Dame Edna on Lady Di

Dame Edna Everage lets Mike Walsh, his studio audience and home viewers in on her secret thoughts about Lady Diana Spencer and Edna's close friend Queen Elizabeth II. At the time Diana was engaged to be married to Prince Charles (they married on 29 June 1981).

There is so much going on in this clip and it's a fine example of Barry Humphries' brand of Australian satire. At once self-aggrandising and self-deprecating it is brilliant social commentary of the early 1980s.

Dame Everage manages to weigh in on the monarchy, whether Australia should become a republic and even the speculation surrounding Spencer's virginity.

Everage mentions her husband Norm Everage in passing, saying that they won't be able to make the ceremony because his prostate machine would be 'too noisy in the quiet bits'.

Clip taken from The Mike Walsh Show circa 1980.

Notes by Beth Taylor