Diana, Princess of Wales (1961–97,) born Diana Frances Spencer, was the ex-wife of Prince Charles, heir to the British throne. She was the mother of Prince William, currently the second in the line of succession. Diana was the most charismatic and the publicly adored member of the British royal family for decades.
Born in Sandringham, Norfolk, Diana was educated in England and Switzerland. She married Prince Charles when she was twenty in a spectacular ceremony that was viewed on television by tens of millions around the world. She gave birth to Prince William in 1982 and Prince Harry in 1984. The marriage was soon in trouble after Diana realized her husband’s affection for Camilla Parker-Bowles, whom he eventually married in 2005.
Diana found the royal family aloof, and her sadness led to bulimia nervosa, an eating disorder, and several affairs. After the biography Diana, Her True Story (1992) revealed the extent of her despair, she described her marriage a “torture” in a leaked private videotape.
Diana became an admired figure through her humanitarian work. She not only focused on helping children, homeless people, and AIDS sufferers but also led an international campaign to forbid landmines. Her heartbreaking death in a brutal car crash in Paris gave rise to an extensive display of public mourning.
More: Wikipedia • READ: Works by Diana, Princess of Wales
Being a princess isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.
—Diana, Princess of Wales
Topics: Royalty
Life is just a journey.
—Diana, Princess of Wales
Topics: Life and Living
I love to hold people’s hands when I visit hospitals, even though they are shocked because they haven’t experienced anything like it before, but to me it is a normal thing to do.
—Diana, Princess of Wales
Topics: Love
You can’t comfort the afflicted with afflicting the comfortable.
—Diana, Princess of Wales
I want to walk into a room, be it a hospital for the dying or a hospital for the sick children, and feel that I am needed. I want to do, not just to be.
—Diana, Princess of Wales
Topics: Service
Everyone of us needs to show how much we care for each other and, in the process, care for ourselves.
—Diana, Princess of Wales
Topics: Love
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