“Anywhere I see suffering, that is where I want to be, doing what I can”- Princess Diana
Diana, Princess of Wales was born on July 1, 1961, in Norfolk as The Honorable Diana Frances Spencer. When her father inherited his Earldom in 1975, she was given the title Lady Diana Spencer. On July 29, 1981, Lady Diana Spencer married The Prince of Wales at St. Paul’s Cathedral in London.
During her marriage, the Princess performed a variety of royal duties. The Princess’s family was very important to her, as she had two sons, Princess Williams and Princess Henry (Harry). The Princess of Wales was still considered a member of the Royal Family after her divorce from The Prince of Wales. Diana, Princess of Wales, died in a car accident in Paris on August 31, 1997.
The death of this popular figure sparked widespread public mourning, culminating in her funeral at Westminster Abbey on Saturday, September 6, 1997. Even after her death, the Princess’s legacy lives on through commemorative charities and projects established to assist those in need.
Childhood and Adolescence-
Diana, Diva of Wales, erstwhile Lady Diana Frances Spencer, was born on July 1, 1961, at Park House in Norfolk. She was the eldest daughter of Viscount and Viscountess Althorp, now the late 8th Earl Spencer, and the late Hon. Mrs. Shand-Kydd, daughter of the 4th Baron Fermoy. She styled The Honorable Diana Spencer until her father inherited Earldom.
Viscount Althorp was George VI’s Equerry from 1950 to 1952, and The Queen’s from 1952 to 1954. Lady Diana’s parents divorced in 1967 after marrying in 1954. The marriage was annulled in 1969. In 1976, Earl Spencer married Raine, Countess of Dartmouth.
Diana continued to live at Park House with her father, along with her two elder sisters Sarah born in 1955, Jane born in 1957, and her brother Charles born in 1964. Lady Diana was educated first at Riddlesworth Hall in Diss, Norfolk, and then as a boarder at West Heath in Sevenoaks, Kent, in 1974.
At school, she excelled in music (as a proficient pianist), dancing, and domestic science, and she received the school’s award for the girl who provided the most assistance to the school and her classmates.
She left West Heath in 1977 and went to the Institut Alpin Videmanette in Rougemont, Switzerland, where she stayed until the Easter term of 1978. The same year, she relocated to Coleherne Court in London. She cared for the child of an American couple for a time and worked as a kindergarten teacher at the Young England School in Pimlico.
Family and Marriage
Lady Diana’s marriage to The Prince of Wales was officially announced on February 24, 1981. Their families had known each other for many years as neighbors at Sandringham until 1975, and Lady Diana and The Prince had met again when he was invited to a weekend at Althorp in November 1977.
On July 29, 1981, they married at St. Paul’s Cathedral in London in front of a global television and radio audience estimated to be around 1000 million people, as well as hundreds of thousands of people living the route from Buckingham Palace to the Cathedral. Buckingham Palace hosted the wedding receptions.
The Princess was the first Englishwoman in 300 years to marry an heir to the throne (when Anne Hyde married the future James II from The Princess was descended). The Prince and The Princess of Wales spent the bulk of their romantic getaway at Broadlands, the Mountbatten family home in Hampshire.
They were parents to two sons. Prince William Arthur Phillip Louis was born on June 21, 1982, and Prince Henry Charles Albert David on September 15, 1984. The Princess had seventeen godchildren. The Prince and The Princess declared their separation in December 1992.
In November 1995, The Princess gave a televised interview in which she discussed her private disillusionment as well as the stressors of her public role. On August 28, 1996, the prince and the princess decoupled. The prince and the princess continued to share equal responsibility for their children’s upbringing. The Princess was still considered a member of the Royal family.
Public Role
Princess Diana was a fashion icon or diva in the eyes of the world. What is her most memorable outfit? Nasty Gal, a fashion retailer, has discovered the most iconic dress from the 1990s and 2000s. Princess Diana’s “Revenge Dress” was named one of the top ten most iconic gowns of the last 30 years. Her “Revenge Dress” was named after the night her ex-husband, Prince Charles, conceded on television to being disloyal in his marriage.
Princess was always loyal to her duties. Her first tour with The Prince of Wales was a three-day visit to Wales in October 1981. For bicentenary celebrations in 1988, her other official overseas visits with Prince were to Brazil, India, Canada, Nigeria, Cameroon, Indonesia, Spain, Italy, France, Portugal, and Japan. Her last tour with Prince was to South Korea in 1992.
After her separation, the Princess continued to appear with the Royal family on major occasions. In the year before her death, the Princess was an active campaigner for a ban on the manufacture and use of landmines. She visited Angola as a part of her campaign in January 1997. She also met Mother Teresa in the Bronx, New York.
The Princess’s last few public appearances occurred during her visit to Bosnia from August 7 to 10, when she visited landmine projects in Travnic, Sarajevo, and Zenezica. Representatives of the charities with which she worked during her life were invited to walk behind her coffin with her family from St James Palace to Westminster Abbey on the day of her funeral in recognition of her charitable work.
Death
The 36 years old publicly loved and adored Princess Diana died in a car accident on August 31, 1997, in the Pont de l’Alma tunnel in Paris. Her alleged boyfriend and an Egyptian billionaire named Dodi Fayed and the car’s driver Henri Paul were also killed.
Diana and Dodi had just returned from a vacation in France, where they were photographed together by paparazzi, who immediately speculated about the start of a relationship between the two. They finished their vacation with a night in Paris before she had to return to London. They were on their way to a restaurant when Dodi told Henri to return to the hotel where they were staying.
They decided to return to Dodi’s apartment after having dinner at the hotel. Their car was fleeing the paparazzi when it collided with a concrete pillar inside the tunnel. The time was 12:25 a.m. The driver, Henri, was frequently blamed for the accident. Witnesses report seeing him drinking at the hotel bar earlier that evening, and his blood alcohol level indicated that he was intoxicated.
But Prince Williams and Prince Harry have publicly blamed the paparazzi for her mother’s death. “ I think one of the hardest things to accept is that the people who chased her into the tunnel were the same people who were photographing her while she was still dying in the backseat of the car”.
Diana’s death was frequently questioned, particularly by conspiracy theorists. Here are some most typical of Princess Diana’s death theories.
- Princess Diana was murdered to prevent her from marrying a Muslim.
- Diana was carrying Dodi Fayed’s child.
- The British Army’s special force unit covered up Princess’s murder.
- The driver of Princess Diana was framed.
- Prince Charles devised a plan to murder her by tampering with her breaks.
- Prince Phillip (Prince Charles’ father) intended to assassinate her.
- Princess Diana staged her demise (by this she could easily slip away, and start a new life with Dodi by changing her identity).
There are many movies made about her, some of them are here:
- Princess in Love (1996)
- Diana: The Musical (2021)
- Charles and Diana: A Royal Love Story (1982)
- Diana: Last Days of a Princess (2007)
- Diana (2013)
- Whatever Love Means (2005)
- Spencer (2021)
- The Queen (2006)
- Diana, 7 Days (2017)
- Diana, Our Mother: Her Life and Legacy (2017)
Not only those 10 but there are also more films that were made about her because of her popularity or her true self.
Princess Diana was always a kind-hearted woman and helped others. Only God knows what happened to her and who did it? We can just only pray for her.
