Princess diana 3
Princess diana 3Diana, Princess of Wales, formerly Lady Diana Frances Spencer, was born on July 1, 1961 at Park House, near Sandringham, Norfolk. She was the youngest daughter of the then Viscount and Viscountess Althorp, now the late Earl Spencer VIII and then Hon. Mrs. Shand-Kydd, daughter of fourth Baron Fermoy. Earl Spencer was Equerry to George VI from 1950 to 1952 and to the Queen from 1952 to 1954. Lady Diana's parents married in 1954, separated in 1967, and were divorced in 1969. Earl Spencer later married Raine, Countess of Dartmouth in 1976.
Diana, her two older sisters, Sarah and Jane, and her younger brother, Charles lived with their father at Park House, Sandringham until the death of her grandfather, Earl Spencer VII. The family moved to the Spencer family seat at Althorp in Northamptonshire, in 1975.
Diana first went to Riddlesworth Hall, a preparatory school in Diss, Norfolk, and then in 1974 went to West Heath, near Sevenoaks, Kent, as a boarder. Diana Had a talent for music as an accomplished pianist, dancing and domestic science. She left West Heath in 1977 and went to finishing school at the Institut Alpin Videmanette in Rougemont, Switzerland. She left finishing school after the Easter term of 1978. She then moved to Coleherne Court, London. For a while she looked after the child of an American couple and worked as a kindergarten teacher at the Young England School in Pimlico.
On February 24, 1981, it was officially announced that Diana was to marry the Prince of Wales. They were married at St. Paul's Cathedral in London on July 29, 1981. The ceremony drew a global television and radio audience estimated at around 1,000 million people and hundreds of thousands of people lining the way from Buckingham Palace to St. Paul's Cathedral. Diana was the first Englishwoman to marry an heir to the throne for 300 years.
The Prince and Princess of Wales spent part of their honeymoon at the Mountbatten family home at Broadlands, Hampshire. They then flew to Gibraltar to join the Royal Yacht HMY BRITANNIA for a twelve-day cruise through the Mediterranean to Egypt. They finished their honeymoon with a trip to Balmoral.
Diana and Charles made their vacation home at Highgrove House near, Tetbury, Cloucestershire, and shared an apartment in Kensington Palace. The Princess had two sons. Prince William Arthur Philip Louis was born on June 21, 1982 and Prince Henry (Harry) Charles Albert David was born on September 15, 1984, both at St. Mary's Hospital, Paddington, in London. Diana had seventeen godchildren.
In December of 1992, it was announced that the Prince and Princess of Wales had agreed to separate. Diana based her household and office at Kensington Palace, while Charles was based at St. James's Palace and continued to live at Highgrove. In November of 1995, Diana gave a television interview in which she told about her unhappiness in her personal life and the pressures of her public role. Charles and Diana were divorced on August 28, 1996.
Diana and Charles continued to share equal responsibility for the upbringing of their children. The Princess, as the mother of Prince William, second in line to the throne, continued to be regarded as a member of the Royal family. The Queen, Prince, and Princess of Wales agreed that Diana was to be known after the divorce as "Diana, Princess of Wales", without the style of "Her Royal Highness". Diana continued to live at Kensington Palace with her office based there.
After her marriage, Diana became involved in the official duties of the Royal family. Her first tour with the Prince was a three-day visit to Wales in October 1981. In 1983, she went with Charles and the infant Prince William on a tour of Australia and New Zealand. At the end of their tour to Italy in 1985, Diana and Charles were joined by William and baby Henry. Other official overseas visits with the Prince included Australia, Brazil, India, Canada, Nigeria, Cameroon, Indonesia, Spain, Italy, France, Portugal, and Japan. Their last visit overseas together was to South Korea in 1992.
Diana's first official visit overseas on her own was in September of 1982, when she represented the Queen at the state funeral of Princess Grace of Monaco. The Princess's first tour overseas by herself was in February of 1984, when she traveled to Norway to attend a performance by the London City Ballet, of which she was patron. Diana visited many other countries on her own including Germany, the United States, Pakistan, Switzerland, Hungary, Egypt, Belgium, France, South Africa, Zimbabwe and Nepal. Diana was best known for her charitable work.
During her marriage, Diana was president of over 100 charities. The Princess did much to publicize work on behalf of homeless, disabled, children, and people with HIV/AIDS. In December of 1993, the Princess announced that she would be reducing the extent of her public life so that she could 'combine a meaningful public role with a more private life'. After Diana and Charles were separated, the Princess continued to appear with the Royal family on major national occasions.
Following her divorce, Diana resigned most of her charity and other patronages. The Princess remained patron of Centrepoint, English National Ballet, Leprosy Mission and National AIDS Trust, and as President of the Hospital for Sick Children, Great Ormond Street and of the Royal Marsden Hospital. In June 1997, Diana attended receptions in London and New York as previews of the sale of a number of dresses and suits worn by her on the official engagements, with the proceeds going to charity. The Princess spent her 36th and last birthday on July 1, 1997 attending the Tate Gallery's 100th Anniversary celebrations. Her last official engagement in Britain was on July 21, when she visited Northwick Park Hospital in London.
In the year before her death, Princess Diana was an active campaigner for a ban on the manufacture and use of land mines. In January of 1997, she visited Angola as part of her campaign. In June, Diana spoke at the landmines conference at the Royal Geographical Society in London, followed by a visit to Washington D.C. in the United States on June 17-18 to promote the American Red Cross landmines campaign. Diana's last public engagements were during her visit to Bosnia from August 7 to August 10, when she visited landmine projects in Travnic, Sarajevo, and Zenezica.
Diana died in a tragic car accident on August 30, 1997 in Paris, France. It was in recognition of her charity work that representatives of the charities with which she worked during her life were invited to walk behind her coffin with her family from St. James's Palace to Westminster Abbey on the day of her funeral.