Princess Diana

Diana Princess of Wales was the first wife of Charles, Prince of Wales and is mother of the Princes William and Harry. She worked avidly for Aids charities and landmine victims until she died tragically in a car crash in Paris in 1997.

Lady Diana Spencer was born on the 1st July 1961; the Spencer family had been linked to the Royal Family for decades. She had an uneventful education at an all girls’ school where she failed all her exams. At the age of 19, while working as a Children’s Nursery assistant in London, she was selected as a potential bride of Prince Charles the future king of England. Given that Charles had once dated her elder sister, the selection seems somewhat strange, especially considering it was apparently aided by the woman who was to become the Prince’s second wife, Camilla Parker Bowles. But Diana fitted the perfect model for the future Queen, someone of aristocratic blood, a Protestant and a virgin.

Charles and Diana announced their engagement in February 1981 and their wedding took place on 29th July that’s year at St Paul’s Cathedral. It was dubbed the wedding of the century and was watched on television by an estimated billion viewers around the world. Upon marrying the Prince of Wales, Diana took up the title, HRH Princess of Wales and the couple had two sons, Prince William, born in 1982 and Prince Henry (popularly known as Harry), born in 1984.

But the fairytale wedding turned out to be a sham, by the mid 1980s the marriage was one the rocks amid rumours of extra marital affairs by both parties. The couple officially separated in 1992 and were divorced in 1996. By this time Diana, Princess of Wales was involved with Dodi Fayed, son of the wealthy tycoon and owner of Harrods, Mohammad Al Fayed.

It was while she was with Dodi Fayed in Paris on 31st August 1997, that Diana met her tragic death, after the car they were travelling in span out of control, after being chased by paparazzi photographers and crashed in the Pont de l’Alma tunnel. Like the death of President Kennedy, Diana’s death is something of a historic milestone and similarly is shrouded in conspiracy.

In Britain and throughout the world, news of Diana’s death was met with a huge out-pouring of public grief. The gates of Diana’s home in London, Kensington Palace were awash with flowers from well wishers and an estimated 3 million people lined the streets of London, following her funeral cortege. Diana is buried at the Spencer family home in Althorp, Northamptonshire.

During her lifetime, Diana had done much to publicise campaigns for Aids charities and to end the use of Landmines, she is remembered by many in Britain as the Princess of hearts.