Princess Diana was born Diana Frances Spencer in Sandringham, Norfolk on July 1, 1961.
Diana was the youngest daughter of Viscount Althorp who became 8th Earl of Spencer and the Hon Mrs Shand-Kydd. Diana had two elder sisters, Jane and Sarah, and a younger brother, Charles.
Diana was only six when her parents separated: her mother, Frances left to join Peter Shand Kydd, a wealthy businessman. Diana and her brother, Charles, spent much of their childhood moving to and fro from one parent to the other.
When Diana was 12 she attended West Heath School in Kent. She left at 16 and spent a few years at a finishing school in Switzerland.
In 1979 Diana worked as a nanny and as an assistant at the Young England kindergarten in Knightsbridge. She tended to work at the kindergarten three days a week and for two days she looked after a boy.
When Prince Charles and Lady Diana announced their engagement, they were asked if they were in love. Both replied ‘yes’—but Charles added ‘whatever love means’.
On July 29, 1981, an estimated 600,000 people filled the streets of London on Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer’s wedding day. They married at St Paul’s Cathedral before an estimated global TV audience of 750 million.
They both muddled up the vows slightly. Diana mixed up the Prince’s names—calling him Philip Charles Arthur George, rather than Charles Philip.
In less than a year Charles and Diana had their their first child, William, on 21 June 1982. A second son, Prince Harry, was born on 15 September 1984.
On the outside Princess Diana appeared a glowing and glamorous Princess who won the hearts of the nation, as well as international acclaim. However all was not well with her relationship with her husband and his family, partly because of Prince Charles’ long-running relationship with Camilla Parker-Bowles, whom he was to marry many years after Diana’s death.
Princess Diana did much charitable work and in 1989 she opened the Landmark AIDS Centre.
Amidst all the marital tension, Princess Diana developed bulimia. The couple separated in 1992 and divorced in August 1996.
Princess Diana continued her work for charitable causes and became a campaigner against landmines, making trips to Angola and Bosnia.
Diana was killed in a car crash on 31 August 1997. Her suitor, Dodi Al Fayed and the vehicle’s driver, Henri Paul, were also killed in the collision in a tunnel under the Place de l’Alma in Paris after the group were being chased by paparazzi.
On the 6th September 1997 hundreds of millions watched Princess Diana’s funeral.
