Diana, Princess of Wales (Diana Frances;
[N 1] née Spencer;1 July 1961 – 31 August 1997) was the first wife of
Charles, Prince of Wales. Their sons, Princes
William and
Henry, are second and third
in line to the thrones of the
United Kingdom and fifteen other
Commonwealth Realms.
A public figure from the announcement of her engagement to Prince Charles, Diana remained the focus of near-constant media scrutiny in the United Kingdom and around the world up to and during her marriage, and after her subsequent divorce. Her sudden death in a car crash was followed by a spontaneous and prolonged show of public mourning. Contemporary responses to Diana's life and legacy have been mixed but a popular fascination with the Princess endures. The long awaited
Coroner's Inquest concluded in April 2008 that Diana had been unlawfully killed by the negligent driving of the following vehicles and the driver of the Mercedes in which they were travelling.
Engagement and weddingTheir engagement became official on 24 February 1981, with the heir to the throne presenting the princess-to-be with a walnut-sized
£30,000 ring consisting of 14
diamonds surrounding a
sapphire.
[8] Diana accepted the proposal immediately.
The 20-year-old became the Princess of Wales when she married Prince Charles at
St Paul's Cathedral, which offered more seating than
Westminster Abbey, which was previously used for royal nuptials, on 29 July 1981 in what was widely billed as a "fairytale wedding" watched by a global television audience of 750 million.
[9][10] At the altar Diana accidentally reversed the order of Charles' names, saying Philip Charles Arthur George instead.
[11] She also did not say she would "obey," which caused a sensation at the time.
[12] The wedding started at 11:20 A.M.
BST, and Diana wore a gown valued at £9000 with 25 foot train and the finest lace.
[13]ChildrenOn 5 November 1981, Diana's first pregnancy was officially announced, and she frankly discussed her condition to the press.
[14] In the private Lindo wing of St. Mary's Hospital,
Paddington on 21 June 1982, Diana gave birth to her first son and heir,
William.
[15] There was some controversy in the media when she decided to take William, still a baby, on her first major overseas visit to Australia and New Zealand.
[16] A second son,
Henry was born a little over two years later on 15 September 1984.
[17] Diana was a devoted mother and, like most mothers, lavished her sons with love and affection.
[18] They came first and foremost in her life. It was she who chose their schools, their clothes and planned their outings. She also negotiated her public duties around their time-tables.
Charity workStarting in the mid- to late 1980s, the Princess of Wales became very well known for her support of several charity projects. This stemmed naturally from her role as Princess of Wales—she was expected to engage in hospital visits where she comforted the sick and in so doing, assumed the patronage of various charitable organisations—and form an interest in certain illnesses and health-related matters. Diana was a supporter of the
International Campaign to Ban Landmines, a campaign that went on to win the
Nobel Peace Prize in 1997.
[34]AIDS awarenessIn April 1987, the Princess of Wales was one of the first high-profile
celebrities to be photographed touching a person infected with
HIV at the 'chain of hope' organization. She contributed to changing the public opinion of
AIDS sufferers.
LandminesIn January 1997, pictures of the Princess touring an Angolan minefield in a ballistic helmet and
flak jacket were seen worldwide. It was during this campaign that some accused the Princess of meddling in politics and declared her a 'loose cannon.'
[35] In August 1997, just days before her death, 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 to have influenced the signing, though only after her death, of the
Ottawa Treaty, which created an international ban on the use of anti-personnel landmines.
[36] 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.
[37]”
—
Robin CookThe
United Nations appealed to the nations which produced and stockpiled the largest numbers of landmines (United States, China, India,
North Korea,
Pakistan, and Russia) to sign the Ottawa Treaty forbidding their production and use, for which Diana had campaigned. Carol Bellamy, Executive Director of the
United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), said that landmines remained "a deadly attraction for children, whose innate curiosity and need for play often lure them directly into harm's way".
MemorialsImmediately after her death, many sites around the world became briefly ad hoc memorials to Diana, where the public left flowers and other tributes. The largest was outside the gates of
Kensington Palace.
