Queen Elizabeth's image repair discourse: Insensitive royal or compassionate queen

Many people around the world were shocked and saddened by the sudden and tragic death of Princess Diana. However, suspicions arose that the British Royal Family did not fully share in this grief. The apprehensions over the Royals' lack of public sorrow and concern for their subjects created an immense public relations problem, provoking the Queen of England to give an unprecedented speech to rebut those innuendos. This essay investigates this highly public instance of royal public relations. The Queen used two primary image repair strategies (denial, bolstering) and two minor ones (defeasibility, transcendence). We evaluate her image repair effort as generally well conceived, and effective. William L. Benoit is a Professor of Communication at the University of Missouri, Columbia. Susan L. Brinson is an Associate Professor of Communication at Auburn University.