Day 105: Pierrot to Princess

Work takes me to the rarified air of South Kensington.  Miles of terraced wedding cake houses - all white stucco and pillars, offset by potted bay trees, and iron railings lumpy with decades of paint.  The pavement outside Bibendum smells of expensive fresh cut flowers, and champagne vomit.  Nothing changes here*.  It's an eighties time warp.  Men still wear strawberry pink jeans and blazers.  A lumpy teenage Lady Diana in a pie-crust collar wouldn't be out of place. 

I once went to a pizza restaurant in South Kensington, which was dominated by a huge oil painting of the proprietor serving a pizza to Princess Diana (see right).  Yes.  HRH as a pierrot.  We were proudly informed that she was a regular visitor, and as a close confidante, the proprietor could divulge that, like the pierrot, she was laughing on the outside, crying on the inside.  (Given that this was around 1996 - ie post-Camillagate and the Martin Bashir interview - I'd say information-wise, this was a major scoop.  Amazing.)  Please note that she looks pretty cheery here.  Probably not crying on the inside in this picture - but genuinely happy.  Healed by the special balm of pizza.  Because Princess Diana was a massive carb-head, wasn't she?  (Though I'm not sure she's looking at the pizza.  What do you think?)

From a quick search, it appears that since then the picture has been replaced by a less poignant image.  Diana in a lovely red evening dress.  There are some similarities, though.  Once again, she looks cheered by the prospect of pizza (reliable carb magic, even beyond the grave).  And Mario looks AMAZINGLY unchanged.   Same coy/noble expression.  Same posture.  Same arm.  Same pizza.  It's ALMOST as if someone realised that perhaps Dead Pierrot Diana was in slightly bad taste, and just repainted the bits around Mario to be more Dead People's Princess...  

(* OK - don't panic.  ONE thing changed.  Pierrot to Princess.  DON'T PANIC! That was fifteen years ago.  Breathe into the paper bag.  Blazers?  Check.  Loafers?  Check.  Ray-Bans?  Check.  Aannnd relaaax.)