Princess Diana, Princess of Wales, was born on July 1, 1961, in Sandringham, England. She died on the 31st of August, 1997, in Paris, France. Princess Diana was the first wife of Prince Charles, Prince of Wales.
Princess Diana got married at the age of 20, and it was too early for her to fulfill the responsibilities of a princess. But she also did a great job and got the nickname “the people’s princess” from former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair.
Diana did much for the needy, from mental health to the AIDS crisis. One of her actions was once shaking hands with an AIDS patient, which was appreciated by the media.
The thing that made us cry is that she worked a lot for the mentally unhealthy, but she suffered from a mental health crisis, and no one even knew about her circumstances. That’s so disheartening to realize. Then, she moved on to raising awareness for domestic violence.
After some time, they had their first successor, her first son, Prince William, who became the prime celebrity of those days. Princess Diana was 36 when she left the world, and there are several conspiracy theories regarding her death. Conspiracy theorists have a lot to say about it. But before we move on to that episode, let’s understand the princess’s childhood, personality, and much more.
Let’s dive into her story!
1. Princess Diana’s Childhood
In her family, Diana was the 3rd and youngest daughter to their parents, Edward John Spencer and Viscount Althorp. Her parents had a divorce filed when she was quite young.
Diana’s family had connections with the queen’s family when she was young. The queen’s younger sons, Prince Andrew and Prince Edward, were her childhood playmates.
1.1 Her NOT-SO-HAPPY Childhood
Princess Diana was about 7 when her parents separated. She lived with her mother during the initial stages of their separation, but she did not continue to do so after her father won custody. After that, her father married Raine, the countess of Dartmouth.
She explains her relationship with her stepmother as not-so-good and that she had bad experiences. In an interview, Diana used terms like ‘very unstable‘ and ‘very unhappy‘ to describe her childhood. Then Diana, along with her two sisters and her younger brother, Earl Spencer, was by her father’s side.
Even though she wasn’t inclined academically, she completed her education, and as soon as she returned to England, she got herself into a school as a kindergarten assistant. Since childhood, Diana has been good at extracurriculars, such as swimming and diving, has learned ballet, and has shown interest in music.
1.2 Her Growing Years
In her before-marital years, Lady Diana struggled a lot for employment, working as a nursery teacher assistant, dance teacher, nanny for the robber sons, and hostess at parties.
Then, she again engaged in talks with the royals. There, she met Prince Philip, the eldest son of Queen Elizabeth II. However, an unknown fact is that Prince Charles dated Princess Diana’s older sister before her. This part was a mystery then and continues to remain for some.
Princess Diana picked her iconic engagement ring from a catalogue, and they both tied the knot a few months later. For this, she gave up her job as a nursery teacher.
Fun fact – Diana accidentally stained her dress with perfume just before the ceremony and even made a mistake during the wedding vows by calling ‘Charles Philip’ ‘Philip Charles.’ At the wedding, while taking vows, the lady refused to say ‘she would obey him.’ She even added her vows to the wedding, leading to some sort of controversy.
Their wedding was considered a ‘fairytale wedding.’ It was telecasted and became one of the most viewed events of that time, with 750 million views. Then, after some time, both had their first child, Prince William, and two years later, they had their second child, Prince Harry.
2. Princess Diana’s First Pregnancy
When Princess Diana was pregnant with Prince William, she revealed that ‘she threw herself downstairs to get the attention of her husband so that he may listen to her.’ At that time, they had a conflicted marriage. But they managed to carry it for over a decade before getting separated.
Princess Diana was so grounded that she sent her boys to public school rather than educating them on palace grounds. She was the only one who exposed her kids to a non-royal way of life.
Being a daughter-in-law of the royal family didn’t make her life cheerful. Buckingham Palace and Kensington Palace became a cage for her. As soon as Diana got married to the royal family, she lost her voice. She experienced insecurity in her upbringing despite its privileges. This was something nobody could have ever imagined. Both things grow together if we discuss Princess Diana’s popularity and suffering.
3. Popularity and Sufferings
3.1 Popularity:
Princess Diana quickly became an icon of beauty and a fashion trendsetter.
Then, she indulged in numerous charitable projects. She was so compassionate that her sudden death made the world cry.
3.2 Sufferings:
Back then, Princess Diana also suffered from marital conflicts with her husband. In those days, she also had depression, low self-respect, and an eating disorder.
But wait a second! This eating disorder doesn’t develop by itself. Princess Diana did talk about this incident once, it began when Prince Charles placed his hands on Diana’s waist and said ‘A bit chubby here, Aren’t we?‘. Her bulimia triggered just after that.
4. Marital Status
Both sides accepted their fate and separated in 1992. However, officially, they got out of it in 1996. Apart from incompatibility, there were other reasons also which have remained a mystery till now. Some even say that there was a kind of extramarital affair.
5. Her Approach Towards Noble Work
Princess Diana was pretty famous for her approach to charity work. She did a lot of noble work. First, she was engaged in the work that leads to the betterment of children and the elderly. But she never remained confined to these domains and only and also worked on medical issues.
6. Diana’s Death
After both got divorced in 1996, Princess Diana died in 1997 in a car crash, and the car crash sparked doubts in the minds of the nation. Some claim it to be a conspiracy of the royal family. It does say a lot if we look into it from different dimensions. Since there is no confirmation of this, As Diana died quite early, her tragic death left the nation in shock.
Some of the stories also focus on Diana being prepared for death as she knew it was going to happen.
7. Role of the Royal Family
If we go according to sources, there was a letter found written by Diana which stated that she could be killed in a car crash, which grabbed the attention of the nation and made them think that this might involve the royals.
Rumours circulated about Prince Philip and Camilla’s relationship in the 1970s. Both wanted to marry, but the royals denied their wedding due to Camilla’s low status.
Then, after some time, Charles married Diana, and even after they were married, the Prince had an extramarital affair with Camilla. When Diana learned this, it was a pretty shattering moment for her. She even tried to commit suicide out of depression. This became the reason for their marital issues.
After the couple divorced in 1996, Charles was in a relationship with Camilla. However, according to royal rules, one couldn’t marry a second until the first one was alive.
8. Princess Diana’s Side
Those days a rumour sparked for even Princess Diana that she too had an extramarital affair with ‘Dodi-al-fayed’, the son of Mohamed al-fayed, which Diana once met in 1986. They both had an attraction there. And here’s an interesting fact: Diana met Dodi-al-fayed in a polo match, where he was playing against her then-husband.
It must have been so shocking to soak updating an individual who played against your then-husband. Okay, that was just a polo game. They both secretly dated each other.
And you know what? Mohamed’s son Dodi was there with Diana during the car crash.
9. The Unexplained Incident
Now let’s go inside the incident of Princess Diana’s death. It was midnight on August 31, 1997. There, they faced an incident while proceeding out of the Hotel Ritz.
The authorities claimed that the fault was only of Henri Paul. The driver was drunk while driving.
It was also stated that the accident occurred due to his overspeeding. But before this statement, a story was circulated that the accident happened due to the paparazzi who chased the princess’s car.
However, the above statement was changed to be claimed as the fault of driver Henri Paul as Paul lost control. The three died in the accident – Princess Diana, Dodi-al-fayed, and driver Henri Paul. Diana’s bodyguard, Trevor Rees-Jones, was the only one who survived the accident.
10. The Mystery: Unexplained Death
Some things remained confidential till now. The files related to Diana’s death raised several questions. The accident scene was made clean and opened for everyone, and that too within a few hours of the crash.
This led to the destruction of all the evidence that was so valuable at that time in solving the accident mystery. As it was a road accident, the traffic police’s statement was also not recorded. The authorities ignored the key witness. The scene described by the authorities doesn’t match the picture captured of the accident.
The official police report was a tragic accident only, and the royal family had nothing to do with it. But the hospital was just a few miles from the accident site, so how did it take them an hour to reach it? It’s just next to impossible to digest. Princess Diana conspiracy theories kept on circulating those days.
Even though Diana was no longer part of the royal family, she was given a formal funeral. Many big personalities, including ministers from different countries, grieved Princess Diana’s death.
For instance, the Canadian prime minister, the New Zealand prime minister, the Israeli prime minister, the South African president, and even Mother Teresa showed her deepest condolences to Diana.
Closure
As discussed above, Princess Diana was a kind lady. This lady, with a golden heart, has done a lot for noble causes, be it kids, the elderly, or sick ones.
Is there any role of royals in the accident? Did Diana already know about the accident? Was Diana prepared? Was the note found in Diana’s room real? Were royals or Prince Charles happy with Diana’s death? Numerous questions keep on circulating in the minds of the nation, and her death remains a mystery now.
Last Updated on July 8, 2024 by Sathi Chakraborty
