Tyrades! Princess Di: has it really been 25 years?

Believe it or not, August 31 is the 25th anniversary of the traffic accident that robbed the world of the effervescent Diana, Princess of Wales.

Diana was a distant, distant cousin (my great-great grandfather Tyree married Mary Ann Spencer a century before I was born); but even without that connection, I feel compelled to dedicate this week’s column to drawing a few lessons from her too-brief life.

The philosophy “Seemed like a good idea at the time” sums up so much of her public career.

In retrospect, marrying a much-older heir to the throne (whose personality was incompatible with hers and w...