video brings back memories of how my family reacted.