Germaine Greer, author, academic and feminist icon, appeared on British television program Sam Delaney’s News Thing on Saturday night, and described Princess Diana as ‘needy’.

Host Sam Delaney asked Greer, 78, if she thought Princess Diana, who died 20 years ago last week, would have ended up on I’m a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here if she were still alive.

“I expect not actually,” the author of The Female Eunuch said. “But it’s interesting to think, ‘Would we still like her if she was 56?’

“I think we probably wouldn’t,” Greer continued. “We didn’t even like the Queen when she was 56.

“We don’t like middle-aged women very much. How would Diana have middle-aged?”

The discussion continued, with Greer commenting on Princess Diana’s complicated love life, “I mean, what would the tally of the men who had dumped her by that stage? It would be 40 or 50 probably.

“Worst f*ck in the country, by all accounts.”

Her three male panellists laughed, before Delaney asked, “Was she a feminist or role model to young women?”

Greer laughed, and replied emphatically, "No".

"She was too dependent on the love of men, I think. And she was prepared to humiliate herself to get it and she blew it every time.

"I think she just didn't understand that neediness is not sexy and that's probably what went wrong."

Her comments follow worldwide tributes to The People's Princess, who died as a result of a traffic collision at 36, leaving behind her two sons, William, aged 15, and Harry, aged 12.

LISTEN: We discuss why women have never been worse to women, on the latest episode of Mamamia Out Loud. 

READ: A firefighter has shared Princess Diana’s last ever words at the scene of the car crash.

READ: What millennials will never understand about the phenomenon of Princess Di.