Diana, Princess of Wales
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- "Diana Spencer" redirects here. For , see .
From her marriage in 1981 to her divorce in 1996, she was styled Her Royal Highness The Princess of Wales. After her divorce from the Prince of Wales in 1996, Diana ceased to be The Princess of Wales and lost the resulting Royal Highness style.Some continued, erroneously, to call Diana a "HRH" even after she had lost the style in her divorce. She received the title normally used by the ex-wives of peers, Diana, Princess of Wales under Letters Patent issued by Queen Elizabeth II at the time of the divorce.
An iconic presence on the world stage, Diana, Princess of Wales was noted for her high-profile charity work. Yet her philanthropic endeavours were overshadowed by her scandal-plagued marriage to Prince Charles. Her bitter claims, via friends and biographers, of adultery, mental cruelty, and emotional distress visited upon her by her husband and the royal family in general, and her own admissions of adultery and numerous love affairs riveted the world for much of the 1990s, spawning books, tabloid newspaper and magazine articles, and television movies.
From the time of her engagement to the Prince of Wales in 1981 until her death in a car accident in 1997, the Princess was arguably the most famous woman in the world, the pre-eminent female celebrity of her generation: a fashion icon, an image of feminine beauty, admired and emulated for her involvement in AIDS issues, and the international campaign against landmines. During her lifetime, she was often described as the most-photographed person in the world. To her admirers, the Princess of Wales was a role model - after her death, there were even calls for her to be nominated for sainthood - while her detractors considered her to have been mentally ill (possibly with Borderline Personality Disorder) long before her marriage and regarded her life as a cautionary tale of how untreated emotional problems and an obsession with publicity can ultimately destroy human beings.
As of 2006, the inquiry into her death by British police continues. A report is expected to be issued in 2007.
Early years
Diana Frances Spencer was born as the youngest daughter of Edward Spencer, Viscount Althorp, and his first wife, Frances Spencer, Viscountess Althorp (formerly the Honourable Frances Burke Roche) at Park House on the Sandringham estate. She was baptised at St. Mary Magdalene Church in Sandringham, by Rt. Rev. Percy Herbert (rector of the church and former Bishop of Norwich and Blackburn); her godparents included John Floyd (the chairman of Christie's) and Mary Colman (a niece of the Queen Mother). Partially American in ancestry — a great-grandmother was the American heiress Frances Work - she was also a descendant of King Charles I. During her parents' acrimonious divorce over Lady Althorp's adultery with wallpaper heir Peter Shand Kydd, Diana's mother sued for custody of her children, but Lord Althorp's rank, aided by Lady Althorp's mother's testimony against her daughter during the trial, meant custody of Diana and her brother was awarded to their father. On the death of her paternal grandfather, Albert Spencer, 7th Earl Spencer, in 1975, Diana's father became the 8th Earl Spencer, and she acquired the courtesy title of The Lady Diana Spencer and moved from her childhood home at Park House to her family's sixteenth-century ancestral home of Althorp. A year later, Lord Spencer married Raine, Countess of Dartmouth, the only daughter of the romance novelist Barbara Cartland, after being named as the "other party" in the Earl and Countess of Dartmouth's divorce.
Diana was educated at [Riddlesworth Hall] in Norfolk and at West Heath Girls' School (later reorganized as the New School at West Heath, a special school for boys and girls) in Sevenoaks, Kent, where she was regarded as an academically below-average student, having failed all of her O-level examinations. In 1977, aged 16, she left West Heath and briefly attended Institut Alpin Videmanette, a finishing school in Rougemont, Switzerland (Diana's future husband was also dating her sister, Lady Sarah at that time). Diana was a talented amateur singer, excelled in sports and reportedly longed to be a ballerina.
Family and marriage
Diana's family, the Spencers, had been close to the British Royal Family for decades. Her maternal grandmother, Ruth, Lady Fermoy, was a longtime friend and a lady-in-waiting to Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother.
The Prince's love life had always been the subject of press speculation, and he was linked to numerous women. Nearing his mid-thirties, he was under increasing pressure to marry. In order to gain the approval of his family and their advisors, including his great-uncle Lord Mountbatten of Burma, any potential bride had to have an aristocratic background#redirect [[Template:Fact]], could not have been previously married, should be Protestant and, preferably, a virgin. Diana seemed to meet all of these qualifications.
Reportedly (though this has never been confirmed), the Prince's former girlfriend (and, eventually, his second wife) Camilla Parker Bowles helped him select the 19-year-old Lady Diana Spencer as a potential bride, when Diana was working as a part-time assistant at the "Young England Kindergarten," a day care center and nursery school in Pimlico. Contrary to claims, she was not a "kindergarten teacher," since she had no educational qualifications to teach, and "Young England" was not a kindergarten, despite its name. It was at this school that the famous iconic snap of a 19-year-old Lady Diana Spencer was taken by John Minihan with the morning sun to her back, her legs in silhouette through her skirt.
Buckingham Palace announced the engagement on 24 February 1981, and the wedding took place in St Paul's Cathedral in London on Wednesday, 29 July, 1981, before 3,500 invited guests and an estimated 1 billion television viewers around the world. (Comment: Similarly large viewing audiences have been reported for television audiences of the Academy Awards and the NFL Super Bowl, but such numbers are not substantiated.) Among other performers, the acclaimed New Zealand soprano Kiri Te Kanawa sang Handel's "Let the Bright Seraphim" during the wedding ceremony, at the request of Prince Charles.
Diana was the first Englishwoman to marry the heir to the throne since 1659, when Lady Anne Hyde married the Duke of York and Albany, the future King James II (although, unlike Charles, James was heir presumptive and not heir apparent). Upon her marriage, Diana became Her Royal Highness The Princess of Wales and was ranked as the third most senior royal woman in the United Kingdom after the Queen and the Queen Mother.
The Prince and Princess of Wales quickly had two children, Prince William of Wales on 21 June 1982 and Prince Henry of Wales (commonly called Prince Harry) on 15 September 1984.
After the birth of Prince William, the Princess of Wales apparently suffered from post-natal depression.[[Citing sources citation needed]] She had previously (before her marriage) suffered from bulimia nervosa, which recurred, and even before the birth of Prince William, she made some half-hearted suicide attempts. In one interview, years later, she claimed that, while pregnant with Prince William, she had thrown herself down a set of stairs and was discovered by her mother-in-law (that is, Queen Elizabeth II). It has been suggested she did not, in fact, intend to end her life (and, by some, that the suicide attempts never took place), and that she was merely making a 'cry for help'. In the same interview in which she told of the suicide attempt while pregnant with Prince William, she said her husband had accused her of crying wolf when she threatened to kill herself.
In the mid 1980s, the marriage of Diana and Charles fell apart, an event at first suppressed, but then sensationalised, by the world media. Both the Prince and Princess of Wales allegedly spoke to the press through friends, each blaming the other for the marriage's demise.The suggestion that Charles authorised his story of the split to be communicated is disputed by his friends, who claim that he told his friends not to speak, a prohibition some of them breached under anonymity. Charles resumed his old, pre-marital relationship with Camilla Parker Bowles, while Diana became involved with her riding instructor James Hewitt and perhaps later with James Gilbey, her telephone partner in the so-called Squidgygate affair. She later confirmed (in a television interview with Martin Bashir) that she had had an affair with Hewitt. (Theoretically, such an affair constituted high treason by both parties.) Another supposed lover was a bodyguard assigned to the Princess's security detail, although the Princess adamantly denied a sexual relationship with him. After her separation from Prince Charles, Diana was, in some still unsubstantiated way, involved with married art dealer Oliver Hoare, whom she allegedly stalked and harassed with repeated anonymous telephone calls; and with rugby player Will Carling. She also publicly dated respected heart surgeon Hasnat Khan before her brief involvement with Dodi Fayed.
The Prince and Princess of Wales were separated on 9 December 1992; their divorce was finalized on 28 August 1996. The Princess lost the style Her Royal Highness and instead was styled as Diana, Princess of Wales. However, since the divorce, Buckingham Palace has maintained that Diana was officially a member of the Royal Family, since she was the mother of the second and third in line to the throne.
In 2004, seven years after her death, the American TV network NBC broadcast videotapes of Diana discussing her marriage to the Prince of Wales, including her description of her suicide attempts. The tapes were in the possession of the Princess during her lifetime; however, after her death, her butler took possession, and after numerous legal wranglings, they were given to the Princess's voice coach, who had originally filmed them. These tapes have not been broadcast in the United Kingdom.
Charity work
Starting in the mid-to-late 1980s, the Princess of Wales became well known for her support of charity projects. This stemmed naturally from her role as Princess of Wales and also as an interested supporter of various health causes newly arisen in the UK. Diana, Princess of Wales is remembered for and credited with considerable influence in campaigns against the use of landmines and helping the victims of AIDS.AIDS
In April 1987, the Princess of Wales was the first high-profile celebrity to be photographed knowingly touching a person infected with the HIV virus. Her contribution to changing the public opinion of AIDS sufferers was summarised in December 2001 by Bill Clinton at the 'Diana, Princess of Wales Lecture on AIDS', when 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.
Landmines
Perhaps her most widely-publicised charity appearance was her visit to Angola in January 1997, when, serving as an International Red Cross VIP volunteer [link], she visited landmine survivors in hospitals, toured de-mining projects run by the HALO Trust, and attended mine awareness education classes about the dangers of mines immediately surrounding homes and villages.The pictures of Diana touring a minefield, in a ballistic helmet and flak jacket, were seen worldwide. (In reality, mine experts had already cleared and prepared the pre-planned walk that Diana took wearing the protective equipment.) In August that year, she visited Bosnia with the Landmine Survivors Network. Her interest in landmines was focused on the injuries they create, often to children, long after a conflict is over.
She is believed[link] to have influenced (though after and perhaps as a result of her death) the signing, by the governments of the UK and other nations in December, 1997, of the Ottawa Treaty, which created an international ban on the use of anti-personnel landmines. Introducing the Second Reading of the Landmines Bill 1998 to the British House of Commons, the Foreign Secretary, Robin Cook, paid tribute to Diana's work on landmines:
- All Honourable Members will be aware from their postbags of the immense contribution made by Diana, Princess of Wales to bringing home to many of our constituents the human costs of landmines. The best way in which to record our appreciation of her work, and the work of NGOs that have campaigned against landmines, is to pass the Bill, and to pave the way towards a global ban on landmines. [link]
Legacy
Princess Diana's interest in supporting and helping young people led to the establishment of the Diana Memorial Award, awarded to youths who have demonstrated the unselfish devotion and commitment to causes advocated by the Princess.
Death
On 31 August 1997 Diana was involved in a car accident in the Pont de l'Alma road tunnel in Paris, along with her new lover Dodi Al-Fayed, and their driver Henri Paul. Fayed's bodyguard Trevor Rees-Jones was the only survivor of the crash (and the only occupant of the car who was wearing a seatbelt). Henri Paul and Dodi Fayed were killed instantly. Diana, in the back seat, was fatally injured and died in the hospital, where lengthy resuscitation attempts failed.
Such was the reach of Diana's iconic impact worldwide that news of her death became a milestone in personal history, comparable to such as the death of President John F. Kennedy.
The death of the Princess has been widely blamed on reporters, who were reportedly hounding the Princess, and were following the vehicle at a high speed.
By contrast, her death has never been accepted as an accident by some, notably Mohamed Al-Fayed, and a range of theories have formed as to the manner of her death, drawing on the apparent tainting or destruction of evidence, and claimed lack of consistency in certain statements.
A 2004-06 coroner's inquiry by Lord Stevens, a former chief of the Metropolitan Police, has announced the finding of "new forensic evidence" and witnesses [Telegraph, May 2006], and commented that the case was "far more complex than any of us thought" and that some questions asked by al-Fayed were "right to be raised". [link] The inquiry is expected to report its findings in 2007.
On 13th July 2006 an Italian magazine "Chi" published photographs showing Diana in her "last moments" despite an unofficial blackout on such photographs being published. The photographs were taken minutes after the accident and show the Princess slumped in the back seat while a paramedic attempts to fit an oxygen mask over her face. The photographs [link] were also published in other Italian and Spanish magazines and newspapers.
The editor of Chi defended his decision by saying he published the photographs for the "simple reason that they haven't been seen before" and that he felt the images do not disrespect the memory of the Princess. The British media have refused to publish these images.
Styles
- The Honourable Diana Frances Spencer (1 July 1961–9 June 1975)
- The Lady Diana Frances Spencer (9 June 1975–29 July 1981)
- Her Royal Highness The Princess of Wales (29 July 1981–28 August 1996)
- Diana, Princess of Wales (28 August 1996–31 August 1997)
During her marriage to Charles, her full title was Her Royal Highness The Princess Charles, Princess of Wales, Duchess of Cornwall and Countess of Chester, Duchess of Rothesay, Countess of Carrick, Baroness of Renfrew, Lady of the Isles, Princess and Great Stewardess of Scotland.
Lineage
Prior to her marriage, much research was done into Diana's lineage by genealogists. It was much publicized that her ancestry included links to individuals such as Hollywood screen legend Humphrey Bogart (who was her 7th cousin), and poet Edmund Spenser, the author of The Faerie Queen [link]. Actor Oliver Platt is more closely related; both he and Diana, Princess of Wales are descendants of Frances Work, a late 19th-century American heiress who was briefly the wife of the Hon. James Burke Roche, later 3rd Baron Fermoy.Footnotes
See also
- Spencer family
- British Royal Family
- Squidgygate
- Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fund
- Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fountain
- The New School at West Heath, Mr. Al-Fayed's Princess Diana Memorial
- Burrell affair
- Diana Memorial Award
External links
- [Belfast Telegraph] Inquiry set to shock
- [Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fund]
- [Diana, Princess of Wales illustrated]
- [The Royal Family Tree of Europe]
- [Princess Diana Death] Documentary about the death of Diana.
- [Tribute to Diana, Princess of Wales]
| Princesses of Wales dates they were Princess of Wales in brackets |
|
Joan of Kent (1361-1376) |
Anne Neville (1470 - 1471) |
Catherine of Aragon (1501-1502) |
Caroline of Ansbach (1714 - 1727) |
Princess Augusta of Saxe-Gotha (1736 - 1751) |
Caroline of Brunswick (1795 - 1820) |
Alexandra of Denmark (1863 - 1901) |
Mary of Teck (1901 - 1910) |
Diana Spencer (1981 - 1996) |
Camilla Parker Bowles* (2005 - present)
*Camilla does not use the Princess of Wales title, but instead uses her subsidiary title, Duchess of Cornwall. |
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