Queen's Rhetorical Devices

Death of princess Diana by her majesty the queen

At this stage in the queen's reign,the royal family were not particularly in favour with the public view. Princess Diana was seen as a celebrity and was one of the most loved princess' of the 20th century. When she died in the fatal accident, the queen was pressured by the public to make a speech on behalf of the royal family; to express the grief and loss that the nation were feeling. Due to the break up of Charles and Diana, the princess had lost her royal title which did not settle well with the public. In making this speech the queen had to try to regain the trust and support of the nation.

To engage the audience and make them feel as if they were included and being approached personally in the speech, her majesty had to create a rapport with her audience. In every good speech a rapport must be created with the audience to make them feel included and as though they are being individually addressed. The queen does this by using personal pronouns such as 'we' and 'you.' In her opening sentence the queen uses this technique. She says 'we have seen', this automatically addresses the audience personally and makes them feel included in the speech from the very beginning. The queen does this throughout her speach so the audience are constantly being reminded that the Queen and the nation are both in the same position of having to come to terms with the loss if Princess Diana.   Again, the queen sets up the rapport from the very beginning and in her opening sentence she says ' throughout Britain and around the world' although this is not personally making a connection between herself and the audience, it is telling the is nation that they are not alone, that its not only our county that are all going to be grieving but it is actually a big part of the world that will all be morning the death of Princess Diana. The queen carries on this rapport through the speech for example she says 'we have all felt those emotions'...