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Biography of Diana, Princess of Wales

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Princess Diana (born Diana Frances Spencer; July 1, 1961–August 31, 1997) was the consort of Charles, Prince of Wales. She was the mother of Prince William, currently in line for the throne after his father, Diane's former husband, and of Prince Harry. Diana was also known for her charity work and her fashion image.

Fast Facts: Diana, Princess of Wales

• Known For: Diana became a member of the British royal family when she married Charles, Prince of Wales, in 1981.
• Also Known As: Diana Frances Spencer, Lady Di, Princess Diana
• Born: July 1, 1961 in Sandringham, England
• Parents: John Spencer and Frances Spencer
• Died: August 31, 1997 in Paris, France
• Spouse: Charles, Prince of Wales (m. 1981–1996)
• Children: Prince William (William Arthur Philip Louis), Prince Harry (Henry Charles Albert David)

Diana Frances Spencer was born on July 1, 1961, in Sandringham, England. Although she was a member of the British aristocracy, she was technically a commoner, not a royal. Diana's father was John Spencer, Viscount Althorp, a personal aide to King George VI and to Queen Elizabeth II . Her mother was the Honourable Frances Shand-Kydd.

Diana's parents divorced in 1969. Her mother ran away with a wealthy heir, and her father gained custody of the children. He later married Raine Legge, whose mother was Barbara Cartland, a romance novelist.

Diana grew up practically next door to Queen Elizabeth II and her family, at Park House, a mansion next to the Sandringham estate of the royal family. Prince Charles was 12 years older, but Prince Andrew was closer to her age and was a childhood playmate.

After Diana's parents divorced, her father gained custody of her and her siblings. Diana was educated at home until she was 9 and was then sent to Riddlesworth Hall and West Heath School. Diana did not get along well with her stepmother, nor did she do well in school. Instead, she found an interest in ballet and, according to some reports, Prince Charles, whose picture she had on the wall of her room at school. When Diana was 16, she met Prince Charles again. He had dated her older sister Sarah. She made some impression on him, but she was still too young for him to date. After she dropped out of West Heath School at 16, she attended a finishing school in Switzerland, Chateau d'Oex. She left after a few months.

After Diana left school, she moved to London and worked as a housekeeper, nanny, and kindergarten teacher's aide. She lived in a house purchased by her father and had three roommates. In 1980, Diana and Charles met again when she went to visit her sister, whose husband worked for the queen . They began to date, and six months later Charles proposed. The two were married on July 29, 1981, in a much-watched wedding that's been called the "wedding of the century." Diana was the first British citizen to marry the heir to the British throne in almost 300 years.

Diana immediately began making public appearances despite her reservations about being in the public eye. One of her first official visits was to the funeral of Princess Grace of Monaco. Diana soon became pregnant, giving birth to Prince William (William Arthur Philip Louis) on June 21, 1982, and then to Prince Harry (Henry Charles Albert David) on September 15, 1984.

Early in their marriage, Diana and Charles were publicly affectionate. By 1986, however, their time apart and coolness when together were obvious. The 1992 publication of Andrew Morton's biography of Diana revealed the story of Charles' long affair with Camilla Parker Bowles and alleged that Diana had made several suicide attempts. In February 1996, Diana announced that she had agreed to a divorce.

The divorce was finalized on August 28, 1996. Settlement terms reportedly included about $23 million for Diana plus $600,000 per year. She and Charles would both be active in their sons' lives. Diana continued to live at Kensington Palace and was permitted to retain the title Princess of Wales. At her divorce, she also gave up most of the charities she'd been working with, limiting herself to only a few causes: homelessness, AIDS, leprosy, and cancer.

In 1996, Diana became involved in a campaign to ban landmines. She visited several nations in her involvement with the anti-landmine campaign, an activity more political than the norm for the British royal family.

In early 1997, Diana was linked romantically with the 42-year-old playboy "Dodi" Fayed (Emad Mohammed al-Fayed). His father, Mohammed al-Fayed, owned Harrod's department store and the Ritz Hotel in Paris, among other properties.

On August 30, 1997, Diana and Fayed left the Ritz Hotel in Paris, accompanied in a car by a driver and Dodi's bodyguard. They were pursued by paparazzi. Just after midnight, the car spun out of control in a Paris tunnel and crashed. Fayed and the driver were killed instantly; Diana died later in a hospital despite efforts to save her. The bodyguard survived despite critical injuries.

The world quickly reacted. First came horror and shock. Blame was next, much of which was directed at the paparazzi who were following the princess's car and from whom the driver was apparently trying to escape. Later tests showed the driver had been well over the legal alcohol limit, but immediate blame was placed on the photographers and their seemingly incessant quest to capture images of Diana that could be sold to the press.

Then came an outpouring of sorrow and grief. The Spencers, Diana's family, established a charitable fund in her name, and within a week $150 million in donations had been raised. Princess Diana's funeral on September 6 drew worldwide attention. Millions turned out to line the path of the funeral procession.

In many ways, Diana and her life story paralleled much in popular culture. She was married near the beginning of the 1980s, and her fairy-tale wedding, complete with a glass coach and a dress that could not quite fit inside, was in sync with the ostentatious wealth and spending of the 1980s.

Her struggles with bulimia and depression shared so publicly in the press were also typical of the 1980s' focus on self-help and self-esteem. That she seemed to have finally begun to transcend many of her problems made her loss seem all the more tragic.

The 1980s realization of the AIDS crisis was one in which Diana played a significant part. Her willingness to touch and hug AIDS sufferers—at a time when many in the public wanted to quarantine those with the disease based on irrational and uneducated fears of easy communicability—helped change how AIDS patients were treated.

Today, Diana is still remembered as the "People's Princess," a woman of contradictions who was born into wealth yet seemed to have a "common touch"; a woman who struggled with her self-image yet was a fashion icon; a woman who sought attention but often stayed at hospitals and other charity sites long after the press had left. Her life has been the subject of numerous books and films, including "Diana: Her True Story," "Diana: Last Days of a Princess," and "Diana, 7 Days."

• Bumiller, Elisabeth, et al. “Death of Diana: Times Journalists Recall Night of the Crash.” The New York Times, 31 Aug. 2017.
• Clayton, Tim, and Phil Craig. "Diana: Story of a Princess." Atria Books, 2003.
• Lyall, Sarah. “Diana's Legacy: A Reshaped Monarchy, a More Emotional U.K.” The New York Times , 31 Aug. 2017.
• Morton, Andrew. "Diana: Her True Story - in Her Own Words." Michael O'Mara Books Limited, 2019.
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Princess Diana

• Born July 1 , 1961 · Park House, Sandringham, Norfolk, England, UK
• Died August 31 , 1997 · Paris, France (road accident)
• Birth name Diana Frances Spencer
• The People's Princess
• Princess Di
• The Queen of Hearts
• The Princess of Hearts
• England's Rose
• Height 5′ 10″ (1.78 m)
• Princess Diana was a member of the British royal family. She was the first wife of Charles, Prince of Wales, and the mother of Prince William and Prince Harry. Diana's activism and glamour made her an international icon and earned her an enduring popularity. Diana was born into the British nobility and grew up close to the royal family on their Sandringham estate. She did not distinguish herself academically, but was talented in music, dance, and sports. Diana came to prominence in 1981 upon her engagement to Prince Charles, the eldest son of Queen Elizabeth II, after a brief courtship. Their wedding took place at St Paul's Cathedral in 1981 and made her Princess of Wales, a role in which she was enthusiastically received by the public. The couple had two sons, the princes William and Harry, who were then second and third in the line of succession to the British throne. The couple separated in 1992, soon after the breakdown of their relationship became public knowledge. The details of their marital difficulties became increasingly publicized, and the marriage ended in divorce in 1996. As Princess of Wales, Diana undertook royal duties on behalf of the Queen and represented her at functions across the Commonwealth realms. She was celebrated in the media for her unconventional approach to charity work. Her patronages initially centered on children and youth but she later became known for her involvement with AIDS patients and campaign for the removal of landmines. She also raised awareness and advocated ways to help people affected with cancer and mental illness. Considered to be very photogenic, she was a leader of fashion in the 1980s and 1990s. Media attention and public mourning were extensive after her death in a car crash in a Paris tunnel in 1997 and televised funeral. Her legacy has had a deep impact on the royal family and British society. - IMDb Mini Biography By: Tango Papa
• Spouse King Charles III (July 29, 1981 - August 28, 1996) (divorced, 2 children)
• Children Prince Harry Prince William of Wales
• Parents Earl John Spencer Frances Shand Kydd
• Relatives Princess Charlotte of Wales (Grandchild) Prince Louis of Wales (Grandchild) Charles Spencer (Sibling) Sarah McCorquodale (Sibling) Jane Fellowes (Sibling) Prince George of Wales (Grandchild) Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor (Grandchild) Lilibet Diana Mountbatten-Windsor (Grandchild)
• Blonde hair, often short
• Statuesque, model-like figure
• Once referred to Queen Camilla as a rottweiler.
• Told an intimate friend that, while walking down the aisle in Saint Paul's Cathedral, she thought about turning back like "Elaine" did in The Graduate (1967) .
• She was a close friend of Michael Jackson and Elton John . "Candle in the Wind", John's song about Marilyn Monroe , was changed to fit her, and performed by him at her funeral. Coincidentally, both women died at age 36.
• When Diana went to the LA Fitness Centre in Isleworth, the owner Bryce Taylor planted a camera and caught her exercising in a leotard. The photos were sold for over £100,000 to The Mirror. They printed them saying they were exposing the lapse in royal security, but Diana didn't buy the explanation and took them to court. They reached an out-of-court settlement. This incident impelled Diana to withdraw from public life.
• Invited Supermodel Cindy Crawford to Buckingham Palace for dinner, when Prince William of Wales had a secret crush on the model.
• [interview in "Panorama" magazine, 1995] There were three of us in this marriage, so it was a bit crowded.
• Any sane person would have left long ago. But I cannot. I have my sons.
• I'd like to be a queen in people's hearts but I don't see myself being queen of this country.
• My role is about 80% slog and 20% fantastic.
• If I'm going to comfort the suffering, I have to understand what they've been through.

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Diana, princess of Wales

Introduction.

Charity Work

The princess was well known for her charity work. She helped children, the sick, the homeless, and disabled people. She also called for a worldwide ban on landmines (bombs buried on purpose in the ground), which kill and injure innocent people.

Diana, princess of Wales, died in a car crash in Paris, France, on August 31, 1997. She was buried at Althorp, the Spencer family home.

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Diana, princess of Wales: Facts & Related Content

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Did You Know?

• Princess Diana had claimed that she believed herself to be a target for assassination before the fatal car accident of 1997 took place.
• Despite after-the-fact rumours, Diana was not pregnant at the time of her death.
• In 1987 Diana was photographed at Middlesex Hospital shaking hands with an HIV-positive man, representing a big step forward in changing attitudes toward AIDS.

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Achievements of Princess Diana

Diana was a shy 20-year-old woman when she became engaged to Prince Charles and was thrust into the media spotlight. Through her marriage to Prince Charles, she joined one of the most famous families in the world and became an object of intense media interest. Diana’s personal difficulties are well documented. However, to appreciate the accomplishments of Princess Diana we should not focus on these human weakness, which without exception, are common to us all.

“Everyone needs to be valued. Everyone has the potential to give something back if only they had the chance.”

– Princess Diana

At times Princess Diana resented the intrusion of the media into her private life. But at other times, she realised the importance of the media in highlighting important social issues. Diana played a significant role in de-stigmatising people who were HIV positive. At the time there was a lot of fear that HIV could be passed on through touch alone. Princess Diana allayed many of these prejudices by being photographed embracing people who had the disease. Another campaign which Diana thought incredibly important was the campaign to ban landmines. She supported a ban on landmines because they are responsible for so many post-conflict deaths and injuries. Often it is young children who are most affected by the legacy of landmines. Princess Diana was the most high profile figure to support the ban on landmines. Pictures of her walking through an old landmine site in Angola were displayed around the world. Her role is thought by many to be crucial in the passing of the Ottawa treaty banning the use of landmines.

Princess Diana was a unique royal; by engaging in her charity work on a deeply personal level she became a real “people’s princess”. People from around the world could identify with her. In particular they appreciated her heart-centred approach to life. She was not just appreciated in her home country the UK, but around the world. She captured the heart of America and received much support and encouragement even from American newspapers.

“After giving her time and property to charities and causes ranging from the treatment of AIDS to the abolition of landmines, her destiny is clear. She will never be the queen of England, but she will be the queen of our hearts.”

– Newsday, July 7th, 1997

Spiritual Teacher Sri Chinmoy wrote:

“Princess Diana Yours is a temple-heart of sympathy, Self giving and oneness delight”

Citation:  Pettinger, Tejvan . “Achievements of Princess Diana”, Oxford,  www.biographyonline.net  23rd May, 2010 Updated 3rd October 2017

Diana: Princess of Wales by Mario Testino

Diana: Princess of Wales by Mario Testino at Amazon.

Princess Diana: Her Life Story, 1961-1997

Princess Diana: Her Life Story, 1961-1997 at Amazon

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A look back at the life of Princess Diana

Born July 1, 1961, Diana Spencer was the daughter of Edward John Spencer and Frances Ruth Burke Roche. As a child, she was shy but developed a love of music and dance, according to Biography.com .

She had an aristocratic upbringing, becoming Lady Diana after her father inherited the title of Earl Spencer in 1975. It's believed she even played with Prince Andrew and Prince Edward as a child.

In 1977, she became acquainted with Prince Charles, the heir to the British throne, who was 13 years older than her. Soon after, she finished school, moved to London and became a kindergarten teacher. Throughout the late 1970s, Charles' courtship of Diana was of huge public interest and extensively documented by the media.

When the two were married on July 29, 1981, it was dubbed the "wedding of the century." An estimated 750 million viewers all over the world tuned into the ceremony on television.

Diana and Charles had two children. Prince William, born in 1982, is second-in-line to the throne. Prince Harry was born in 1984. Though Diana and Charles divorced in 1996, she continued to be considered a member of the royal family, according to her Buckingham Palace biography .

The princess was a fashion and glamour icon, but she also became known for her worldwide philanthropy efforts. She championed causes including homelessness, disabilities, HIV/AIDS, the welfare of children and opposition to the use of land mines. During the final month of her life, she was doing charity work, visiting land mines in Bosnia.

Her personal life also continued to be in the public spotlight, including her romance with Egyptian film producer Dodi Al-Fayed. The couple was visiting Paris on the night of August 31, 1997 when their car was pursued by the paparazzi, resulting in a high-speed crash. Al-Fayed and the driver, who was found to have a high level of alcohol in his system, were killed, and Princess Diana died later from her injuries. She was 36.

As the news spread, flowers piled up outside of Buckingham Palace. The world mourned for the princess, with 2.5 billion people watching her funeral on television.

Within days, supporters established the Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fund . Over the years it has raised more than $179 million for the causes that Diana loved.

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Short Bio » Royal Family » Princess Diana

Princess Diana

Diana, Princess of Wales  was the first wife of Charles, Prince of Wales, who is the eldest child and heir apparent of Queen Elizabeth II. She was the fourth child and third daughter of John Spencer, Viscount Althorp and the Honourable Frances Roche. In 1975, after her father inherited the title of Earl Spencer, she became Lady Diana Spencer. Her wedding to the Prince of Wales on 29 July 1981, held at St Paul’s Cathedral, reached a global television audience of over 750 million people. While married, Diana bore the titles Princess of Wales, Duchess of Cornwall, Duchess of Rothesay, Countess of Chester, and Baroness of Renfrew.

As Princess of Wales, Diana undertook royal duties on behalf of the Queen and represented her at functions overseas. She was involved with dozens of charities including London’s Great Ormond Street Hospital for children, of which she was president from 1989. She was celebrated for her charity work and for her support of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines. The marriage produced two sons, the princes William and Harry, who were then respectively second and third in the line of succession to the British throne.

Diana remained the object of worldwide media scrutiny during and after her marriage, which ended in divorce on 28 August 1996. Media attention and public mourning were extensive after her death in a car crash in Paris on 31 August 1997 and subsequent televised funeral.

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The Final Years of Princess Diana

Before her untimely death in 1997, the People's Princess was determined to forge her own path.

Diana's marriage to Charles dissolved

On December 9, 1992, Prime Minister John Major announced to the House of Commons that Charles and Diana had separated. It wasn't a big surprise: estrangement between the two had been evident, and a recent book by Andrew Morton, entitled Diana: Her True Story , had detailed her unhappiness (Diana denied involvement with the book but had in fact cooperated).

Yet the separation placed Diana in an awkward position, as it was Charles who had the defined role as heir to the throne. Though she remained extremely popular, and she'd always be the mother of a future king, she was no longer considered a true member of the royal family.

She was on a quest for normality

In 1993, Diana successfully headed a Remembrance Day service in Northern Ireland, among other duties. But she also remained an object of tabloid fascination — in November, photos taken of her exercising in a leotard appeared in the Daily Mirror . On December 3, she announced she was temporarily stepping away from public life and its "overwhelming" media attention.

Soon afterward, wanting more privacy and normality in her life, Diana also relinquished her police protection. From 1994 onward, she usually had no official bodyguard. Paparazzi, who loved the fact that Diana was unguarded, began to take more and more photos — a practice that continued right up to the night of her death.

As Charles' camp tried to boost his reputation, Diana was seen as emotionally volatile

Today Diana's reputation shines, but critical stories often appeared about her. In 1994, the press stated she'd been making nuisance phone calls to the home of a married man. And the publication of Princess in Love revealed details about Diana's affair with army officer James Hewitt.

People in her husband's camp were also determined to bolster Charles' reputation, making him the subject of a positive biography and documentary to celebrate his 25th anniversary as Prince of Wales in 1994 (though an on-camera admission of adultery didn't help the prince). For some, Diana and Charles were a zero-sum game: Diana had to be seen as emotionally volatile in order to explain Charles' actions. All this made Diana determined to reveal her side of things once more.

She did a secret TV interview to tell her truth

Many friends cautioned Diana not to get on the wrong side of the royal family, and the princess knew the establishment wouldn't approve of an on-camera interview. But she struck a deal with BBC's Panorama, and on November 5, 1995, interviewer Martin Bashir and crew came to Kensington Palace to talk to Diana (she'd given her staff time off to maintain secrecy). She didn't tell Buckingham Palace what she'd done until less than a week before the interview was scheduled to air.

On November 20, the program was seen by 23 million people in Britain. In it, Diana talked about her marriage, infidelity, bulimia and depression, and stated, "I'd like to be a queen of people's hearts, in people's hearts, but I don't see myself being Queen of this country." She also questioned Charles's ability to rule. The interview did boost the princess's popularity, but it also precipitated a final exit from the royal roost.

READ MORE: Was Princess Diana a Commoner Before Marrying Prince Charles?

Diana and Charles officially divorced just one year before her death

In December 1995, the Queen wrote to Charles and Diana to say it would be better if they divorced. The pair agreed to do so in February 1996, and their marriage officially ended on August 28, 1996.

Diana ended up receiving a lump sum payment of £17 million and shared custody of Princes William and Harry . However, though she would still be known as the Princess of Wales, she no longer had the title "Her Royal Highness." She'd been fully kicked out of the royal family.

READ MORE: How Princes William and Harry Are Carrying out Princess Diana's Legacy

She found love again

While her divorce was happening, Diana had a bright spot in her life: She'd fallen in love again. In 1995, she met Dr. Hasnat Khan, a cardiac surgeon who was tending to the husband of a friend. Through him, Diana experienced some of the normality she'd always craved — she got to order drinks at a pub and stand in a line. According to one friend, the princess noted, "You meet such interesting people queuing!"

Diana may even have hoped to marry Khan. She traveled to Pakistan to meet his family and saw them when they visited England. But her lover was devoted to his medical career, and the spotlight that came with Diana would be a huge burden. The relationship ended in the summer of 1997.

About two months after their split, Diana began dating Dodi Fayed , who was also involved in the car crash that took their lives.

READ MORE: Why Princess Diana Risked Her Life for Humanitarian Causes in Africa

Diana devoted her time to support worthwhile causes

Diana continued to support humanitarian causes following her divorce. In January 1997, she traveled to Angola with a BBC film crew to bring attention to the problem of landmines, which remained across the country following a civil war.

During her trip, Diana spent time with landmine victims and visited a prosthesis clinic. She also walked across a cleared minefield (still a dangerous decision, as mines could have been left behind). And when photographers complained they didn't have the shots they needed, she walked through the field again.

Diana's celebrity brought attention to an important cause. After she died, 122 governments signed the Ottawa Mine Ban Treaty in December 1997. The impact of just one trip highlights again what a tragedy her early death was, and how much more she could have done for the world.

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Princess Diana

• Occupation: Princess
• Born: July 1, 1961 in Norfolk, England
• Died: August 31, 1997 in Paris, France
• Best known for: Becoming Princess of Wales when she married Prince Charles
• Nickname: Lady Di

• Diana's parents were married at Westminster Abbey. The queen attended their wedding.
• While a child she visited the nearby home of the royal family and played with the younger princes, Andrew and Edward.
• Prince Charles was thirteen years older than Lady Diana.
• She did not like people to call her "Di" even though she was often called "Lady Di", "Shy Di", or "Princess Di."
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• Princess Diana Biography

Who is Princess Diana?

After Princess Diana's father obtained the title of Earl Spencer in 1975, she was named Lady Diana Spencer. On July 29, 1981, she married Prince Charles, the heir to the British monarchy. In 1996, they divorced after having two boys. Diana died in an automobile accident in Paris on August 31, 1997, princess diana age was 36 at the time.. Because of her broad popularity and global humanitarian endeavours, she is known as the "People's Princess."

Princess Diana Information

Full Name: Diana Frances Spencer; 

Born: 1 July 1961

Died : 31 August 1997 (aged 36); Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital

Burial: 6 September 1997

Spouse: Charles, Prince of Wales

House: Spencer (by birth); Windsor (by marriage)

Father: John Spencer, 8th Earl Spencer

Mother: Frances Roche

Childhood and Teenage Years

Diana has been raised at Park House, a leased property on Queen Elizabeth II's Sandringham estate wherein she played with the queen's younger sons, Prince Andrew and Prince Edward, as a kid. Edward John Spencer, Viscount Althorp, heir to the 7th Earl Spencer, and his first wife, Frances Ruth Burke Roche, had three children, the youngest of whom was her. Diana, together with her brother and two sisters, lived with her father after her parents' tumultuous marriage ended in divorce, when she was a youngster. When her father was given the earldom in 1975, she became Lady Diana Spencer. Diana received her education at Riddlesworth Hall (near Thetford, Norfolk) and West Heath School (Sevenoaks, Kent). Diana traveled to England after attending the Chateau d'Oex finishing school in Montreux, Switzerland, and worked as a kindergarten assistant at the famous Young England school which was located in Pimlico.

Marriage and Divorce

In 1980, she reestablished touch with the royal family, and her connection with Prince Charles (princess diana husband) developed. Their engagement was announced on February 24, 1981, and her beauty and modest demeanor—which gave her the nickname "Shy Di"—made her an instant media and popular sensation. On July 29, 1981, the pair married in St. Paul's Cathedral in front of hundreds of millions of people in a worldwide televised event. Prince William Arthur Philip Louis of Wales, their first child, born on 21 June 1982, and Prince Henry ("Harry") Charles Albert David, on 15 September 1984.

“Princess Di” quickly became a symbol of grace, elegance, and glitz. She exploited her celebrity profile to support a variety of charity causes, and her ever-changing haircuts and attire made her a fashion trailblazer. However, behind the scenes, the princess and prince were having marital problems. Diana suffered from severe postpartum depression, poor self-esteem, disordered eating, and the stress of being followed by both the official media and the tabloid press, especially the paparazzi, at all times.

The pair officially separated in 1992 after mutual recriminations, tell-all biographies, and confessions of infidelity from both sides revealed the marital breakdown. Diana gave her version of the storey in Andrew Morton's tumultuous book Diana: Her True Story (1992), as well as in an unusually honest televised interview in 1995. The couple's divorce was finalised on August 28, 1996, after lengthy talks that resulted in Diana receiving a considerable cash settlement but not the title of Her Royal Highness.

Personal Life after Divorce

Diana leased the double apartment on the north side of Kensington Palace which she had shared with Charles during their first year of marriage after their divorce in 1996; the property stayed her home till her death the following year. She also relocated her offices to Kensington Palace, however she was allowed to "use the state apartments in St James's Palace." Paul Burrell stated that Diana's confidential letters indicated that her brother, Lord Spencer, had declined to let her dwell at Althorp against her demand in a book published in 2003.

She has also been provided a stipend to manage her private office, that was in charge of her charity work and royal duties, but she has been obligated to pay her bills and "any expenditure" spent by her or on her account beginning in September 1996.

Diana dated Hasnat Khan, a British-Pakistani cardiac surgeon who has been dubbed "the love of her life" by several of her best mates after her death, and who she is reported to have praised as "Mr Wonderful" by her friends. Diana toured Lahore in May 1996 at the call of Imran Khan, a relative of Hasnat Khan, and paid a secret visit to the latter's family.

“The People’s Princess” and Charity Work

Diana retained her prominent public presence after the divorce and maintained numerous of the activities she had previously undertaken in service of charities, including the children's issues, arts, and AIDS victims. She has also been involved in the campaign to ban landmines. Diana took her sons to hospitals, orphanages and homeless shelters to guarantee that they had "a knowledge of people's feelings, their uncertainties, people's anguish, and their hopes and dreams." She drove them to fast food restaurants and public transportation to familiarise them with life outside of royal luxury. She was dubbed "the People's Princess" for her compassion, humility, personal warmth, and accessibility.

Death and Funeral

Diana's remarkable popularity in the United Kingdom and worldwide remained after her divorce, making her among the most photographed women around the world. The media (particularly the paparazzi) have often been invasive, despite the fact that she was using her popularity to great use in promoting her philanthropic efforts. 

Diana and Dodi Fayed were engaged in a car accident while visiting Paris on August 31, 1997, after attempting to flee the paparazzi. At the scene, both Fayed and the driver have been declared dead. Diana withstood the incident at first, but perished to her injuries several hours later in a Paris hospital. She was 36 years old at the time. 

The world was shocked to learn of her untimely passing. On September 5, Queen Elizabeth II, who had been chastised for not publicly addressing Diana's death, delivered a broadcast address from Buckingham Palace, in which she said: "No one who knew Diana will ever forget her." Millions of people will remember her, even if they never met her. I assume there are lessons to be learned from both her life and the exceptional and moving response to her death. I appreciate your desire to keep her memory alive.

The driver was found to be responsible for driving at a fast speed and being under the influence of drugs or alcohol and antidepressant medicines, according to a report published in 1999 following an investigation into Diana's deadly vehicle accident. Many photographers who were once accused of triggering the crash have had their charges dropped. Despite the report, suspicions regarding alternate causes for the disaster remained for years. One conspiracy theory claimed it was part of a royal family-planned assassination, but no further evidence was found to corroborate that idea.

Funeral and Gravesite

Diana's burial procession began at Kensington Palace on September 6th, with her casket laying on a gun carriage drawn by six black horses. Thousands of mourners lined the streets to witness, with William, 15, and Harry, 12, attending the final length of their mother's four-mile procession. The event at Westminster Abbey, which had a passionate eulogy from Diana's brother, Earl Charles Spencer, and a performance by Elton John, was watched by an estimated 2.5 billion people on television.

Diana's remains were laid to rest at her family's estate, Althorp, on a tiny island.

Memorials and Charities:

William and Harry (princess diana children) paid tribute to their loving mother, queen diana, with a magnificent concert on what would have been her 46th birthday in 2007, a little before the 10th anniversary of her death. The event's proceeds went to charity that Diana and her sons promote.

Princess Charlotte Elizabeth Diana, William and Kate Middleton's second child, was born on May 2, 2015, and was named in honour of Diana.

Following her death, the Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fund was established to give funding for palliative care, criminal justice reform, asylum, and other causes. The fund became part of The Royal Foundation of The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Prince Harry in 2013.

FAQs on Princess Diana Biography

Q1. When Did Diana Princess's Parents Get Divorced?

Ans. Princess Diana's parents were divorced when she was 7 years old.

Q2. What was Diana Fever?

Ans. Princess Diana rapidly rose to prominence as one of the most popular royals in modern history, resulting in a worldwide phenomenon known as "Diana fever."

Q3. What all were the Mental Issues that Diana, Princess of Wales Experienced?

Ans. Diana talked regarding her mental health and issue with bulimia as a consequence of her troubled marriage and problematic relationship with the press, who would make judgments on her looks, in Andrew Morton's book "Diana: Her True Story."

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Princess Diana 'Wished People Could See Love Letters' from King Charles in Happy Times, Biographer Says

"There was a period of great love between them," says Ingrid Seward

Janine Henni is a Royals Staff Writer for PEOPLE Digital, covering modern monarchies and the world's most famous families. Like Queen Elizabeth, she loves horses and a great tiara moment.

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Princess Diana hoped the world would know about the love that the future King Charles sent her through letters, a royal biographer claims.

Though Diana and Charles' relationship ended in divorce in 1996, the late Princess of Wales wanted the public to see the love letters that the future monarch sent early in their romance so people would know that their affection had been genuine, The Times reported on July 23.

"Diana told me very shortly before she died that she wished people could see the love letters that she had from Charles," royal biographer Ingrid Seward said at an Oldie magazine lunch, according to the outlet. 

"She really wanted people to know that she loved Charles and he loved her. And I always remembered that. And she wanted the boys [ Prince William and Prince Harry ] to know that," she continued. "There was a period of great love between them."

Terry Fincher/Princess Diana Archive/Getty

Seward said that Princess Diana expressed the sentiment about the correspondence from the then-Prince Charles just a few weeks before she died following a car accident in Paris in 1997. Though Diana was then dating Dodi Fayed , who also died in the accident, the royal commentator claimed that she wanted "the early days of her romance with the heir to the throne to be properly reflected," The Times reported.

It remains unclear which years the late Princess of Wales received the love letters that she was referencing. Diana and Charles married in 1981 following a short courtship (she said they only met 13 times before he proposed) and went on to welcome Prince William in 1982 and Prince Harry in 1984. 

Princess Diana reportedly told Andrew Morton , journalist and author of Diana: Her True Story , that she and the future King Charles "were very, very close to each other the six weeks before Harry was born, the closest we’ve ever, ever been and ever will be," referring to the late summer of 1984.

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Retired British Army captain James Hewitt also claimed to have begun an affair with Diana around 1986, which he said lasted for the next five years. In a 1994 ITV interview with biographer Jonathan Dimbleby, the future King Charles said that he was faithful to his wife, "Until it became irretrievably broken down, us both having tried," The New York Times reported. 

By the time she sat for an interview with the BBC's Panorama in 1995, however, Diana shared a harsher side of the story. A breakout revelation was her comment on the disintegration of her marriage to Prince Charles when she famously said, "There were three of us in this marriage, so it was a bit crowded," referring to his extramarital affair with the future Queen Camilla .

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Today, the whereabouts of the alleged love letters are unclear. Interest in the "People's Princess," as then-Prime Minister Tony Blair famously memorialized Diana following her untimely death at age 36, remains sky-high.

Some of her intimate letters to friends during her divorce from then-Prince Charles sold at auction last year for just under $170,000.

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