The article “Murder at the Queen’s Estate” tells about the body that was discovered on New Year’s Day at Queen Elizabeth’s Sandringham estate. The girl found was identified as 17 year old Alisa Dmitrijeva- a Latvian immigrant who had come to Britain two years ago.
Alicia Dennis is a writer for People Magazine- a magazine of celebrity and human interest stories. In October 2005, it was named “Magazine of the Year” by Advertising Age for excellence in editorial, circulation and advertising.
The context of this piece is a response to the recent investigations into who Alisa Dmitrijeva was and why she was killed. Detectives have been questioning royal gamekeepers, grooms, and other estate workers to see if they know anything. Officials have been looking into the life of Dmitrijeva and are racing to find out what happened to her.
The purpose of the article was to show the possible reason why such a tragedy would occur. The article explains the type of person Dmitrijeva was and that she was recently hanging out with the wrong crowd. Dmitrijeva was described as a “bubbly teen” (1) however her parents noted a change in her. When she enrolled in college and struggled to learn English, she began to stay out all night. Her mother tells Mail on Sunday, “She took drugs and got arrested for stealing” (2). How and why she was killed remains a mystery.
The audience for this article is readers of People Magazine and those interested in royal news.
Rhetorical elements used are an appeal to ethos and a narrative-style introduction. Dennis incorporated reports from important people in this case- Detective Chief Jes Fry and royal protection officer Ken Wharfe. This establishes a lot of credibility. She also uses information from an interview with Dmitrijeva’s mother to show a very personal side of the girl’s character. Dennis begins the article with a story-like introduction: “On the crisp, 50-degree afternoon of Dec. 18, the Queen and her companions tramped through the countryside of her sprawling Sandringham estate for a high spirited holiday shoot…” (3) This pulls the audience in and establishes the juxtaposition of the entire event- how such a tragedy could happen on such beautiful (and royal) land.
The author was effective. Though the mystery remains unsolved, Dennis did a good job with summarizing what had happened and giving insight as to why it did.
-January 23, 2012 issue of People Magazine
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