Diana Princess of Wales was born 1st July, 1961 in Norfolk, England, the youngest daughter of John Spencer, Viscount Althorp, and the Honourable Frances Burke Roche, Viscountess Althorp. Diana Princess of Wales’ parents divorced when she was a child. She was their fourth child, with three elder sisters, and two younger brothers, one of which died the day he was born. Her parents divorced in 1969 due to an affair by her mother. During the divorce proceedings, her father received custody of Diana and her younger brother. Her father eventually remarried, yet reportedly, none of his children grew close to their stepmother, Raine, Countess of Dartmouth. Diana spent the remainder of her childhood between the two parental homes.
Diana’s first formal schooling began at Silfiled School in Kings Lynn, Norfolk, then she went on to Riddlesworth and finally West Heath Girls’ School where she was considered a poor student. She failed all of her O-levels twice while attending the last school. However, she was noted and recognized for outstanding community spirit while attending West Heath and received an award for such. She attended, at the age of 16, the Institut Alpin Videmanette in Rougemont, a finishing school. She has been reported to have excelled in swimming and diving and was hoping to be a ballerina; she studied for some time in this direction only to learn that she was too tall. During this time, she met the man she would later marry, Prince Charles, heir to the Crown, since he was at that time dating Lady Sarah, her older sister.
At 17, Diana began a career as a youth dance instructor, only to lose the job due to a skiing accident that left her unable to work for three months. Soon after, she began work as a nursery school assistant and was also a hostess at high class parties.
The summer of 1980 found Diana dating Prince Charles after a weekend vacation in the country where they were re-acquainted. Soon she was sailing with him, watching him play polo, and finally going to meet his family at the British Royal Family’s Scottish home, Balmoral. Prince Charles proposed on 6th February, 1981 and Diana accepted, although the engagement was not made official until 24th February of that same year.
On 29th July, 1981, Lady Diana became Diana Princess of Wales on the day of her wedding to Prince Charles. It was a lavish wedding, with more than 600,000 people in the streets to welcome the newlywed couple and watched on television all over the globe by millions of others. A sensation was caused when Diana did not use the word, “obey” in her wedding vows, and due to her nervousness, she turned Prince Charles’ names around to Philip Charles Arthur George.
Her first child, Prince William, was born 21st June, 1982, not quite a year after the wedding. Within two years, she gave birth to a second son, Prince Harry on 15th September, 1984. Diana Princess of Wales was a devoted and supportive mother who took the care of her children largely by her own hands, which did cause some criticism in Royal and aristocratic circles, more accustomed to childcare mainly being in the hands of a nanny.
Diana Princess of Wales and Prince Charles grew apart and eventually seperated on 9th December, 1992 and were eventually divorced on 28th August, 1996. The divorce was blamed on infidelity by both parties.
Diana Princess of Wales was very involved in charity work, chiefly due to an interest in serious illnesses and health-care. Two of her most well-known being AIDS Awareness and leprosy.
During the last year of her life, Diana Princess of Wales became very supportive of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines, a campaign that won the Nobel Peace Prize after her death in 1997.
Diana Princess of Wales died in a car accident in France on 31st August, 1997.It took nearly 11 years before a formal ruling as to the cause of her death was made. A jury decided that Diana had been unlawfully killed due to grossly negligent driving by the chauffer of the Mercedes she was in, Henri Paul, and also press photographers who were pursuing the Princess and her friend, Dodi Fayed. The decision was made on 7th April, 2008.
- Father: John Spencer, Viscount Althorp
- Mother: Frances, Viscountess Althorp
- Born: 1st July 1, 1961
- Married: Prince Charles, 29th July, 1981
- Children: Prince William (1982), Prince Harry (1984)
