Research and Recording done by Lauren DeGalan

Diana Spencer - Princess of Wales

Not Your History Class Podcast Transcript

Diana Frances Spencer was born on July 1st 1961 in Sandringham, Norfolk England.
She was born at Park House, which was a home that Diana ’s parents rented from Queen
Elizabeth II on her estate. Her parents were Edward John Spencer, Viscount Althorp, heir to
the 7th Earl Spencer, and his first wife, Frances Ruth Burke Roche, Viscountess Althorp, later
known as Honorable Frances Shand Kydd, who was the daughter of the 4th Baron of
Fermoy.

Viscount Althorp worked as an Equerry to George VI in the early 1950’s then 1952 to
1954 he worked for the Queen. An Equerry have two different meanings, one is an officer
of the British royal household that helps and attends members of the royal family. The
other definition is that it is an officer of the royal household that is in charge of the stables.

Unfortunately the relationship between Edward and Frances didn’t last long and
they divorced when Diana was a child, when her mother had unexpectedly packed up and
left Diana’s father for Peter Shand Kydd, an Australian wallpaper tycoon. Edward won
custody of his children, which consisted of Diana and her two sisters, Sarah McCorquodale
who was born in 1955 and her other sister Jane Fellowes who was born in 1957 and as well
as their younger brother, Charles Spencer, born in 1964, the godson of Queen Elizabeth the
2nd. There was also a fifth child that had been born named John but had died as an infant,
leaving Diana’s mother devastated. Of their father, one of the children stated that he was
quiet but full of love, where as their mother was just simply not a maternal woman and was
not made to be a mother.

When Frances, her mother was packing up to lea ve, she told Diana that she would
come back. Diana’s brother Charles said that Frances promised she would come back and
often Diana would wait on the doorstep for her, but their mother never returned, this had
an incredible impact on Diana as she had felt abandoned by her mom.

However, there is a little bit of a more complicated backstory to that, according to

The Diana Chronicles, by Tina Brown, Frances had been shut out of the children’s lives. They
saw her every Saturday and each time they had to part ways, Diana would cry to her mother
that she wish she could stay and that she could see her tomorrow. Charles Spencer stated
that Diana was like a mother figure to him, he described her as “the big sister who
mothered me as a baby… and endured those long train journeys between our parents’
homes with me at weekends.”

Frances settled with her husband on a Scottish island off the coast of Oban and she
opened a gift shop there. Diana did apparently not get along with her stepmother, Raine
Legge, Countess of Dartmouth in 1976, the daughter of Barbara Cartland, a romance
novelist. The children allegedly were not even aware that their father, Edward had gotten
married, nor had they even been invited.
Research and Recording done by Lauren DeGalan

Edward later succeeded to Earldom in 1975 after his fathe r Albert passed away, and
he was given the title of 7th Earl Spencer and she became Lady Diana. While Diana was
living on the Sandringham estate, her playmates became Prince Andrew and Prince Edward,
the younger sons of the queen. The family later moved to the Spencer seat at Althorp built
in 1508 that was located in Northamptonshire, in English Midlands.

Of Diana’s childhood, her nanny, Mary Clarke said “Diana had a happy secure
childhood. From the moment I met her and worked with the family, I saw she was helpful,
laughing, exuberant, loved by both her parents, and the apple of her father’s eye.”

Diana attended schooling at Riddlesworth Hall near Thetford Norfolk and West
Heath School near Sevenoaks, Kent, where she showed an interest in music as an
accomplished pianist she was also into ballet dancing, fashion and popular culture.
However, at 5ft 10in, she had a hard time pursuing a ballet career. She loved the dance so
much that at one point she reached out to the Vacani Dance School to train as a teacher.
According to Madame Vacani in the book The Real Diana, "She went skiing and never came
back. I think that she felt that the training —three years and until 6:30 in the evening —
would be too all-embracing. She never gave a reason for not returning,"

In school, she was given the award for most helpful girl at her school. Unfortunately,
Diana was not a great student and she had below average grades, even failing her O -Level
exams twice. For those of us that are not in England, an O -Level is essentially to determine
if someone is ready for their A-Levels, which are advanced courses.

She then later went on to finishing school, I’ve found different sources, some that
say she went to school at the Chateau D’Oex in Montreux, Switzerland and some that say
that she went to The Institut Alpin Videmanette in Roguemont, Switzerland. At the time,
Prince Charles was dating Diana’s sister, Sarah. Of the union, Sarah stated in the tabloids
that "I wouldn't marry anyone I didn't love — whether it was the dustman or the King of
England. If he asked me I would turn him down. He doesn't want to marry anyway. He's no t
ready for marriage yet." Afterward, Diana returned back home to England and started to
work at Young England school in Pimlico as a kindergarten assistant, as she had a lot of
fondness for children.

These little odd jobs, such as cleaning her sister’s house and serving appetizers at
parties were considered to be a normal part of the life of a “Sloane Ranger” which was the
term for Diana’s clique of wealthy young individuals. Tina Brown stated that "Slumming it
was part of the inverted cachet of the Sloane Ranger world, since it also announced that you
didn't depend on your job for either money or status." She was described as a sort of trust -
fund Cinderella. Diana later worked for Mary Robertson, an American businesswoman who
hired Diana to watch her s on. They had a great friendship and Mary later said that Diana
held Prince Charles in regard to the romanticized version she had of himself, rather than the
way that he actually was as a man.

Prince Charles’ love life had been under scrutiny by the pres s, because he had been
linked to various women. There was becoming a pressure for him to get married, and at the
Research and Recording done by Lauren DeGalan

time, in order to gain approval from the royal family and advisors, they needed to find a
bride that had aristocratic blood, could not have be en previously married, should be
Protestant in faith, at the time it was a legal requirement that the princess could not be
Catholic. They also wanted her to be preferably be a virgin and Diana fit this mold. It was
also important to the royal family that Lord Louis “Dickie” Mountbatten of Burma, Charles
great-uncle, approved of this marriage. Lord Mountbatten had wanted Charles to marry his
granddaughter, Amanda Knatchbull. Charles had proposed to her in 1979 but she turned
him down, as the royal life held little appeal to her. Davina Sheffield, another girlfriend of
Charles, was also considered for his bride, but it was later broken off after an ex -boyfriend
of hers revealed that they lived together. Charles also pursued Anna Wallace, a Scottish
heiress, but like behaviors that will repeat in the future, she broke it off due to him spending
too much time with Camilla Parker Bowles.

It was difficult for Charles to find a suitable bride, of the women he dated, one ex -
girlfriend said that the press had "broke into my house, left notes, followed me everywhere.
It was definitely a deterrent." Any woman that married Charles would have to take on a
great deal of scrutiny from the press. In 1976 he said "You see, every time a girl tells me
that she loves me, I have to ask myself whether she really loves me or just wants to be
queen. And whoever I choose is going to have a jolly hard job, always in my shadow, having
to walk a few steps behind me, all that sort of thing."

Unfortunately in 1979, Lord Mountbatten had been killed by an IRA bomb. Diana
said to Prince Charles "You looked so sad when you walked up the aisle at Lord
Mountbatten's funeral. It was the most tragic thing I've ever seen. My heart bled for you
when I watched. I thought, 'It's wrong, you're l onely, you should be with somebody to look
after you.'" This empathy appealed to Charles.

In September 1980, there was a picture taken of Diana at the kindergarten where
she worked. In this iconic photo, the light is shining through her skirt and illumi nated her
legs, which captured the public’s attention. Charles even reportedly tells her "I knew your
legs were good but I didn't realize they were that spectacular." In January 1981, Prince
Philip, Charles dad, writes a letter to Charles and asks him to either marry Diana or let her
go, in order to protect her reputation. Charles viewed this as an order from his father and
on February 6th, 1981 he asked her to marry him.

There is speculation that Camilla Parker Bowles, who later became Charles’ second
wife, had helped him pick out Diana as someone he could potentially marry, as she felt that
she would not interfere with her relationship with Charles. Previously Camilla had been
dismissed as a potential spouse for Charles as she had no aristocratic line age and previous
sexual experience, she was also 16 months Charles’ senior. Camilla was actually married at
the time that Diana married Charles.

At this point, I think that it is vital to talk about the relationship that Charles had with
Camilla. Camilla was from an upper class background, she had a grandfather that was a
baron. However, she did not have high aristocratic pedigrees, as much as the royal house
would have wanted for Charles to marry. Camilla did not have a title, but she had a link to
Research and Recording done by Lauren DeGalan

royalty. Her great-grandmother Alice Keppel was a mistress of Edward VII, who was Charles’
great grandfather. The issue that the royal family faced with Camilla was that she was too
“experienced”, in that too many of her relationships were in the public ey e and Camilla
couldn’t be considered “pure.”

Lord Mountbatten was a huge aspect of Camilla and Charles not being together and
he wrote a letter to Charles in 1974 that said "I think it is disturbing for women to have
experiences if they have to remain on a pedestal after marriage." Mountbatten also stated
that a man should have as many affairs as he can before he settles down. Also, with Charles
being in the public eye so much, Camilla’s relationships would have been media fodder. This
is especially ironic seeing as Charles had several flings that were public and he faced no sort
of condemnation from it. Camilla was ready to get married, where as Charles wasn’t.
Camilla had no university education and she really just took temporary jobs instead of
pursuing a career, to her she wanted to get married and that would be fulfilling to her.

Back in 1973, Camilla marries Andrew Parker Bowles, a household Calvary Officer,
they had met in 1965. At the news of the marriage, Prince Charles was devastated. More
than a decade later in 1986, Charles and Camilla reignite their affair and then a decad e after
that, in 1996, both of them were divorced. Since Charles would become Defender of the
Faith when he ascended the throne, it was difficult for him to get married to a divorcee.
What the Defender of the Faith is, is essentially a title that belongs to a sovereign of
England. The title was first used by Pope Leo X on Henry the VIII. It had been an award for
the pamphlet the king had created called The Declaration of the Seven Sacraments Against
Martin Luther.

The Queen Mother, Charles’ grandmother, did not like Camilla, as Camilla reminded
her of Wallis Simpson. Simpson was an American Socialite. She became the mistress of
Edward, Duke of Windsor (at the time the Prince of Wales). She had already been married 2
times, and Edward decided that he was going to abdicate the throne to be with Simpson,
they married later in 1937. Simpson’s relationship with Edward had essentially upended the
monarchy and The Queen Mother feared that would happen again with Camilla. The public
was not keen on Camilla either, she was labeled as an adultress who made Diana miserable.
After Diana’s death in 1997, Camilla and Charles started to make their relationship public
and in 2005, three years after the Queen Mother passed away, they married in a civil
ceremony, where she was given the title The Duchess of Cornwall.

Now back to Diana, she became friends again with the royal family and in 1980, her
relationship with Charles started to become closer, he was 12 years her senior.
Mountbatten had previously advised to Cha rles, that "for a wife he should choose a suitable
and sweet-charactered girl before she meets anyone else she might fall for." The prince felt
that due to Diana’s age, it might be easier to be able to mold Diana into the perfect queen
and wife that he wanted. He believed that marriage was "the last decision on which I want
my head to be ruled by my heart."

They became engaged and announced it on February 24th, 1981, he proposed to her
with a 18-karat white gold ring, topped with a 12 carat oval Ceylon sa pphire, surrounded by
Research and Recording done by Lauren DeGalan

14 solitaire diamonds, which cost about $35,000 at the time. The ring was made by crown
jeweler Garrard which had been apparently inspired by a brooch that was created for
Queen Victoria in 1840 by Prince Albert as a wedding present. Later, Prince William would
propose with that same ring to Kate Middleton. When asked by an interviewer if Diana and
Charles were in love, Diana replied with an “of course” where as Charles said “whatever in
love means”. Diana was nicknamed Shy Di due to her shy demeanor and beauty. She
became an immediate sensation with the press and public.

They married July 29, 1981 at St. Paul’s Cathedral with 2,650 guests. The marriage
was solemnized by Archbishop of Canterbury Dr. Runcie, and the Dean of St. Pau l’s. The
union was globally televised and there were hundreds of millions of people from 74
different countries that tuned in to watch the royal wedding, as it was considered to be the
Wedding of the Century. The couple arrived separately and then departed together in a
carriage ride that rode through London. She wore a taffeta wedding dress. It was made of
antique lace, silk and 10,000 pearls. The dress was created by David and Elizabeth Emanuel,
a wife and husband fashion designer team. Diana wore a 2 5ft veil that with an 18th century
Spencer family tiara. It was so much it barely fit the carriage and it took Diana nearly four
minutes just to walk down the aisle.

She was the first Englishwoman to marry an heir to the throne in about 300 years.
The last woman to have done so was Anne Hyde that married the future king James the II,
and Diana was descended from him. Charles and Diana made their main home at Highgrove
House near Tetbury, Gloucestershire and an apartment in Kensington Palace for their
London home.

On July 1981, Diana found a bracelet that Charles had been planning on gifting to
Camilla Parker Bowles, the bracelet was marked with a G or an F, which cou ld have meant
either his “Girl Friday” or their nicknames of “Fred” and “Gladys”.

In January 1982, Diana became pregnant with Prince William and she ends up falling
down the stairs at Sandringham estate. She said that this incident was just one of mult iple
suicide attempts, stating that she had thrown herself down the stairs. Others described this
as an accident, likely to hide the emotional and mental turmoil that Diana was dealing with,
luckily neither her nor the unborn baby William were hurt from the fall. While she was
carrying William, she knew that she was carrying a boy, but Charles had wanted a girl. She
didn’t let Charles know that their baby was a boy, and after William was born, she said that
"something inside me closed off... Our marriage, the whole thing went down the drain."

She gave birth to Prince William Arthur Philip Louis of Wales on June 21st, 1982 and
Prince Henry “Harry” Charles Albert David on September 15, 1984.

In March of 1983, Diana, Charles and Prince William visited Australia and New
Zealand. The public attention was mostly focused on Diana which meant that Charles was
more of a background figure, it caused him to be jealous of the attention she was getting.
One security officer even described the public reaction as something akin to Beatlemania.
Research and Recording done by Lauren DeGalan

In 1987, Diana was photographed touching a person who had been diagnosed with
the HIV virus, and she was touching them without wearing gloves. She was the first high -
profile celebrity to reach out to individuals that suffered from HIV/AIDS. That simple
photograph made enormous contributions in changing the way that the public viewed AIDS
sufferers. During that time, a lot of individuals believed that AIDS/HIV could be passed
through physical touch, the photograph taken of her had challenged that belief. It really
showed the compassion and empathy that Diana had for these individuals that suffered
from this terrible disease.

She would make trips in the following years to a number of hospitals, and a hostel
for abandoned children. Gavin Hart, of the National AIDS trust told the BBC, at the time of
her death that "In our opinion, Diana was the foremost ambassador for AIDS aware ness on
the planet and no one can fill her shoes in terms of the work she did." Diana also made a
point to show up unexpectedly and announced to visit patients that were terminally ill with
AIDS, but there were specific instructions that these visits would not be shown to the media.

Bill Clinton spoke of this in December 2001 at the “Diana, Princess of Wales Lecture
on AIDS”. He said “In 1987, when so many still believed that AIDS could be contracted
through casual contact, Princess Diana sat on the sickbed of a man with AIDS and held his
hand. She showed the world that people with AIDS deserve no isolation, but compassion
and kindness. It helped change world opinion, and gave hope to people with AIDS with an
outcome of saved lives of people at risk.“

In 2016, Prince Harry, had an HIV test live on Facebook, and a week later in South
Africa at an AIDS conference, he warned of complacency when it came to fighting the
disease. He told the audience “It is time for a new generation of leaders to step forward . It
is time for us to step up to make sure no young person feels any shame in asking for an HIV
test. It is time for us to step up and acknowledge that stigma and discrimination still act as
the greatest barrier to our ability to defeat this disease once and for all.”

Diana also worked to remove the stigma surrounding leprosy patients. She traveled
to hospitals in India, Nepal and Zimbabwe, and dispelled the rumor that that leprosy could
be passed via touch. She said of the disease “It has always been my concern to touch
people with leprosy, trying to show in a simple action that they are not reviled, nor are we
repulsed." Leprosy is a skin disease that causes lumps and sores. It can also cause limb
deformities and nerve damage if left untreated. However, it is not highly-infectious and a
cure has been available since 1981.

Princess Diana began to get more attention the press as she was considered to be
this epitome of elegance, grace, beauty and glamour. She was charming, charismatic and
she used her connections to help charitable causes. She became a fashion trendsetter as
she changed her styles and cut her hair.

In November 1992, the affair between Charles and Camilla gets a newsbreak when a
private conversation was revealed to the public, recorded in December of 1989. The
scandal is given the name Camillagate and the conversation in full came out in January 1993
Research and Recording done by Lauren DeGalan

with Charles telling Camilla things like "I'll just live inside your trousers or something,
perhaps as a Tampax." In June 1994, he later publicly admits to adultery in an interview for a
documentary. He said that it only happened after his marriage with Diana has became
“irretrievably broken down.” In an interview on November 20th, 1995, Diana was
interviewing for the BBC show, Panorama where she talked about Charles and Camilla and
said that there were three of them in the marriage, so it was kind of crowded, she even
questioned whether or not Charles could be king.

The Prince and her traveled all over the world, sometimes bringing their young sons
along. They went to Australia, Brazil, India, Canada, Nigeria, Cameroon, Indonesia, Spain,
Italy, France, Portugal, Japan for the enthronement of Emperor Akihito) and then the last
place they went together was South Korea in 1992.

Her first trip overseas on her own was a decade previously, on September in 1982
when she attended the State funeral of Princess Grace of Monaco. She then later traveled
to many places on her own including Norway, Germany, United States, Pakistan,
Switzerland, Hungary, Egypt, Belgium, France, South Africa, Zimbabwe and Nepal.

However, Diana was struggling with severe postnatal depression, she had terribly
low self esteem and was suffering from an eating disorder. With constantly being watched
and followed by the press, especially the paparazzi, it lead to a marital breakdown between
both her and Prince Charles.

After their relationship started to breakdown, Charles started up his relationsh ip

again with Camilla Parker Bowles in 1986, and Diana had supposedly got involved with her
riding instructor James Hewitt and they were involved with each other for five years. At a
party, according to Diana, she spotted Camilla and said to her "I obviously am in the way
and it must be hell for both of you but I do know what is going on. Don't treat me like an
idiot." Then later Diana was involved with James Gilbey a gin company heir and salesman for
Lotus which was a high-end sports car manufacturer.

Gilbey and Diana were both involved in the Squidgygate Affair. What that essentially
was, that in 1992 Diana was on a phone call with James Gilbey and she was speaking very
candidly. This conversation had actually been recorded and during while they were talking,
Gilbey called her Squidgy or Squidge several times. This call, which she believed had been
between her and Gilbey, had revealed that she was perhaps cheating on Charles, she also
stated that her relationship with Charles was “real torture”. There are a few mysteries
surrounding how this could have been recorded. One is that a Ham radio enthusiast named
Cyril Reenan had been able to make a recording of this conversation, and another theory is
that the conversation was recorded from Diana’s phone. Reenan had sought financial gain
for this recording, and approached The Sun. He sold the tape for $10,000. However, The
Sun sat on the story for about a year and a half, questioning its authenticity. In 1992, The
National Enquirer published the transcript of their conversation. It became an international
scandal. There was even a hotline that was set up by The Sun so that the readers could
listen to the conversation. About 60,000 people paid $150,000 to listen to this
conversation.
Research and Recording done by Lauren DeGalan

In the call she had spoken about how she felt “sad and empty” and nearly cried at a
lunch she was having with the family. She felt that they were ungrateful towards her and all
that she had done within the royal family. During the conversation, Gilbey spoke that he
wanted to kiss her and hold her close to him, they had been apparently been planning to
meetup about 2 days after the phone call. She called him the “nicest person in the whole
wide world”. No one in the royal family really bothered to step forward and protec t Diana
from this scandal and even the Queen’s reaction was fairly underwhelming. There was no
legal recourse taken. Simon Jenkins, Editor of The Times said to Frontline, that the royal
family had been “lily-livered about it. ... Those tapes were completely tasteless. They were
totally intrusive. They should never have been published." Later, in an interview with Martin
Bashir, Diana confirmed that she did have an affair with James Hewitt.

Charles and Diana separated in December 1992 amid scandals of inf idelity on both
sides, tell-all biographies and accusations thrown at each other. British Prime Minister John
Mayor announced the separation to the House Of Commons by reading a statement written
by the royal family. Andrew Morton wrote a book about her called Diana: Her True Story
that was published in 1992, which told her side of the story.

In 1993 she announced that she as going to spend less time in the public eye so she
could focus on her private life and have a more “meaningful public role” Accord ing to Tina
Brown’s book The Diana Chronicles, in 1995 she fell in love with a Pakistani heart surgeon
named Hasnat Khan.

Inevitably the royal couple ended up divorcing on August 28, 1996, Diana was left
with a large settlement, but lost her title of Her Royal Highness. She was also able to keep
her apartments at Kensington Palace, and she would retain her title of Princess of Wales.

Diana continued her philanthropic ways after the divorce and helped raised
awareness for AIDS patients, was involved in efforts with an attempt to ban landmines and
raise awareness of the dangers of these leftover land mines in war-torn Angola. In Angola, in
1997 she served as an International Red Cross VIP volunteer, where she went to hospitals
and visited landmine survivors. In 1997, the statistics of Angola were horrific, as it had the
highest rate of amputees in the world, due to landmines. One person in every 333 people
lost a limb due to landmines.

HALO Trust ran de-mining projects that she toured. She would also attend landmine
awareness classes to educate individuals about how dangerous landmines are. There are
pictures that went famous of her touring a minefield in a ballistic helmet and flak jacket.
Although it was determined that mine-clearance experts had already make sure that the
pre-planned walk was safe for her. She was a speaker at the landmines conference at the
Royal Geographical Society in London, then went on to Washington DC where she spoke
about the campaign that American Red Cross had to get rid of landmines. In December
1997, the Ottawa Treaty was created to provide an international ban on the use of anti -
personnel landmines. In 1998 the Second Reading of the Landmines Bill 1998 was
introduced to the British House of Commons. Princess Diana had been acclaimed for her
Research and Recording done by Lauren DeGalan

influence in making these laws come into effect. However, these dangerous mines were still
in production and in January 2005, the United Nations asked several different countries that
continued to produce and use landmines to sign the Ottawa Treaty.

She then went on to Bosnia and visited the landmine projects in several cities, where
she was visited with the Landmine Survivors Network. She was involved and interested in
the effect that the landmines have and injuries that are caused, especially to children.

She would bring her children with her to homeless shelters, hospitals and
orphanages to expose them to a world of people who do not have such privileges as they
do. She would take them on public transport to fast food places, she became known as the
Peoples’ Princess due to her warmth and kindness. At the age of 23, William became a
patron of Centrepoint a homeless shelter, this was a position previously held by his mother.
It was for young individuals of ages 16 to 25. Centrepoint would help them find shelter,
food and work. Of witnessing people at the shelters, he said to the Telegraph, "My mother
introduced that sort of area to me a long time ago. It was a real eye -opener and I am very
glad she did. It has been something I have held close to me for a long time."

She really loved children and she became a patron of the Great Ormand Street
Hospital For Children, where she would make personal connections with them and speak
with them. She said that she would make at least three trips a week. She would spend
about four hours at a time with them, holding their hands. "Some of them will live and
some will die, but they all need to be loved while they are here. I try to be there for them."

Diana’s charity work changed the face of the royal family, where as they were
previously viewed as stuffy and out of touch with the common people, she wanted a
monarchy that was in touch with it’s people. She was known for spending hours talking to
people and hearing their stories, during her visits to hospitals, school and at galas. She also
loved the arts, and supported the English National Ballet, it was the only no n-humanitarian
charity she supported, and she would often take her children to see performances, her
presence raised thousands of dollars for their company.

In 1997, she started to date Egyptian film producer Dodi Fayed, he ended up inviting
her and her family to vacation on his yacht in the south of France. They had supposedly met
in 1986 at a polo match. Fayed and Charles were playing on separate teams. Fa yed and
Diana would later spend time in Sardinia. There was much disapproval of their relationship
from some members of the royal family and former Prime Minister Tony Blair.

On June 25th, 1997, Diana auctioned off 79 dresses in New York, it raised 3.2 5
million and that money was given to AIDS and cancer related charities. Unfortunately she
passed away in 1997 in an automobile accident in Paris. Diana spent a chunk of her adult
years learning to live with the intrusive paparazzi and media and in this i nstance, she and
her companion Dodi Fayed were trying to escape from the paparazzi when they got into the
car accident. Fayed and their driver Henri Paul were pronounced dead at the scene, but
Diana survived a mere few hours after and then succumbed to her injuries at a Paris
hospital, she was 36 years old.
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Her death was so senseless and Queen Elizabeth was criticized because she did not
immediately respond to Diana’s death. On September 5th, she made a televised address
from Buckingham Palace where she s aid “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.”

The photographers were blamed for the accident, but in 1999 a French judge
acquitted them, instead they faulted the driver Henri Paul due to him having a blood alcohol
level over the legal limit. In 2006, Scotland Yard did an inquiry and also found that Paul was
at fault, but 2 years later in April 2008, a British inquest jury stated that both Paul and the
paparazzi were guilty of unlawful killing through gross negligent driving. There has been a
conspiracy that the royal family had made an assassination attempt to kill Diana Spencer
and Dodi Fayed, which Fayed’s father believed to be true, but no evidence was ever found.

There was an emotional wave of grief and criticism that washed over the world , as
she was beloved in many ways. The royal family was caught off guard by the amount of
mourning that was happening and decided to break tradition so that they could
internationally televise her funeral.

On Sunday August 31, her body was returned to the United Kingdom on a British
Aerospace 146 Aircraft of the royal squadron. The Prince of Wales and her sisters Lady
Sarah McCorquodale and Lady Jane Fellowes. When the body arrived at RAF Northolt it was
draped with a Royal Standard, which is a banner that has the royal coat of arms. Her body
was then taken to the Chapel Royal in St. James Palace, and lay there until September 5th.
At this time, family and friends were able to pay their respects.

On September 6th, the procession started from Kensington Palace, where her body
had been moved from St. James Palace. A gun carriage that was being drawn by six black
horses, held her coffin. There were thousands of mourners collecting in the street of this
four mile procession. Her sons joined near the last stretch, Prince William was 15 and Prince
Harry was 12, and they could both be seen walking behind their mother’s casket with their
father. Representatives of her charities were invited to walk behind the coffin from St.
James Palace to Westminster Abbey.

Two-point-five billion people watched the ceremony from Westminster Abbey, and
the emotional eulogy that was performed by Diana’s brother Earl Charles Spencer. She was
laid to rest at her family’s estate, Althorp on sanctified ground on small island in the middle
of an ornamental lake. The song “Candle in the Wind” performed by Elton John became
synonymous with her passing, although it had initially been written about Marilyn Monroe,
the lyrics were revised for Diana Spencer. The song became one of th e most successful pop
singles to date, selling over 30 million copies.

Diana’s life and death felt many feeling less than happy with the monarchy in place,
as it appears to parochial and antiquated in this age. In 2007, on what would have been
Diana’s 46th birthday, her sons held a special concert for her, with the proceeds going to
Research and Recording done by Lauren DeGalan

charities that she supported. The Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fund was founded
after she had passed away that helped to provide resources for penal reform, safe asylum
and palliative care. The fund raised $44 million, awarded 727 grants to 471 organizations,
and spent over $145 million on charitable causes. The fund was incorporated in 2013 to the
Royal Foundation of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Prince Harry.

Of Diana, her brother Charles Spencer said “Diana was the very essence of
compassion, of duty, of style, of beauty. All over the world. She was a symbol of selfless
humanity.”

SOURCES:

https://www.britannica.com/biography/Diana -princess-of-Wales
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important-british-education/
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