By Maria Papagiannopoulou
Diana, Princess of Wales, also known as Diana Frances Spencer, was one of the biggest stars of her era. She was born on July 1, 1961, in Sandringham, Norfolk, England, and passed away on August 31, 1997, in Paris, France. Diana was also the mother of Prince William, Duke of Cambridge, who is the heir apparent to the British throne and was born in 1982.
Diana was born at Park House, the residence her parents rented on Queen Elizabeth II’s Sandringham estate and where Diana’s toddler playmates included Prince Andrew and Prince Edward, the queen’s younger sons. She was the youngest daughter and third child of Frances Ruth Burke Roche and Edward John Spencer, Viscount Althorp, 7th Earl Spencer’s heir (daughter of the 4th Baron Fermoy). When Diana was a little child, her parents’ tumultuous marriage ended in divorce; she, along with her brother and two sisters, stayed with her father. When her father assumed the earldom in 1975, she was given the title Lady Diana Spencer. The young Diana received her education at Riddlesworth Hall (located close to Thetford, Norfolk) and West Heath School (located in Sevenoaks, Kent).
Diana returned to England and took a position as a kindergarten assistant at the upscale Young England school in Pimlico after graduating from the Chateau d’Oex finishing school in Montreux, Switzerland.
In 1980, she reestablished touch with the royal family and deepened her acquaintance with Prince Charles. When their engagement was announced on February 24, 1981, her beauty and bashful nature — which gave her the moniker “Shy Di” — made her an instant sensation with the press and the general public. On July 29, 1981, the pair wed at St. Paul’s Cathedral in a ceremony that was broadcast worldwide and viewed by hundreds of millions of people. Prince William Arthur Philip Louis of Wales, their first child, was born on June 21, 1982, and Prince Henry (“Harry”) Charles Albert David, their second child, was born on September 15, 1984.
“Princess Di” quickly became a symbol of charm, refinement, and glamour. She had natural charm and charisma, used her famous status to support a number of humanitarian causes, and set fashion trends with her ever-changing haircuts and outfit choices. The princess and prince, though, were having increasing marital issues behind the scenes. Diana suffered from severe postpartum depression, low self-esteem, eating disorders, and the growing stress of being relentlessly chased by both the tabloid press, particularly the paparazzi, and the official media royal-watchers. The pair formally separated in 1992 when the marriage started to fall apart amid accusations from both partners, tell-all memoirs, and admissions of infidelity.
Diana gave her perspective in the contentious book Diana: Her True Story by Andrew Morton (1992), as well as in a shockingly open televised appearance in 1995. The couple’s divorce was finalized on August 28, 1996, following protracted talks that resulted in Diana receiving a sizable cash settlement but losing the title of Her Royal Highness.
Diana continued many of the charitable endeavors she had started before the divorce and kept up her prominent public image, supporting causes including the arts, children’s issues, and AIDS sufferers. She participated in campaigns to outlaw land mines as well. Diana took her sons to hospitals, homeless shelters, and orphanages so that they might gain “knowledge of people’s feelings, their uncertainties, people’s anguish, and their hopes and dreams”. She took them to fast food joints and on public transportation so they could get familiar with life outside of the realm of royal privilege. She gained the moniker “the People’s Princess” thanks to her kindness, humility, and accessibility.
Diana was one of the most photographed people in history, and even after her divorce, her fame continued to soar both domestically and internationally. Although she effectively promoted her humanitarian endeavors using her celebrity, the media, particularly the paparazzi, were frequently invasive. Diana, Dodi Fayed, and their driver, Henri Paul, were all murdered in a car accident in a tunnel beneath the streets of Paris in 1997, while attempting to elude chasing media.
Although the photographers were initially held responsible for the collision, a French judge exonerated them of any wrongdoing in 1999 and placed the blame on Paul, who was discovered to have been under the influence of prescription drugs that are incompatible with alcohol at the time of the collision and to have a blood alcohol level above the legal limit. A Scotland Yard investigation into the event in 2006 came to the same conclusion that the driver was at fault. However, a British inquest jury found both the driver and the paparazzi guilty of unlawful killing by severely negligent driving in April 2008; the jury, contrary to Fayed’s father’s long-standing claims, found no proof of a conspiracy to kill Diana or Fayed.
She had a profound impact on the British national psyche, as seen by the unprecedented public outpouring of grief that followed her passing. The royal family broke with precedent by planning the globally televised royal funeral, seemingly taken aback by the overwhelming outpouring of sadness and by criticism of their emotional reserve. The picture of Prince William, then 15, and Prince Harry, then 12, walking gravely behind Diana’s coffin in her burial cortege with their father became recognizable. At Diana’s funeral, Sir Elton John sang a rendition of his well-known song “Candle in the Wind” with lyrics changed by his songwriting partner, Bernie Taupin, to reflect on Diana’s life and death, featuring Elton John performing at the funeral.
References
- Biography of Diana, Princess of Wales, britannica.com, Available here
- Diana, Princess of Wales, wikipedia.org, Available here
