“I've danced with a
man, who's danced with a girl, who's danced with the Prince of Wales” went the 20s song, written before
Edward VIII became King and took a dip in popularity. The case of Jacintha Saldanha, who put through a call to someone
who gave out information about the Duchess of Cambridge, ended far more
tragically than for the flapper chanteuse. Our hunger for remote royal
associations however, seems undimmed.
Speculation about Ms Saldanha (who did not appear to have
courted any sort of publicity in her life) has been rampant on a global scale.
Her suicide led to a huge array of responses: compassionate neutrality on the
part of the royals, self-flagellating guilt from the pranksters, outrage about
the lack of support for the family, and consideration of the limits of free
speech.
How are we to understand such an
act? Not just in this case but whenever it happens? The possible risk factors
for suicide are multiple. Also, as I have argued elsewhere, the potential motivations behind suicide and
self-harm are manifold and complex. The act may be about escape, release,
anger, revenge or a host of other feelings. It may be accidental, perhaps the
seeking of care or an expression of desperation that has gone wrong. People’s
motives can be shifting and not always evident, even to themselves. At this
stage we don’t actually know if Ms Saldanha’s death was linked to the prank call.
