Friends shocked to learn Princess Diana is dead (Historic 1997 video)

To answer some questions that have popped up - I recorded this home video in 1997 the night Diana died and it sat in a box for many years. Why was I recording? I was trying out a new camcorder by recording friends playing the card game UNO. When my mom called me to say that Diana was in a car crash I turned on the TV, on silent, and we kept playing the game while monitoring the text on the bottom of the TV screen. When the screen text changed to "Diana dead" the true reality of the situation hit like a ton of bricks and we stopped playing UNO of course, and rushed over to the TV. This was recorded in America, in the state of Iowa. All of the guys in the video are still alive today (as of May 21, 2023). The guy who screams when he learns Diana has died is my friend Ken who still lives in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. It is his genuine reaction to the news of Diana's death. Some people call it a "Wilhelm scream." (Apparently that's a movie term). The guy who stifles a smile after Ken's scream is Scott. (His brief smile was a reaction to Ken's loud silly scream, NOT to Diana's death). When CNN announced that Diana had died I didn't turn the camera back to the TV because my instinct was that it would be more interesting to capture my friends' reactions. Some people call this video the first of what are now called "reaction" videos, a term that didn't exist in 1997 (and neither did YouTube, which began in 2005).

This is what a digital time capsule is! Never delete this sir.

The reaction was so sad because Diana was the closest thing in the royal family to a normal citizen

Props to the camera man. Showed a little tv footage, but kept to the viewers to see how people followed the breaking events. So real.

Them having the realization that she died and moving onto the couch to holding each other is so heart-sinking.

This just shows me what people meant when they said the whole world stopped

The first part we heard that she had broken a leg, then she was seriously injured and then she died. Such a sad day

Whoever filmed this deserves an Oscar

3:05 What a time capsule! Diana's death, a landline phone, a dictionary on the shelf, a box TV....tragedy aside, what a capture.

It’s chilling how the mood shifts right when they see that she passed away.

bruh the mood of the room changed so fast when they announced she was dead.

I wasn’t alive when Princess Diana died, but I remember after hearing and reading about all the things she did and how terribly she was treated by her ex-husband, I felt the need to cry. She seemed like a genuinely wonderful person and the fact her husband had the nerve to cheat on her, bring the woman who he cheated on her with to the funeral, and then marry the mistress, pissed me off to no ends meet. That woman deserved so much better and a longer life.

This video is insane to me - I'm 24 years old and have lived in London my entire life. I've never felt the impact of Diana's death so I imagined that this video wouldn't have an impact on me, but the real impact of this video was the heart warming and human approach a group of friends had to a tragedy that they had no personal connection to. People my age now not only have very different kinds of friendships, but it almost feels like the humanity in people has been lost. Everything is covered with drama and a TV, laptop or phone is so accessible that people my age don't seem to have this kind of connection and experiences with their friends, or at least from my perspective they don't anyway. Thank you for this video, I hope you are all well and healthy.

The COMPLETE shift from the jokes to dead seriousness is astonishing.

I remember my young son asking me what was going on. I told him the Princess of Wales died. He thought for a moment and asked, "Who's gonna take care of the whales?" Chokes me up even now.

My mom used to tell me that she cried when the news broke out. She was utterly shocked and she loved her and her compassion so much. We are from the Philippines. She was and is indeed very much loved. Thank you so so much for sharing this moment with us.

2:44 The atmosphere was so light hearted and friendly. Then everything took a one-eighty the moment she was announced dead. The horrified scream, the deafening silence, that’s as real as it gets.

My mom told me this was one of those moments “where you remember exactly where you were and what was happening when you found out”

The drastic shift in tone from the guys really shows how terrible this was.

you know someone is well loved when even people from another country are heart broken over their death