How Diana's Death Shook Britain | Remembering Diana | Timeline

one of the great privileges of working at history here and making films together with our team at timeline is the access we get to extraordinary historical locations like this one stonehenge i'm right in the middle of the stone circle now it is an absolutely extraordinary place to visit if you want to watch the documentary like the one we're producing here go to history hit tv it's like netflix for history and if you use the code timeline when you check out you'll get a special introductory offer see you there [Music] diana was the flower of british aristocracy the youngest daughter of an english girl she came from a proud and distinguished family her father the eighth earl spencer had been an equity to the queen service and duty to the crown were his birthright in 1981 the marriage of his daughter lady diana spencer to the prince of wales linked his family irrevocably to the british throne for the spencers whose line had produced winston churchill on the duke of maura this was their finest hour the house of spencer succeeded in bringing its unbroken english bloodline to the germanic house of windsor descended from charles ii the restorer of british monarchy diana was to revive the popularity of the royal family in the face of modern challenges diana's parents had hoped for lasting love and happiness but their marriage fell apart when diana was just six the loss of her mother from the family home was one of the early causes of diana's troubled personality mothering her younger brother charles developed diana's caring side she grew up determined that she would never repeat her parents mistakes the spencer's family home althrop is one of england's beautiful ancestral mansions stately and splendid but lacking the austere grandeur of royal palaces seemingly intended to take the royal family into the 21st century diana announced that she was unable to cope with the turbulence of royal life over the next few months i will be seeking a more suitable way of combining a meaningful public role with hopefully a more private life equally unable to stay in the shadows diana's retirement was brief public adulation had become a powerful substitute for the warmth and affection she found lacking in her marriage refusing to go quietly diana still deployed her beauty and glamour to devastating effect she was a limelight stealer of legendary proportion her charisma has ensured that she will not be a footnote in history as her enemies intended once our future queen she will be remembered for her special appeal to many she was a princess in her own right one whose charm eclipsed the family who had rejected her as a non-starter for queen a princess alone she rarely met her former in-laws and even rarer did she appear relaxed with them disillusioned by her experience of royalty diana turned away from their traditional style at vi count lindley's wedding to the heiress serena stanhope diana's individuality underlined her difficult position neither totally in nor out of the royal family on such occasion she and they tolerated each other then diana would go her separate way and withdraw once more into the seclusion of her three-story apartment at kensington palace here in the echoing emptiness of a palace that was never truly a family home she tried to dispel her loneliness she obviously wanted it to be a family home because it was very much the center of her life with the boys particularly obviously when they were back from school it was much more really like a young single woman's apartment than what you would think of as a rough and tumble family home [Music] diana's future rested on her position as mother of the royal air and spare her sons william and harry her power base amid the uncertainties of her future a year before her death the title her royal highness was taken away from her it was very interesting that her brother said at the funeral service she didn't need the royal title to go continue to go on producing her special sort of magic and i think from the outside world that was obviously the important thing i suspect it may have been very much more important to her than we on the outside realised [Music] in stripping diana of the title her royal highness royalty lost one of its star performers diana's combination of regal dignity in hollywood allure outshone the state and formal house of windsor this was the last occasion she would join the royal family at a state banquet her power to outshine a glittering array of tiara and titled heads created undercurrents of rivalry and jealousy which marred diana's short reign as a queen in waiting [Music] diana rebelled against her husband and his family which resulted in her eventual divorce deprived of the life she should have had diana rejected queen elizabeth ii style of monarchy and created for herself a symbolic role i'd like to be a queen of people's hearts in people's hearts but i don't see myself being queen of this country how was it possible to compensate a princess for the loss of her identity [Music] charles had made a generous divorce settlement worth then about 17 million pounds diana had amassed so many sumptuous gowns as princess of wales that recently she decided to auction some for charity each breathtaking dress was valued for being worn by the woman who was once wife of the heir to the british throne diana's wardrobe was vast when stored her dresses apparently spanned the width of 10 average terraced houses and she had a seven foot rack just for her blouses she kept the aladdin's cave of jewels that marked every public triumph and private tragedy of her 16 years as princess of wales [Music] [Music] daughter of an english girl diana was wealthy in her own right with her spencer family trust fund and her private collection of jewels and memorabilia diana may have been worth 40 million pounds [Music] whether they cost two or ten thousand pounds her gowns were not chosen for their price but for their bewitching effect diana's beauty and glamour was a constant reminder to charles that the crowds were casting him aside in favor of his more attractive wife as time went on after they were married it was quite clearly the crowds wanting to see diana and i think there are pieces of film where you see in a sense the crowd on the side of the road where charles was actually disappointed because it wasn't diana who was coming over to talk to them or shake their hands i think it would have been difficult for anybody to cope with but particularly somebody like the prince of wales had been brought up to believe that in in every way he was the preeminent figure as the heir to the throne and to be upstaged by somebody particularly somebody who must have seemed very much the junior partner i would have thought would have been very threatening diana followed the pattern of other rich and under-loved wives her response to her husband's treatment was to spend spend spend and he like other dissatisfied husbands grudgingly paid the price diana joined the ladies who lunched frequenting smart restaurants in an effort to fill the lonely hours while charles was busy elsewhere in fact diane's favorite shopping area kensington high street became known locally as kensington dye street i don't think that um the money was important it was the loss of prestige it was the awful humiliation of the thing going wrong because remember what a fairytale marriage it all was disillusioning for us and above all for her starting out with her fiance in 1981 lady diana spencer could never have guessed the treacherous road ahead her naivety matched her readiness to please hidden was the magic that would turn her from a shy teenager to a global enchantress she was a child a sloan ranger of 19 not terribly well educated i mean she always herself would admit that the best prize she had at school was for having the finest groomed guinea pig um but she was very fragile i think then um and she was 20 when she married the earth to the throne 21 when she produced you know first child there's an awful lot to to cope with diana said later that she had not been allowed to develop from the teenager who wed her prince to charles and the royal family she seemed the ideal choice to the public who welcomed this new member of the world's most famous family diana with her youth beauty and charm was perfect charles had seemed a rather lost bachelor a little old for his years now he had a wife whose fresh natural style made his life seem complete the sun shine on their happiness their wedding day was an occasion of national rejoicing and it marked a renewal of royal popularity everybody wanted to believe the fairy [Applause] tale they thought she was going to be a sort of biddable creature wearing slightly frumpy but acceptable clothes and smiling and bowing and accepting flowers but really not doing anything else and bearing an air and despair but instead of course she was this stunning success and um it was very difficult prince charles because the whole thing had got completely out of control and um you know i think he regretted it terribly i mean had she stayed behind the scenes maybe they'd be married still today later she secretly succumbed to her old eating habits when pressures began to mount facing the most intensive public scrutiny my brother said at the funeral that part of the problem was her own deep sense of insecurity and her deep sense of lack of self-worth and of course to those people who saw her mostly in public can hardly believe that but i'm sure he was right i'm sure it was true and i suspect that all stemmed from their very difficult childhood which was obviously was very insecure and did both make them both feel very unhappy and rather lost at times although undoubtedly the pressures which she felt in the marriage would have contributed at a later stage charles's lack of understanding of diana 12 years his junior sharpened the divisions between them she wanted a romantic marriage his needs were more pragmatic i suspect given his background and given his upbringing that he would have had a much more formal approach to the idea of marriage and the idea of a royal partnership than perhaps she did as a very romantic young girl who fell in love with somebody who she saw as her prince charming as well as the prince of wales at a very vulnerable and presumably very unformed age and she was only 19 just out of the school and i suspect she had different expectations perhaps than he did diana quickly learned to pretend even on her honeymoon she covered up her doubts and private fears diana was i'm still very young she married charles with very very little experience and it come from a very shaky background where the main nurturers in her life had abandoned her one way or the other so she was enormously emotionally needy what used to happen was when she felt charles was drifting away and not connecting you know when she was perhaps unhappy or she needed to talk to him about something instead of doing it and letting perhaps a little bit of breathing space to come between them she over demanded she demanded his attention she wanted him and wanted him and the more she grabbed his attention and the the worse the stunts became the emotional stunts to get his attention became the further he went away he wasn't used to people answering him back he wasn't used to in particular the women telling him what they thought and he just turned his back on it and got out of the place he just moved on and i don't think he ever tried he was just perplexed he couldn't understand someone who having been told what to do didn't do it the volcanic private relationship between the prince and princess of wales finally erupted in 1992 on their last joint tour they embarrassed their korean hosts by their negative and hostile conduct with each other nicknamed the glums they were never allowed to repeat this pantomime performance which prompted private foreign office apologies to korea the couple separated but still diana feared leaving the royal house of windsor to which she had given so much as she explained in a tv interview i don't want a divorce but obviously we need clarity on a situation that has been of enormous discussion over the last three years in particular so all i say to that is i await my husband's decision over which way we are all going to go there are just so many things that contribute to the breakdown of a marriage you simply can't say it was one thing it was the jealousy and remember two people make a contribution to a marriage splitting and diana made a lot of attempts to talk to charles to try to make their relationship work even suggesting that they did things together at one point you did a lot of work to try to make the marriage look better than it was and it was charles's feeling that it was hypocritical to appear in public or to do these little gestures that would make it seem all right his belief that he should remain true to him true to what was going on was actually also part of the reason it kind of gathered momentum and it may be again when we look at the intense media interest i mean any of us having a relationship difficulties if we read about it every day i think we'd all go galloping towards the courts a lot faster than if we were left you know to get on with how we might try to make a relationship better diana's shameful friend her bulimia was a constant presence during these years on an official visit to canada she lived on a diet of chocolate bars and needed medical attention when she fainted during a visit to expo 86 charles failed to recognize his wife's condition forcing her to keep up royal appearances when she needed rest and recuperation and understanding during their gatherings at royal residences such as sandringham family tensions made diana's illness worse resulting in cries for help [Music] you have so much pain inside yourself that you try and hurt yourself on the outside because you want help but it's the wrong help you're asking for people see it as crying wolf or attention seeking and they think that because you're in the media all the time you've got enough attention but i was actually crying out because i wanted to get better in order to go forward and continue my duties and role as wife mother princess of wales the vows she had made on her wedding day was sincere to charles and his family she gave her youth but her husband's love for camilla parker bowles caused destructive jealousy if you read for example the biography of the prince of wales she was in a sense aware of the possibility of this other relationship even when they were engaged in 1986 the year of these posed holiday photos the royal marriage entered its terminal phase diana asked astrologer penny thornton for advice one morning out of the blue the telephone rang and this boys just said hello it's the princess of wales she just wanted to know if there was a light at the end of the tunnel so it was when i realized that she was in trouble that this wasn't just someone who was just wanted to have a look at their horoscope which a lot of people do is kind of self-indulgent trip um i thought right she's in trouble well i'll drop everything and i did i dropped everything and saw her a couple of days later when i arrived at kensington palace and i sat down and i started to talk about the charts and looked at charles and everything when she finally told me those dire straits they were in it was an extraordinary thing because at one time on one level she knew i predicted it or and yet i was surprised to hear my own prediction you know it was it was the reality of it was was quite something and it was she was in a very severe state of distress at that particular time diana turned to a series of male companions the art dealer oliver hall offered guidance but became embroiled in a scandal involving unsolicited telephone calls to his home and england's rugby captain will carling allowed his friendship with diana to create a rift with his wife they later divorced allegations diana's most notorious affair was with guards officer james hewitt who came to enjoy his reputation as diana's lover for five years james made diana's broken marriage bearable did your relationship go beyond a close friendship yes it did yes were you unfaithful yes i adored him yes i was in love with him [Music] when their personal life had failed charles and diana were obliged to play their part in royal pageantry their coldness now scarcely concealed resigned to the fact that his marriage to diana had been a disaster charles turned his back on his young wife the sad thing is that he was so indifferent to diana that i don't think um he would have minded if it had been a road sweep i think because i think that uh or perhaps he would have given him more ammunition to be critical of her i don't i don't think he cared and of course indifference is one of the worst things in a relationship for comfort and support diana turned her attention to her charities who welcomed her with open arms hugging has no harmful side effects if we all play our part in making our children feel valued the result will be tremendous there are potential huggers in every household it was this tactile style that marked diana out from the more reserved royal family she'd married into giving love was her trademark she always cared about the disabled abroad she turned her attention to people afflicted by leprosy these people were all part of her constituency of the rejected as her brother said so movingly at her funeral diana's philosophy mirrored that of mother teresa and her nuns who work tirelessly for the sick homeless and underprivileged [Music] sadly mother teresa died within days of diana she like millions all over the world had been touched by diana's warm and caring personality diana was using her charity work to compensate for her loveless marriage diana encouraged a romance between her friend sarah ferguson the daughter of prince charles's polo manager and prince andrew one of diana's childhood friends with fergie and the family diana had an ally in her battles with palace officials and the suffocating protocol of royal life diana's growing misery over her husband's affair with camilla parker-bowles coincided with fergie's brief glory as the new duchess of york eventually both diana and fergie would be forced out defeated by a powerful palace machine which protected the blood royals they were sisters-in-law who shared a special bond yet they were also rivals there was a close relationship between sarah and diana they were chums and they really were close they had each other but then that relationship soured as sarah seemed to be getting on better and the queen was much more affectionate towards sarah then i think that caused a certain split between the two with the publication of the duchess of york's life story the relationship with fergie came under considerable strain they had had some estrangement which was about the various aspects of sarah's publicity publicity about her book and so on and what she said in her book it wouldn't surprise me and diana was fiercely concerned about people's loyalty to her and i think again that might reflect her own insecurity at a basic level she was one of those people for whom you were either with her or against her it was very difficult i think for many people to tread a middle path or perhaps to be loyal to two people who she saw as one of them being her enemies i've known several instances of people who were good friends of hers who did feel very loyal and concerned about her but with whom she was very angry because she saw some action of theirs as being disloyal diana's truculence and unwillingness to pose or smile on occasions that did not suit her led to unseemly clashes with the press trying to live two conflicting lives diana strove to attain maximum publicity for her limited public role and virtual obscurity for her private life she felt a victim persecuted and harassed but her use of the media was always an area of both confusion and controversy in her life she knew what she was doing when she rang individual columnists and told them her side of the story she knew what she was doing when she posed for very beautiful photographs or sexy photographs in different locations where even though the newspaper photographers might not be immediately apparent she knew they were at the other end of a long lens but on the other hand i think she didn't really she wasn't really in control because she was very upset when they then said well you know you've in a sense opened the door to this why are you so incredibly miserable when we chase you around to your health club or tennis game or with the boys or whatever it may be and she didn't really understand how she couldn't play both games now officially out of the royal family diana's future role became uncertain on a private trip to argentina she had hoped to improve relations with britain some felt that she lacked the diplomatic training and experience for such a mission no matter how well she was received without an official role diana's foreign trips left her wide open to political wrangling this was the case when diana accompanied her friend jemima khan to her husband imran khan's hospital in pakistan the campaign for a better understanding of aids and other sensitive issues also found a sympathetic supporter early on diana's international acclaim was particularly evident in the united states this is one of the nicest british invasions that the white house has ever had it's because she is a woman who has had a tireless commitment to the homeless to aids cancer leprosy and other health issues hillary clinton was one of the strong women who gave diana inspiration as her life changed diana moved into a new circle of friends women with international experience while diana resented such intrusions into her private holidays she was acutely aware that her role on official occasions like a visit to india required a more regal image although they had a marriage in name only as princess of wales she accompanied her husband on official visits at home and abroad she was the essence of royalty [Music] on another visit to india she posed alone in front of the taj mahal her solitude sending out a message of her frustration at her husband's absence and his private disregard for her [Music] even alone she treated her foreign visits with a solemn purpose remembering the importance of representing britain abroad she often did this against a background of sniping criticism from faceless enemies at home who feared that her glamorous style raised her profile higher than her husband's [Music] really [Music] diana would be courteous and respectful of other cultures yet she always allowed her own mesmerizing qualities to come through because of this she was received with genuine warmth in places where other members of her husband's family might not have been as princess of wales she showed skills and diplomacy many politicians would envy building bridges and cementing international friendships along the way [Music] she had travelled far from her first tentative public speech to the people of wales in 1981 when she was expecting her first child prince william capital cardiff i look forward to returning many times in the future and also i'd like to just add how proud i am to be princess of such a wonderful place one of diana's earliest loves was ballet she wanted to be a ballerina but grew too tall as a young girl she was taken to many ballet performances and when she became princess of wales she added ballet companies to her list of worthy causes she took a great interest in the training and welfare of budding ballet stars and understood their demands for physical perfection which were reflected in her own life she danced alone for two hours or so a week a combination of jazz tap and ballet as an escape valve for her tensions and perhaps as a practice for her role of performing princess when she gave up over a hundred charities after the loss of her title her royal highness one ballet company was among the six causes she chose to [Music] [Applause] keep [Music] so [Music] years later with great maternal pride diana took william to wales on saint david's day presenting him as the future king [Music] [Music] [Applause] william's role provided diana with her greatest expectations and he may be the best hope for the future of the british monarchy [Music] prince william and his brother harry gave diana the emotional support to carry her through the worst years they were the real source of her strength she strove to bring them up differently from the formal manner of earlier royal generations [Music] by giving her sons lavish holidays in exotic locations diana could have been accused of sometimes spoiling her children perhaps she was just over compensating her sons for the distress of their parents bitter separation and divorce [Music] i think that prince william has understood it for a great number of years too long in a way because he was very disturbed and unhappy at the time of the breakup and the divorce and became very protective of her enjoying a holiday in the sun with her family diana tried to avoid her mother's own pitfall of a second failed marriage which could have been disastrous for her and devastating for her sons unlike her mother diana was not destined for a life in the shadows diana's enemies long forecast that she would copy her mother francis nicknamed the bolter when she left diana's father for another man despite virtual isolation in her remote scottish home france is kept in regular contact with her children and grandchildren in her final years diana understood her mother better this must have been the most awful blow to her because she's obviously had a very difficult life herself and i imagine she must feel at some level that some of the problems that have occurred go right back to the stage at which her marriage to diana's father broke up i imagine that she would want to be close to them but whether that's possible given that she lives geographically so far away in scotland i don't know diana's father was a vital prop in the difficult times when her marriage was disintegrating sadly he died in march 1992 his funeral was a harrowing occasion for all his family prince charles arrived just in time preoccupied with other duties earl spencer wished to be buried close to his family home at althrop [Music] diana knew the small village of great brington well she had lived here from 1975 when her father inherited althrop until she moved to london at the age of 18. in 1992 she personally carried her father's ashes for burial to the local church diana had assumed that this would be her last resting place but after her death her family decided to bury her in the grounds of althrop to maintain privacy diana's family history had been marred by feuds she her sisters and brother disliked rain their stepmother although later she became one of diana's circle of strong women friends charles did not add his name to diana's touching floral tribute his message was attached to a wreath sent by the queen and prince philip charles attended al spencer's memorial service with his wife and sons the show of togetherness was deceptive charles had felt obliged to join diana for appearances sake at other spencer family gatherings in the past on his father's death diana's brother became the new world spencer the princess of wales continued with her royal commitment but not for long diana's decision in december 1993 to withdraw at least temporarily from public life climaxed with a dramatic speech which she had planned to make at a charity function her friend lord archer's role was to steer her through this traumatic event we got her on stage at the end of the meal and i introduced her and i simply said her royal highness princess of wales would like to make a statement and she was trembling and she was in she was very very brave the whole thing was her royal highness the princess of wales would like to make a short statement your royal highness ladies and gentlemen it is a great pleasure to be here with you sharing in your successes of the past year when i started my public life 12 years ago i understood the media might be interested in what i did i realized then their attention would inevitably focus on both our private and public lives but i was not aware of how overwhelming that attention would become nor the extent to which it would affect both my public duties and my personal life in a manner that's been hard to bear at the end of this year when i've completed my diary of official engagements i will be reducing the extent of the public life i've led so far obviously i attach great importance to my charity work and i intend to focus on a smaller range of areas in the future over the next few months i will be seeking a more suitable way of combining a meaningful public role with hopefully a more private life my first priority will continue to be our children william and harry who deserve as much love and care and attention as i am able to give as well as an appreciation of the tradition into which they were born i would like to add that this decision has been reached with a full understanding of the queen and the duke of edinburgh who have always shown me kindness and support i hope you can find it in your hearts to understand and to give me the time and space that has been lacking in recent years i couldn't stand here today and make this sort of statement without acknowledging the heartfelt support i've been given by the public in general your kindness and affection has carried me through some of the most difficult periods and always your love and care has eased that journey and for that i thank you from the bottom of my heart i mean this was pin dropping stuff because they hadn't been expecting it they'd come to celebrate a charity function they hadn't expected a constitutional announcement and they burst into thunderous applause and i could see her trembling [Applause] your royal highness i know i speak for all of us when i say we sympathize with the decision you have taken whatever course your life now takes be assured there are many charities and individuals all over the world who will remain grateful for the dedicated service and care you have brought to everything you do on behalf of those people who cannot be with us today thank you ladies and gentlemen our royal highness the princess of wales follow me mom walk down into the audience and she just followed and they remain standing and cheered her all out of the room diana's retirement was brief unable to return to an ordinary life she began to create her own role against a backdrop of charity work and good causes through her association with the red cross for instance she successfully raised their profile over many important campaigns here she was making a visit to nepal in the himalayas [Music] as an ambassador for britain she was unequaled she was an extraordinary ambassador for us to the third world what we used to call the third world to people in countries who were suffering from one thing or another which she identified with at home but which she picked up very strongly when she was abroad whether again it was aids in africa or the plight of children which she who she visited with mother teresa in india or the whole landmines issue where she was so important in identifying and drawing attention to something which governments have been talking about for a long time but no one in general was had remote interest in buildings by visiting the killing fields of angola diana was able to draw the world's attention to the millions of unexploded landmines still taking their toll on the young and innocent in a country trying to pick itself up from a long and bloody civil war her efforts were criticized she was called a loose cannon as you can see they've been working away here and that's going to uncover the mind barring but there are many trying to highlight a problem that's going on all around the world that's all a year after her divorce diana was full of hope for a happy future she took her boys on a holiday to the french riviera with the businessman muhammad al faired and his family including his son by his first marriage the handsome bachelor dodi the happy group cruised on his luxurious yacht the johnical diana ignored dodi's reputation as a playboy and was impressed by his gentle considerate nature they spent further time together and their friendship rapidly developed into love he gave her the attention and tenderness she craved diana's brother said she had found joy in her life and days before her death she told a friend that her time with dodie was pure bliss she certainly looked very radiant and very happy even in the smudgy long-distance photographs we saw of her on holiday i think the fact that she was prepared slightly later to be photographed with dodie fired in a way she certainly hadn't been with some of the other supposed male friends in her life did indicate that she felt confident about the relationship and therefore presumably felt very happy but whether it was the kind of relationship would have developed i don't know we hear all the rumors in the press that they were going to be engaged but i think that's just in the realms of speculation death came suddenly and terribly after a crash in paris charles brought his ex-wife home to a country in mourning was the saddest homecoming in the world with a sense of disbelief the world watched as charles brought back the body of his former wife her sisters sarah and jane shattered with grief shared the journey knowing that a harrowing week of funeral preparations lay ahead hillary clinton who would welcome diana in the united states not so long ago came to perform one of her most heart-rending duties as first lady representing the president and her country she paid sad and solemn tribute to the woman they had all admired for her compassion and dedication on behalf of the president and the american people i came here to express our deep sadness at the loss of princess diana we grieve for her children her family and her country the public grief for the death of the people's princess dictated the nature of a unique funeral for a unique person and asked the monarchy to reconsider its position i think it would be impossible at this stage to gauge what will happen over the long term but i think what has been fascinating is to watch the way in which perhaps the country felt differently about something than the queen and those who immediately surrounded her not so probably so much in personal feelings but in terms of the way of expressing those personal feelings and she responded she responded to what she must have heard either through the media through her advisors through the prime minister whoever it may have been who advised her that she was out of step with the country's feelings on this and she of course responded magnificently and did a wonderful broadcast and i think most people felt that that in a sense restored the position [Applause] [Music] diana princess of wales died when she had at last found the happiness that had eluded her for most of her 36 years she had spent her summer of love with dodie fired a handsome and affectionate man who gave her the attention and tenderness she craved just as their future looked bright and promising death came suddenly and tragically [Music] now the world will remember diana the irreplaceable princess who became as she had wished a queen in people's hearts [Music] you

Channel: Timeline - World History Documentaries

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Rating: 4.8163986 out of 5

Keywords: History, Full Documentary, Documentaries, Full length Documentaries, Documentary, TV Shows - Topic, Documentary Movies - Topic, 2017 documentary, BBC documentary, Channel 4 documentary, history documentary, documentary history, princess diana, royal documentary, death of diana, princess of wales

Id: zsv06eSYHD4

Length: 48min 4sec (2884 seconds)

Published: Sat Aug 08 2020