She was shallow, uneducated, egocentric, dim-witted, and some say mentally unstable. Her world consisted of psychics and astrologers, gigolos and rich playboys, the depraved world of haute couture, and late night revelry, while her children were in the care of others and read about the details the next day.

She was critical of the British Royal family at every opportunity, a family she willingly joined for its status, wealth, and celebrity, but she evidently lacked a sense of duty, a sense of her place in history, or an understanding of the concept of noblesse oblige.

She portrayed herself as a caring mother but went scantily clad in outdoor locations where she knew the long-lensed cameras had to be, to the discomfort of those children. And from whence did we learn all the sordid details of her extra-marital affairs? From her own mouth.

The final night - was that an effort at private moments? Hardly. They chose the most glamorous restaurant in the most glamorous of hotels (the Ritz) in the most glamorous of cities (Paris) to celebrate an engagement. And that wild chase that followed - were they trying to "escape" the photographers? No. It was a GAME. Which ended tragically.

So why is the Left so eager to embrace her as one of its highest icons? Because she fits the mold perfectly. In its icons the Left prefers Surface over Depth, Personal Feelings over Duty, Intentions over Performance, Attitude over Ability. Above all the Left loves a Victim.

Sure, she was wealthy, glamorous, and the most well known female on the planet, but somehow it was possible to portray her as terribly Deprived, leading a tortuously tragic life, the total Victim of - what? - conservative values? If they could have spun this into a desperate struggle against the religious right, they would have jumped on it. Instead it was necessary to portray it as a struggle against tradition.

Oh yes: she made a public declaration against 1) Aids and 2) land mines, which, as all the Beautiful People know, are things the Right favors! Between periods of hedonism, she inserted the necessary public devotion to Charities, which, as all the Beautiful People know, are despised by the Right. Or so it was painted by high school drop-outs like Peter Jennings and his kind.

A sign painter in London eulogized her this way: "Commoner by birth; grew to royalty; died a saint." Yes, a TRUE role model.

Not that I have any brief for that gleaming idiot, Prince Charles, a moonbat who talks with trees and shrubbery and believes in man-made "global warming" - the world's greatest hoax.

She died in 1997. Have there been other females since, who have emulated her grand but insipid existence? They abound. One thinks instantly of Lindsay Lohan, Britney Spears, Madonna, Paris Hilton, and Lady Gaga - all from the artificial world of "entertainment".

What a company she shared. It is a measure of the depravity of our modern culture.