When Kate Middleton walks down the aisle on Friday in front of the eyes of millions across the globe to wed Britain's Prince William, she will accompanied by a 30-year-old ghost.
No one will be able to see the specter, but we all know that the mother of the groom, Princess Diana, will be there. Indeed, she has overshadowed this event since the couple announced the engagement.
It's got to be tough for the young bride to walk in the same figurative shoes as the willowy blond Diana Spencer, whose wedding in 1981, sparked a worldwide worship that only intensified after her death in 1997.
And it's made all the worse that everyone seems to be comparing every aspect of the nuptials to the last major royal wedding. This week, with the coverage gearing up, every talking head on TV is chattering about the wedding - and how it stacks up to Diana's.
CNN's Piers Morgan Monday interviewed the designer of Princess Diana's dress to talk about whether Middleton's dress will be similar to Diana's (bottom line: completely different). He's in London for the week leading up to the event and will surely find other Diana/Kate comparison features.
Television shows have tried to brand Middleton as the princess incarnate, including the Wedding Channel special called, "Kate: The New Diana?"
There have been stories interviewing former servants or friends of Diana to find out what the late princess might have thought of her son's betrothed. (A former butler said he was sure Diana would love Kate). There are actual articles pondering the important question of whom is more stylish - Diana or Kate - and how different their rings are.
There's even a fair amount of coverage on how the coverage of the two weddings compare. Do a search for websites that mention both Middleton and Princess Diana on Google and you'll get more than 1.5 million hits.
The world loved Princess Di, and was enchanted by the her fairy tale courtship and wedding to Prince Charles - and apparently the world still hasn't gotten over her loss. But it's likely Diana herself would be exasperated by how much she is eclipsing the wedding of her eldest son.
Poor Kate. Can't everyone just let her be the star of her own wedding?
A Los Angeles Daily News editorial. To read more editorials from the Daily News, go to www.dailynews.com/opinions.
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