News and Updates for Princess Diana

An icon of the 20th century, Princess Diana was a noted philanthropist, trendsetter, and tabloid target. Lady Diana Spencer was born on July 1, 1961, the aristocratic daughter of John Spencer, 8th Earl Spencer, and Frances Shand Kydd. An empathetic child, she was devastated by the contentious divorce of her parents in 1969.

As a young girl, Diana excelled in dancing and swimming. After attending finishing school in Switzerland, she became a preschool teacher’s assistant at the Young England School in Pimlico. She was engaged to Charles, Prince of Wales, then heir to the British throne, in 1981. On July 29, 1981, Diana and Prince Charles married at St Paul’s Cathedral, in a ceremony viewed by around 750 million people. They had two children, Prince William (born 1982) and Prince Harry (born 1984).

One of the most famous women in the world, Princess Diana was lauded for her charitable work and human touch, from holding hands with an AIDS patient at the height of the crisis, to bravely walking through a minefield in Angola to highlight the issue.

But her marriage was not happy, with infidelity on both sides. In 1992, Princess Diana and Prince Charles separated. They were officially divorced in 1996, and the “War of the Waleses” was an international news story.

On August 31, 1997, Princess Diana and her boyfriend, Egyptian film producer Dodi Fayed, were killed in a high-speed car accident in Paris. The world mourned “the people’s princess,” and an estimated 2.5 billion people watched her televised funeral on September 6, 1997.

Princess Diana’s legacy lives on in her children, Prince William and Prince Harry, and her grandchildren, Prince George, Princess Charlotte, Prince Louis, Prince Archie, and Princess Lilibet.