Colegiul Economic "Ion Ghica"

Târgoviște
Anul școlar 2021-2022

Lucrare scrisă pentru obținerea atestatului de competență lingvistică în

limba engleză

Princess Diana of Wales

Profesor coordonator: Tîrcă Luiza Cleopatra

Elev/a: State Ruxandra Ioana, Clasa a XII-a A
 CONTENTS

ARGUMENT....................................................................................................................2
CHAPTER I EARLY LIFE
1.1 UPBRINGING.............................................................................................................3
CHAPTER II LIFE & FAMILY TIES
2.1 DIANA AND CHARLES............................................................................................4
2.2 THE ROYAL WEDDING...........................................................................................5
2.3 AFFAIRS AND DIVORCE.........................................................................................6
2.4 HER IMPACT AND CHARITY WORK....................................................................7
CHAPTER III THE FATAL ACCIDENT
3.1 AUGUST 31st 1997......................................................................................................9
3.2 THE FUNERAL..........................................................................................................10
3.3 THEORIES AND SPECULATIONS………………………………………………..11
CONCLUSIONS ..............................................................................................................12
BIBLIOGRAPHY.............................................................................................................13

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 ARGUMENT

I chose this topic because Princess Diana's life has always piqued my interest, and her
story has always been one of my favourites. I believe her presence had one of the most
significant influences on the world in the twentieth century, and her actions were frequently
associated with courage and self-confidence. Her contribution and actions changed people's
perceptions of the world we live in today, and she was able to change people’s views on many
taboo subjects, such as the HIV crisis, in which she played a significant role as a well-known
activist.
It's difficult to put into words the phenomenon that was Diana Princess of Wales. She
was more than royalty or a celebrity - she was a global presence. Most people admired her for
her ability to connect and emphasise with people and the general public on their level, which
brought her very close to everyone in the UK and around the world. Diana had something about
her that made people want to be like her. She was everywhere on the planet, in every country,
and her name was being popularized by the media on a daily basis.
She proved that she was not only a great mother, but a voice for young girls all over the
world who wanted to express themselves more but may not have had the opportunity or a model
to look up to.
Princess Diana created a completely new concept of celebrity; she was the royal family's
heart and soul and is remembered as one of the most complex individual ever depicted in the
media.

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 CHAPTER I
EARLY LIFE
1.1 UPBRINGING

While many royal fans mistakenly believe Diana was born into a commoner family, she
was actually born into a very wealthy family, and grew up adjacent to the aristocracy.
Diana Frances Spencer was born on July 1, 1961, near Sandringham, Norfolk, at Park
House, to the late Earl Spencer and Mrs Shand-Kydd. She had two older sisters named Jane and
Sarah, as well as a younger brother named Charles.
Despite its privileges, Diana's insecurity stemmed from her upbringing. Her family was
residing on the Queen's estate at Sandringham, in Park House, which her father had rented. He
had served as a royal equerry for both King George VI and Queen Elizabeth II when she was
young.
Diana’s parents married in 1954, having the Queen as the chief guest. Unfortunately,
Diana was only six years old when her parents divorced, incident that left her scarred. She'd
always remember the crunch of her mother's footsteps as she walked away from the gravel drive.
In the separation process, the children were used as pawns in an all-out bitter divorce and a gut-
wrenching verdict: Diana's mother was compelled to give up the children.
It is reported that Diana's later years were greatly influenced by the fact that she was
mostly raised by her father and nannies.
Lady Diana would be sent to boarding school and eventually ended up at West Heath
Public School in Kent. She enjoyed success in sports, mainly swimming, but she failed all of her
O levels. Nonetheless, she recalled fond school day memories and supported her old school in
later years. She worked in London after high school, first as a nanny, then as an assistant at the
Young England kindergarten in Knightsbridge. She was actually, at her time, the first royal to
have a mundane job.

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 CHAPTER II
LIFE & FAMILY TIES
2.1 DIANA AND CHARLES

Lady Diana Spencer, then 16, was introduced to a 29-year-old Prince Charles for the first
time in 1977. As a guest of Diana’s eldest sister, Lady Sarah McCorquodale, Charles was
attending a grouse shooting party at Althorp, the Spencer family home. Charles was dating Sarah
at the time, but the relationship came to an end shortly after. While her sister was not completely
entranced by Prince Charles, Diana had a different experience. She reportedly told her friends
that she would one day marry Charles, adding that he would be "the one man on the planet who
is not allowed to divorce me."
Charles and Diana would not meet again for three years after their first encounter. They
were both invited to a weekend barbecue at friend Philip de Pass's house in Sussex in July 1980.
At the time, Charles had just broken and with his girlfriend and suffered the loss of his friend
Mountbatten. Diana expressed her worry and concern of his wellbeing, and according to the
princess herself, Charles was taken by her too.
As of September 1980, when rumours circulate that Diana, 19, and Prince Charles may
soon be engaged despite their 12-year age difference, the press begins to pay even closer
attention to her. The majority of their courtship was reportedly conducted over the phone; they
only met in person 13 times before Charles proposed marriage.
In January 1981 Prince Philip wrote Charles an ultimatum: either propose to Diana or
surrender her. "To have withdrawn, as you can no doubt imagine, would have been
cataclysmic,"1 Charles reportedly confessed to a friend. "Hence I was permanently between the
devil and the deep blue sea."

1
King Charles: The Man, the Monarch, and the Future of Britain

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 2.2 THE ROYAL WEDDING

Charles, 32, and Diana, 19, announce to the world their engagement and pose outside
Buckingham Palace. The ring may look very familiar as it was the same ring later given to Kate
Middleton by Prince William when they got engaged.
Despite being considered one of the most famous engagement rings in history, Princess
Diana's choice of a sapphire and diamond sparkler triggered a debate among the royal family at
the time. The Palace deemed the ring to be too accessible because Diana chose it from a Garrard
catalogue, and thus was unsuitable for a royal engagement ring.
Diana makes her first public appearance after announcing her engagement with Prince
Charles at Goldsmith's Hall in London for a Gala Charity Concert. This was the first time the
press paid close attention to her impeccable sense of style. The press dubbed her "Daring Di" as
she wore a black strapless taffeta gown that was quite different from what the public was used to
seeing from the royal family. She later commissioned the designers of that same gown to create
her wedding dress.
On July 29, 1981, only over five months after their engagement was announced, Prince
Charles and Lady Diana Spencer married in St Paul's Cathedral. Debrett's dubbed the wedding,
which was watched by 750 million people worldwide, "the last great state event of the twentieth
century."2 On July 31, 1981, the newlyweds bid farewell to thousands of well-wishers as they
sailed the Royal Yacht Britannia for their honeymoon cruise all around Mediterranean.
They had two children, Prince William, the heir to the throne, and Prince Harry, but their
relationship began to deteriorate in the late 1980s, and by 1992, the couple had separated, with
an official divorce unfolding in 1996.

2
https://debretts.com/royal-family/prince-of-wales/

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 2.3 AFFAIRS AND DIVORCE

A peculiar instance of foreshadowing. Diana and Camilla Parker-Bowles both attend the
Ludlow Races, in which Prince Charles competes. Charles and Camilla met in 1970 and dated
briefly before Charles joined the Royal Navy in 1971. Camilla was engaged to her British Army
officer boyfriend, Andrew Parker-Bowles, when he returned, and they married in 1973.
Diana would become concerned about Prince Charles and Camilla Parker-Bowles'
relationship in the run-up to her wedding. Diana admitted to her sisters that she wanted to call off
the wedding when the prince presented Camilla with a gift before the wedding. Her sisters
convinced her to go ahead with it, telling her that at that point it was too late to back out of a
royal marriage.
Charles and Camilla began an affair in 1986, despite the fact that both were married to
other people at the time. Diana disclosed in an audio tape that she confronted Camilla at a party
about her affair. She reportedly told Camilla that she knows about everything between her and
Charles, followed by Diana saying “Don’t treat me like an idiot.”. 3The princess describes this
confrontation as one of her bravest moments in later tapes.
The Mirror publicly released a full transcript of a leaked personal phone call between
Charles and Camilla in 1989, dubbed as Camillagate. The two discussed their physical
relationship and how much they desired and cared for one another in the transcript. The tapes
sparked a huge controversy for the royal family and seemed to confirm the long-running affair
rumours.
Diana and Charles separated in 1992, but they continued to carry out their royal duties.
The couple reached a final divorce agreement in August 1996, two months after Queen Elizabeth
II urged them to do so. Diana agreed to give up the title of "Her Royal Highness" and any future
claims to the British throne in exchange for a generous settlement and the right to keep her
Kensington Palace apartments and title of "Princess of Wales."

3
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/tapes-diana-confronts-affair/

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 But Diana never wanted to divorce. "Given the choice, she would have stayed and tried to
make a happy marriage,"4 Jenni Rivett, her personal trainer/confidant, said in an episode of
Yahoo's The Royal Box. Rivett, who worked with Diana from 1991 until her death in 1997,
stated during the episode that Diana truly loved Charles, describing the aura of melancholy she
carried around with her as her marriage fell to pieces.
Diana treasured her children and didn't want them to go through what she had as a child
when her parents divorced. Despite the fact that she and Charles had been separated since 1992,
Diana was opposed to divorce, as she stated in a November 1995 televised interview with Martin
Bashir. Diana said the now-famous line, "Well, there were three of us in the marriage, so it was a
bit crowded," during that same interview, Diana also admitted to having an affair with cavalry
officer James Hewitt. Critics of the princess claimed her anti-divorce stance was nothing more
than an attempt to make Charles look bad.

2.4 HER IMPACT AND CHARITY WORK

Diana dedicated her life to serving others, particularly those without a voice. As part of
her royal duties, she was President or Patron of over 100 charities, many of which worked on
behalf of homeless and disabled people, children, and people suffering HIV/AIDS. After her
divorce from Prince Charles, Diana pushes the envelope with her charity work, despite the royal
family's strict policy against engaging in political matters.
In 1989, Princess Diana began her charitable work by creating the Landmark Aids Centre
in Tulse Hill, London, which provided treatment and support to AIDS and HIV patients. Her
AIDS charity work took her to South Africa on numerous occasions, and in 1997, Diana met
with President Nelson Mandela, who intended to partner up with the Nelson Mandela Children's
Fund and the Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fund to help AIDS victims. Diana's work with
these organizations contributed to dispel the stigmatization of AIDS. Recognizing the lack of
information about the disease, Diana used her public figure to raise awareness about the AIDS
epidemic.

4
Jenni Rivett for Yahoo's The Royal Box

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 Diana worked tirelessly against the use of landmines, primarily on behalf of those who
suffered as a result of post-war landmines; children and refugees were badly affected. Diana
worked closely with the HALO Trust after touring an Angolan minefield in 1997. The HALO
Trust is an organization dedicated to removing the debris left behind by wars, with a strong
emphasis on landmines.
In 2013, her son, Prince Harry, became a patron for HALO's 25th Anniversary, carrying
on Diana's work to permanently remove landmines from the ground. Following her visit to South
Africa in 1997, Diana delivered a speech at the Royal Geographical Society and in Washington,
D.C. in support of the American Red Cross landmine campaign.
Diana became a patron of Centrepoint, a charity that provides housing and support to
young people across the United Kingdom, in 1992. She was devoted to her mission of providing
a future for homeless adolescents, putting an end to youth homelessness and poverty, and raising
mental health awareness. Princess Diana's death did not put an end to her work. In 2005, Prince
William became a patron of Centrepoint, actively working and showing an interest, relating with
people from all walks of life. Prince William and Prince Harry, who share their mother's beliefs
and philanthropic attitude, have both visited the charity from a young age.
Princess Diana, brought the struggles of leprosy-affected people to public eye by visiting
and making body contact with those affected by the disease. Diana's actions put to rest the myth
that leprosy could be contracted through touch, and she became a patron of the Leprosy Mission
in 1990, prior to a visit to Indonesia. The Leprosy Mission's mission as an organization is to
provide medicine, treatment, and support to individuals and families affected by the disease.
Diana was an active member of the organization who travelled to various charities around the
world, including Nigeria, Nepal, India, and Zimbabwe.
Diana served as a spokesperson and patron for the Royal Marsden NHS Foundation
before becoming president of the hospital in 1989. She established the Wolfson Children's
Cancer Unit at the hospital in 1993 and reflected the Royal Marsden in a fundraising event in
1996, raising more than £1 million for medical research.
In 2007, the Duke of Cambridge was appointed as acting president of the Royal Marsden
Hospital. To support a cause dear to his mother's heart, Prince William has pledged to visit the
hospital and patients on a daily basis until the end of time. In 2008, Prince William established

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the Endoscopy Unit, which is critical in the detection of GI cancers. In 2011, the Duke and
Duchess of Cambridge jointly opened the Oak Centre for Children and Young People in Sutton.

CHAPTER III
THE FATAL ACCIDENT
3.1 AUGUST 31st 1997

Diana's relationship with Egyptian filmmaker Dodi Al-Fayed, best known for producing
the film Chariots of Fire, began after her divorce from Prince Charles was finalized. The couple's
relationship quickly became tabloid source of feed.
Diana and Al-Fayed were dining privately in the Imperial Suite of Paris’s famous Ritz
Hotel on the evening of August 31, 1997. They had intended to have a quiet, meal but were
forced to leave after only 10 minutes because they were being disturbed by the press. At 11:30
p.m. that night, as they exited the hotel to return to Al-Paris Fayed's room, accompanied by
French driver Henri Paul and one of the Princess' bodyguards, Trevor Rees-Jones, they were
followed by paparazzi, despite the fact that considerable security measures had been carried,
including the use of a decoy car that left from the front of the hotel.
Paul drove through the boulevards of central Paris in a Mercedes S-280 limousine, which
investigators later estimated that was traveling at speeds exceeding 60 miles per hour. The
Mercedes collided with the 13th pillar of the Pont d'Alma Bridge, which spans the Seine, at
12:19 a.m., only about two miles from the Ritz.
Al-Fayed and Paul were declared dead at the scene. Diana was rescued from the
wreckage by a firefighter that led the response team, who recalled the princess asking "My God,
what has happened?". It wasn't until later that he realized the victim was Princess Diana, and that
these would be her final words. Diana was taken to La Pitie Salpetriere Hospital in Paris, but she
died several hours later, at 4 a.m., as a result of injuries suffered in the crash, including a severed
pulmonary vein. She was 36 years old at the time. Rees-Jones, the bodyguard, was the only one
to survive the horrible crash, despite severe injuries.

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 3.2 THE FUNERAL

Following Princess Diana's death, there was an astounding outpouring of grief from all
across the world.
Five days after her death, her funeral was held in London. An estimated one million
people lined the path from her Kensington Palace home to Westminster Abbey, where her
funeral took place. Diana was laid to rest on a small island surrounded by water at Althorp, her
family's ancestral estate in Northamptonshire, England.
Initially, the incident was blamed on their French personal driver, Henri Paul, who would
have been speeding to avoid media outlets photographers. Diana's death was ruled a "tragic
accident" in a subsequent inquest conducted by British police and released in 2006. The inquest
determined that Paul was intoxicated at the time of the accident, and that his condition may have
been aggravated by prescription anti-depressants he was taking at the time.
In fact, blood tests performed after the crash revealed that Paul's levels of alcohol were
more than three times the legal limit in France for drunk driving. Forensic experts believe he lost
control of the Mercedes as a result of this.
No one was charged in the deaths of Diana and Al-Fayed because Paul had passed away
as well. Several paparazzi were detained immediately following the accident, but were later
released.

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 3.3 THEORIES AND SPECULATIONS

Numerous analyses, investigations, and specialists have all agreed with the official
version of events: Diana was in a car driven by a drunken man, and that failure, as well as other
institutional failures, caused the tragedy to unfold. Others, though, believe that something more
sinister and deliberate occurred that night. The conspiracy theories take various shapes, but all
claim to point to the same core belief: that someone intended to murder Diana and helped
coordinate that night's deadly collision.
The idea that Diana herself believed she was going to be murdered is the prime motivator
behind the conspiracies. That much appears to be true.
“I am sitting here at my desk today in October, longing for someone to hug me and
encourage me to keep strong and hold my head high. This particular phase in my life is the most
dangerous. [...] is planning 'an accident' in my car, brake failure and serious head injury in order
to make the path clear for Charles to marry,” it read.
The letter appears to be prophetic. And, indeed, it had a reason: when Diana wrote the
letter, she was encountering car troubles and had expressed concerns about them.
Some speculated that the crash was caused by MI6, the British Secret Intelligence
Service, stunning Diana's driver with a strobe light. The royal family allegedly wished to
dissuade Princess Diana from marrying her boyfriend, Fayed, the son of a renowned Egyptian
tycoon. Some speculate that Diana was even carrying Dodi Fayed's child, although hospital
reports showed no signs of pregnancy.
When it comes to who organized Diana and Dodi's assassination, conspiracy theories
point to the couple's driver, Henri Paul. He was the security manager of the Ritz Hotel, which
Fayed owns, and had worked for the family for a decade. According to the hypothesis, Paul was

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paid by MI6 to assassinate Diana and Fayed. Former MI6 officer Richard Tomlinson famously
testified that he saw Paul's file and confirmed that he was an informant.

CONCLUSIONS

To summarize, Princess Diana was a beautiful soul and a heroine. She is not an idol
simply because she is a member of the royal family; she is an idol because of her achievements.
She was a wonderful mother to her two sons, had a kind heart and wanted to help everyone. She
has done her best to accept the responsibilities that come with being a royal member while
making the world a more beautiful place. Despite her death, she will always be an example to
follow in terms of good manners. Diana was the epitome of compassion, duty, style, and beauty.
She was a symbol of selfless humanity all over the world. Someone with a natural nobility who
was classless and demonstrated that she didn't need a royal title to continue being a relevant
figure in people’s eyes.
Princess Diana was distinct from most rulers in that she used her royal status to benefit
ordinary people in the United Kingdom. She began by demonstrating that she was much more
than just another princess and that she did not exploit her position as a princess for personal gain.
When she discussed her depression, she showed that she was no different from anyone else.
Talking openly about her difficulties was only the beginning. Princess Diana was involved and
supported over a hundred different charities all over the world.
She left a huge emptiness when she died in questionable circumstances in Paris. Diana's
funeral, which was broadcast around the world, proved how incredibly moving she was as a
public figure. Many mourners followed her, inspired by her warmth, intelligence, grace, and
concern for humanity. Her death had such a far-reaching impact on not only England, but the
entire world, that one must acknowledge what a motivating icon she was and will continue to be.
In some ways, her death seems to inspire people even more than her work while she was alive.

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 Bibliography

The Diana Chronicles Paperback by Tina Brown

King Charles: The Man, the Monarch, and the Future of Britain by Robert Jobson
Diana: Her True Story - In Her Own Words by Andrew Morton
Diana: The Last Days by Martyn Gregory
TLC documentary Princess Diana: Tragedy or Treason
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/special/politics97/diana/ob-child.html
https://www.history.com/topics/british-history/princess-dianas-death
https://www.biography.com/royalty/princess-diana
https://www.royal.uk/diana-princess-wales
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Diana-princess-of-Wales
https://www.notablebiographies.com/De-Du/Diana-Princess-of-Wales.html
https://www.tatler.com/article/prince-charles-and-princess-diana-relationship
https://www.biography.com/news/princess-diana-prince-charles-relationship-timeline-
facts
https://www.tatler.com/article/prince-charles-and-princess-diana-relationship
https://www.historyextra.com/period/20th-century/prince-charles-camilla-history-
relationship-young-why-marry-diana-crown-netflix/
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/special/politics97/diana/panorama.html
https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/charles-and-diana-divorce
https://www.brides.com/prince-charles-camilla-parker-bowles-relationship-timeline-
5179379

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 https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/how-camillagate-tapes-exposed-secret-
10958350
https://www.history.com/topics/
british-history/princess-dianas-death
https://www.historic-
newspapers.co.uk/blog/princess-diana-
charity-work/
https://parade.com/1122095/
roisinkelly/what-was-princess-dianas-last-
words/
https://www.independent.co.uk/
news/uk/home-news/princess-diana-death-
conspiracy-theories-b1746545.html

ANEXA

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