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On Facebook, 48,000 people are part of a group titled « Princess Diana – Keep Her Memory Alive (NO TROLLS ALLOWED). » At first glance, the group seems to be a community for people to express their love for Princess Diana, sharing things they think she’d like and honoring her memory.
A deeper look at the posting patterns of the group suggests things may not be as they seem. Unusual phrases like « ar Di » frequently appear, with hundreds of users seeming to adopt identical typing styles. Some posts compare Diana to the likes of Geronimo the recently-deceased alpaca, while others discuss how she would have loved a « chippy tea, » which is traditionally considered a staple of working-class British cuisine involving fries and battered fish.
Insider spoke to five members of the group who said it is an elaborate roleplay that they all enjoy participating in. According to these members, the group in its current form exists to parody Facebook groups which are perceived to be populated by an older demographic of people seeking to genuinely pay tribute to the late Princess of Wales.
« The whole point of the ‘Ar Di’ meme is that it mocks/imitates the aesthetic of a kind of sincere ‘boomer wine mum,' » who might typically refer to Princess Diana as « our Di, » long-time group member Alex, 26, told Insider, adding that he « engages in mock love for Diana » himself in the group. Alex requested Insider withhold his last name in order to preserve his privacy.
In order to emulate this « aesthetic, » group members adopt a seemingly earnest, sometimes muddled style laden with kisses, regional colloquialisms, and spelling mistakes. 
The roleplaying element is part of a wider online trend. As reported by The Guardian, social media users seem to have developed an affinity for ironically imitating older generations, with Facebook groups like « A group where we all pretend to be boomers » amassing nearly 300,000 members. 
As with the Diana Facebook group, Insider found that most of the accounts engaging with this roleplay appear to be attached to real people. 
It represents a new type of online intergenerational dynamic spearheaded by younger millennials and Gen Z, which is based more on in-jokes and mockery than on outrage or call-out culture. Insider spoke to experts and members of the group to find out why thousands of young people are roleplaying as middle-aged Princess Diana stans. 
The group was created in February 2019 and currently has four listed moderators, but only one responded to Insider’s request for comment, saying they were no longer active in the group. Countless group members have also said in comments and posts that the group does not have an admin and is « organic, » with users having free reign to post what they wish. 
Alex, who said he has been a member of the group for two years, thinks it didn’t start out this way. « Initially the group was sincere so the ‘NO TROLLS ALLOWED’ was an attempt by the mods to maintain order, » he said.
According to Alex, the jokes started subtly, with users slowly infiltrating the group by role-playing as sincere Diana mourners, but trolls have now taken it over in its entirety. These days, while the « NO TROLLS ALLOWED » warning remains, « trolling is implicitly encouraged, » he said.
Insider viewed a range of older posts in the Facebook group. The posts from early 2019 indicated a more genuine tone from members, with more apparent jokes taking place in comments rather than posts themselves before more overt memeing appeared over time as posts. As the joking increased, seemingly genuine users appeared to abandon the group, with Insider finding several posts by these users that criticize the satirical nature of the group.
In September, one group member wrote, « Me and my family have followed Diana for many years and she was a prominent figure in our household. However after a quick scroll through all I have seen are posts mocking her death, comparing her to Aldi supermarkets and mocking her tragic demise. » She added that she was « taken aback, » and questioned whether the group was intended to be pro- or anti-Diana.
The post became a meme within the group, with users posting various edits of it and creating a breakaway group dedicated to jokes about it, which has nearly 2,000 members. 
According to Alex, the origins of now-established memes within the group like the phrase « ar Di » instead of « our Di » or spelling « angle » instead of « angel » come from the time where trolls and genuine mourners coexisted in the group. These phrases parody regional accents and typos perceived as common in older users.
Alex thinks the trolls deliberately posted in such a way that made it « unclear if the person was trolling or if they were a sincere fan with bad spelling. » This, he said, is part of the « beauty » of the group. 
Dr. Phoenix Andrews, a researcher at Leeds University focusing on fandoms and internet culture, said this ambiguity is integral to the art of « shitposting, » a type of meme in which a person posts an intentionally confusing, outrageous, or off-topic piece of content in order to derail or aggravate an online conversation.  
According to Andrews, the freedom to shitpost is part of the appeal of communities like the Diana memorial group because they « allow people to let off steam and share in-jokes. » 
« Part of the fun of shitposting is confusing ‘normies,’ including supposedly smart people who can’t spot the hallmarks of a joke, » she said. 
22-year-old Hannah Van-de-Peer has been a member of the group since last winter. She told Insider, « I only ever use the ‘ar Di’ Facebook group to shitpost with everyone else. Obviously, I know Rod Stewart looks nothing like Princess Diana, but part of the fun is about making the references more obscure and distorted. » 
A renewed fascination with Diana has emerged in recent years, thanks in part to the most recent season of Netflix series « The Crown, » which portrayed the relationship between Princess Diana (Emma Corrin) and Prince Charles (Josh O’Connor). HuffPost reported that in the month it was released, it was Netflix’s most-watched show, according to the streaming service. Most recently « Twilight » actor Kristen Stewart played the Princess in the movie « Spencer, » which premiered earlier this month to much fanfare.
Interest in Diana has also spread on TikTok. Tags such as #princessdiana and #dianaspencer have amassed 2.1 billion and nearly 250 million views respectively, with creators making videos discussing her life, using her as fashion inspiration, and even dressing up as her and roleplaying. 
Several posts from the Facebook group about Diana have gone viral on Twitter. Member Jason Reid, 38, said he posts satirical content in the group as well as often sharing posts from the group to his 17,000 Twitter followers.
« The ‘ar Di’ phrase is universal now, » he said. « I hear people saying it when I’m out and about at LGBTQ+ events. That’s how you know something has become a phenomenon. » 
Diana’s influence on the global cultural zeitgeist appears to coincide with an increase in people’s animosity towards the royal family.
Earlier this year, market research and insights agency Opinium found that more people than ever supported the abolition of the monarchy, which may help explain the popularity of the Facebook group.
According to Robinson, the « ar Di » community isn’t just a platform for making jokes, but also « a way of connecting with people who also want to criticize the monarchy. »
« I think most people in the group have negative opinions of the monarchy which is why they’re there, » she said. « Diana represented a threat to the monarchy and the group uses her legacy as a way of making jibes at the institution. »
Dr. Laura Clancy, a royal expert at Lancaster University, suggested that for its younger members, the group may indicate a shift in values.
« Diana represented a very specific version of British national identity: upper-class, white, traditionally feminine, she was ‘England’s rose,' » she said. « Perhaps this is also Gen Z rejecting those values of ‘Britishness’ that are still associated with the British royal family. »  
For more stories like this, check out coverage from Insider’s Digital Culture team here.

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