In a century where royalty is a relic of a historically divided class system, the idea of kings and queens is anything but current. Yet for some reason, many of us — particularly Europhiles — look at countries with the crown still intact as being quaint, maybe even more sophisticated than our own. We idolize them as icons of fashion, as bearers of all that is elegant and urbane. And when they pay even the slightest attention back to us, we practically weep at their feet.
A little known fact among the Northwestern population today is that in 1996, one of the most adored royals of recent years paid our little Midwestern school some very sought after attention. “Her Royal Highness, The Princess of Wales visits Chicago,” read the press passes for Princess Diana’s three-day visit in June of that year. Diana arrived in Evanston as part of a larger trip to Chicago where she did things like visited hospitals and attended charity galas.
The princess was known for her charitable work and support for societies focused on healthcare and disease prevention and control.
While in Chicago, she made appearances at a Northwestern University School of Law symposium on breast cancer, a luncheon benefiting the Robert H. Lurie Cancer Center of Northwestern University and a personal visit to Cook County Hospital and Northwestern Memorial Hospital. But Princess Diana’s visit to Northwestern signified something more than just another stop along the almsgiving route. For many Northwestern students it was their first (and likely only) brush with royal fame.
In a special edition of the Daily Northwestern, then-ASG president Leontine Chuang wrote an article detailing her experience preparing to give Princess Diana a tour of the campus, which spanned University Hall to Annie May Swift Hall to the Sculpture Garden of the Mary & Leigh Block Museum of Art.
“The nervousness already churning in my stomach increased as she walked toward us, but it soon disappeared because she was nice, down-to-earth and quite funny,” Chuang wrote. The princess, though a celebrity in the traditional sense of the word, was more a regular human being than a persona. Yet her presence at Northwestern brought the school to huge measures to make the campus better suited for royalty.
Professor Kathleen Galvin recalls how many renovations occurred along the path that Diana would take during her June 4 walking tour of Northwestern’s south campus. “The cracks and rough spots on the stone steps [of Annie May Swift Hall] were fixed, and the entrance landscaping was improved,” Galvin says. “The stairs to the basement were also fixed because the only ladies’ room in the building was in the basement.”
Every measure possible was taken, regardless of the likelihood of Princess Diana even seeing the renovations. “My strongest memory is that the ladies’ room was upgraded in case she expressed a need to use such a facility,” Galvin continues. Diana’s visit to Northwestern’s Evanston campus on that day lasted 20 minutes total, and as far as anyone knows, the Annie May Swift Hall restrooms were a location she did not have the pleasure of encountering.
But nonetheless, Northwestern was prepared in every way for her arrival. Members of the press and anyone expected to gain an acquaintance with Her Royal Highness were given an instruction page on protocol when meeting the Royal Family. Among the instructions was, “It is customary to wait for the member of the Royal Family to extend a hand, initiate conversation, etc.”
Granted, the extent of preparation was warranted seeing as the last member of the Royal Family to make an official visit was Prince Charles in 1986.
Princess Diana’s visit certainly has not been exceeded by any particular visits witnessed by Wildcats of the past few decades. While we have seen some great comedic, musical and entertainment industry names visit and speak to the Northwestern population, the magnitude of the response to Princess Diana’s visit is unrivaled. Diana was a phenomenon worth fawning over. And because she chose us, the Northwestern community became the awed subjects of her glistening presence — a reaction that was well deserved.