Princess Diana Spencer

(1961–1997)

“Everyone's Princess”, Diana Spencer, for everyone simply Lady Diana, was a revolutionary woman who pushed the
Royal Family to confront royal life, the life outside the Palace. She would fall victim to the pressure of her role, the
legacy of high society, the duties.. She is remembered as the "People's Princess" because of her widespread popularity
and global humanitarian efforts.

Early Life and Family

Diana was born on July 1st, 1961, near Sandringham, England.
She was the fourth of five children of Edward John Spencer, Viscount Althorp, and Frances Ruth Burke Roche,
Viscountess Althorp: the Spencers are one of the oldest and most aristocratic English families, therefore already in close
connection with the British royal family. Diana's family breaks up after the death of the male heir, John, a few hours after
the birth: the parents divorce also for the betrayals of the mother, which further worsen the relationship between the
couple, until the separation. Diana’s father won custody of the children.
Diana had two older sisters, Jane and Sarah , and a younger brother, Charles Spencer.
After her initial education at home Diana attended Riddlesworth Hall School and then West Heath School. Although she
was known to be shy, while growing up she showed interest in music and sports, especially dance and swimming; her
dream was to become a Royal Ballet dancer, but this will never be realized because she was too tall for a ballet career.
After finishing school at Institut Alpin Videmanette in Switzerland, a school for girls where etiquette, good manners and
etiquette were taught, she moved back to London. She begun to work in fairly menial jobs given her rank: she was a
nanny, housekeeper for her sister Sarah, dance teacher and assistant at the Young England nursery school where Diana
she already demonstrated a great fondness for children.
She became Lady Diana Spencer after her father inherited the title of Earl Spencer in 1975.

Courtship With Prince Charles

Diana began dating Prince Charles, heir to the British throne who was 13 years her senior, in 1977.
Charles, in the beginning, dates Diana's sister, Sarah but he knew Diana since she was a child and played with Charles'
younger brothers, Prince Andrew and Prince Edward, while his family rented Park House, an estate owned by Queen
Elizabeth II.
Charles was usually the subject of media attention, and his courtship of Diana was no exception. The press and the public
were fascinated by this seemingly odd couple — the reserved, garden-loving prince and the shy young woman with an
interest in fashion and popular culture.
The official engagement, approved by Buckingham Palace, took place on February 24, 1981; Prince Charles proposed to
Diana an 18-carat white gold ring topped with a 12-carat oval Ceylon sapphire surrounded by 14 solitaire diamonds. It
was made by crown jeweler Garrard and was inspired by a brooch created in 1840 for Prince Albert as a wedding gift for
Queen Victoria. The ring reportedly cost Charles £28,000 at the time (about £35,000). After Diana's death, her son Prince
William proposed with the ring to Kate Middleton, Duchess of Cambridge.

Wedding to Prince Charles

Diana Spencer became Diana, Princess of Wales, when she married Charles on July 29th, 1981. Their wedding took place
at St. Paul’s Cathedral in the presence of 2.650 guests. The couple arrived separately and departed together by a carriage
ride through the streets of London. Diana wore a taffeta wedding dress made with silk and antique lace and 10,000 pearls.
She donned an 18th-century Spencer family tiara with a 25-foot veil. Her ensemble barely fit in the carriage, and it took
Diana 3 and a half minutes to walk down the aisle. The royal wedding ceremony was broadcast on television around the
world; nearly one billion people from 74 countries tuned in to see what many considered to be the wedding of the
century. 

Marriage life and divorce

Diana and Charles had two sons together: Prince William, born June 21, 1982, and Prince Henry born September 15,
1984. The relationship of the couple was not happy from the beginning; in 1981, a Lady Diana pregnant with the firstborn
William, direct heir to the throne, seemed to stage a fall down the stairs, to attract the attention of her husband Charles,
guilty of not making his presence felt at the side of his wife, always busy with his social commitments. Averted the
consequences for the child, relations, obviously already tense between the two spouses, are temporarily placated with the
second pregnancy of Diana and the birth of Harry.
However, it seems that since 1985 the coexistence between the two had become very difficult: Lady Diana struggled with
depression and bulimia coming to attempt suicide and embarking on a love affair with her riding instructor, James Hewitt,
probably in an attempt to attract again the attention of her husband, engaged in an extramarital affair with his historical
lover, Camilla Parker-Bowles.
The separation of Diana from Charles is announced in December 1992 by British Prime Minister John Major, who reads a
statement of the royal family in the House of Commons, but it is only immediately after the famous interview to Lady
Diana by Martin Bashir, in which the princess, manipulated by the journalist, expresses particular resentment towards the
crown, even admitting her relationship with Hewitt and to know about the dating between Charles and Camilla, that
Queen Elizabeth II urges Diana and Charles to officially end their marriage and comes to ask for a divorce, made official
less than a year later, on August 28, 1996.
Diana retained her title of "Princess of Wales" and her apartments at Kensington Palace, but agreed to relinquish the title
of "Her Royal Highness" and any claim to the British throne.
After her divorce, Diana began to develop and pursue her own interests. She was a strong supporter of many charities and
worked to help the homeless, people living with HIV and AIDS, children in need, including raising awareness of the
dangers of remaining landmines in war-torn Angola.
She maintained a high level of popularity with the public.

Relationship With Dodi Fayed and Diana’s death

Diana whipped the British tabloids into a frenzy when she began dating Egyptian film producer Dodi Fayed in 1997;
Fayed invited Diana and her family on his yacht in the south of France.
The couple reportedly met at a 1986 polo match when Fayed and Charles played on opposing teams. They reconnected
and openly dated over the summer of 1997, spending time together in Sardinia, the south of France and Paris.
Their courtship was widely covered in the tabloids. It was reported that some members of the royal family and former
Prime Minister Tony Blair did not approve of their relationship.
While visiting Paris, Diana and Dodi Fayed were involved in a car crash after trying to escape from the paparazzi early in
the morning of August 31st, 1997. Fayed and the driver were pronounced dead at the scene. Diana initially survived the
crash but succumbed to her injuries at a Paris hospital a few hours later. She was 36 years old.
News of her sudden, senseless death shocked the world. Queen Elizabeth II, who was criticized for not immediately
responding publicly to Diana’s death, made a televised address from Buckingham Palace on September 5th, in which she
said: “No one who knew Diana will ever forget her. Millions of others who never met her, but felt they knew her, will
remember her. I, for one, believe there are lessons to be drawn from her life and from the extraordinary and moving
reaction to her death. I share in your determination to cherish her memory.”
Following an investigation into Diana’s fatal car accident, a report released in 1999 determined that the driver was at fault
for driving at a high speed while under the influence of alcohol and antidepressant drugs. Charges were dropped against
several photographers who were initially blamed for causing the crash.
Despite the report, rumors persisted for years about alternative reasons for the accident. One conspiracy theory held that it
was part of an assassination arranged by the royal family, although no additional evidence emerged to support that theory.

Funeral and gravesite

Since the title of Royal Highness had lapsed with the divorce, the funeral of Lady Diana should have been held in private,
but the immense popular movement led the queen to agree to the public funeral. On the morning of September 6, Diana's
funeral procession commenced from Kensington Palace, her coffin resting on a gun carriage drawn by six black horses.
Thousands of moved people took part in the ceremony, with 15-year-old William and 12-year-old Harry joining the final
stretch of the four-mile procession for their mother; the passage inside Westminster Abbey became famous, when Elton
John sang Candle in the Wind, the song that was dedicated to Marilyn Monroe for her death, modified in honor of Lady
D.
An estimated 2.5 billion people tuned in on television to watch the ceremony at Westminster Abbey, which featured a
powerful eulogy from Diana's brother, Earl Charles Spencer.
Diana’s body was laid to rest at a gravesite on a small island at her family's estate, Althorp.

Memorials and charities

In 2007, just before the 10th anniversary of her death, William and Harry honored their beloved mother with a special
concert that took place on what would have been her 46th birthday. The proceeds of the event went to charities supported
by Diana and her sons.
William and his wife Kate Middleton also remembered Diana when naming their second child, Princess Charlotte
Elizabeth Diana, who was born on May 2, 2015.
Continuing her charitable efforts, the Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fund was founded after her death to provide
resources for palliative care, penal reform, asylum and other issues. In 2013, the fund was incorporated into The Royal
Foundation of The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Prince Harry.