People keep saying how the Keira Knightly film The Duchess has subtle parallels to the life of Our Lady Of The Express, Princess Diana. And yes Keira has the look of the fey Diana about her, there is a love triangle which looks a bit reminiscent of Charles, Di and Camilla and the Duchess Of Devonshire was an ancestor of the sainted one. But this is a much too simplistic view. The real subtext of The Duchess is a tale at the heart of pop music today. Yes, Keira is a representative of Fergie. And not Alex or Our Lady Of The US Talkshow, Sarah Ferguson. Nope, Stacy herself.
Married into a hopelessly mismatched and loveless relationship? Well that would be her joining the Black Eyed Peas. Being a style icon and celebrity, well like Georgiania, Fergie was seen is much more interesting than her partners who only want her for one thing. With Georgiania that’s a male heir, with the Black Eyed Peas its boffo hit singles. Both strove for independence with varying degrees of success. And crucial every time both of them come around, their London, London Bridge keeps going down. Definitely my favourite part of the film!
Oh and Fergie had an album called the Dutchess which, spelling notwithstanding, is way beyond a coincidence.