Diana, Princess of Wales (photo posted later in the article), - ex-wife Prince Charles and the mother of the second in line heir to the British throne, Prince William. When she seemed to find new love, tragically died along with her new friend.

Diana, Princess of Wales: biography

Diana Francis Spencer was born on 07/01/1961 at Park House, near Sandringham, Norfolk. She was the one youngest daughter Viscount and Viscountess Eltrop, the now deceased Earl Spencer and Mrs. Shand-Kydd. She had two older sisters, Jane and Sarah, and younger brother Charles.

The cause of Diana's self-doubt is to be found in her upbringing, despite her privileged position. The family lived on the Queen's estate at Sandringham, where the father rented Park House. He was the royal equerry to the king and the young queen, Elizabeth II.

The Queen was the chief guest at Diana's parents' wedding in 1954. The ceremony then held in Westminster Abbey became one of the social events of the year.

But Diana was only six when her parents divorced. She will always remember the sound of her mother leaving on the gravel road. The children became pawns in a bitter custody dispute.

Lady Diana was sent to a boarding school, and ended up at West Heath School in Here she excelled in sports (her height, equal to 178 cm, contributed to this), especially in swimming, but failed all the exams. Nevertheless, later on she fondly remembered her school days and supported her school.

After completing her studies, she worked in London as a nanny, a cook and then as an assistant teacher at Young England Nursery in Knightsbridge.

Her father moved to Altrop near Northampton and became the 8th Earl Spencer. Her parents divorced, and a new Countess Spencer, daughter of the writer Barbara Cartland, appeared. But soon Diana became a family celebrity.

Engagement

Rumors spread that her friendship with the Prince of Wales had developed into something more serious. The press and television besieged Diana at every turn. But her days at work were numbered. The palace tried in vain to cool the speculation. And on February 24, 1981, the engagement became official.

Wedding

The wedding took place at St. Paul's Cathedral on a perfect July day. Millions of television viewers around the world were mesmerized by the event, and another 600,000 people gathered along the route from Buckingham Palace to the cathedral. Diana became the first Englishwoman in over 300 years to marry the heir to the throne.

She was only 20. Under the gaze of her mother, leaning on her father's hand, Diana of Wales (photo posted in the article) prepared to take a wedding vow. She only showed nervousness once when she tried to put her husband's many names in the correct order.

Welcome newbie. It was a moment of special satisfaction for the Queen Mother, who herself came from a simple family and also made this journey 60 years ago.

Popularity

After the wedding, the Princess of Wales Diana immediately began to take an active part in the performance of official duties of the royal family. She soon began making visits to schools and hospitals.

The public noted her love for the people: it seemed that she sincerely rejoiced at her stay among ordinary people even though she wasn't like that.

Diana brought her own fresh style to the mix that was the House of the Windsors. There was nothing new about the idea of ​​royal visits, but she added a spontaneity to it that charmed almost everyone.

During her first official trip to the United States, she provoked almost hysteria. There was something special about someone other than the American president becoming the center of attention, especially for Americans. Since the dazzling appearance during her first public outing with her husband, Diana's wardrobe has become a constant center of attention.

Charity

Diana, Princess of Wales, whose rise in popularity owes much to her charitable work, has been instrumental in spreading awareness of the plight of people with AIDS. Her speeches on this subject were candid, and she did away with many prejudices. Simple gestures, such as Diana of Wales shaking hands with an AIDS patient, proved to society that social contact with the sick is safe.

Her patronage was not limited to boardrooms. She occasionally dropped in for tea at the charities she supported. Abroad, Princess Diana of Wales spoke of the plight of the underprivileged and outcast. During her visit to Indonesia in 1989, she publicly shook hands with lepers, dispelling widespread myths about the disease.

Family life

Diana always dreamed of big family. A year after her marriage, on June 21, 1982, she gave birth to a son, Prince William. In 1984, on September 15, he had a brother, Henry, although he was better known simply as Harry. Diana was in favor of raising her children as conventionally as royal circumstances would allow.

William became the first male heir to be brought up in kindergarten. Private teachers did not teach their sons, the boys went to school with others. The mother insisted that the education they receive be as ordinary as possible, surrounded them with love and provided entertainment during the holidays.

But by the time Prince Harry was born, the marriage had become a façade. In 1987, when Harry went to Kindergarten, the couple's separate life became public. The press has a holiday.

During an official visit to India in 1992, Diana sat alone at the Taj Mahal, the great monument of love. It was a graphic public announcement that while the couple had formally stayed together, they had in fact broken up.

Revealing book

Four months after the publication of Diana: Her true story» Andrew Morton is done with the fairy tale. The book, based on interviews with some of the princess's closest friends, and with her own tacit consent, confirmed that the relationship with her husband was cold and distant.

The author recounted the princess's half-hearted suicide attempts during the first years of her marriage, her struggle with bulimia, and her obsession with believing that Charles was still in love with the woman he dated years before, Camilla Parker-Bowles. The prince later confirmed that he and Camilla did indeed have an affair.

During a state visit to South Korea it was evident that the Princess of Wales Diana and Charles moved away from each other. Shortly thereafter, in December 1992, the divorce was officially announced.

Divorce

Diana continued her charitable work after the spat. She spoke about social issues, and sometimes, as in the case of bulimia, her donations were based on personal suffering.

Wherever she went, on public or private business, often with her children to whom she dedicated herself, the media was present to document the event. It became something of a PR battle with her ex-husband. After her divorce, Princess Diana of Wales showed her skill in the use of funds mass media to present yourself in a favorable light.

She later spoke of what she thought her camp had done. ex-husband to make her life difficult.

On 11/20/1995, she gave an unprecedented and surprisingly open interview to the BBC. She spoke to millions of viewers about her postpartum depression, about the breakup of her marriage to Prince Charles, about her tense relationship with royal family in general, and most shockingly, she claimed that her husband did not want to be king.

She also predicted that she would never become a queen and that instead she would like to become a queen in people's hearts.

Diana, Princess of Wales and her lovers

The pressure of the popular newspapers on her was relentless, and stories of male friends shattered her image as a resentful wife. One of these friends, Army officer James Hewitt, became the source of a book about their relationship, to her dismay.

Diana of Wales accepted the divorce only after insistence from the queen. When it came to its logical conclusion on August 28, 1996, she said that it was the saddest day of her life.

Diana, now officially the Princess of Wales, abandoned most of her charitable work and began to look for a new field of activity for herself. She had a clear idea that the role of "queen of hearts" should remain with her, and she illustrated this with visits abroad. In June 1997, Diana visited who was in poor health.

In June, she auctioned off 79 dresses and ball gowns that have appeared on the covers of magazines around the world. The auction raised £3.5m for charity and also symbolized a break with the past.

Tragic death

In the summer of 1997, Diana of Wales was spotted with Dodi Fayed, the son of millionaire Mohammed Al Fayed. Photos of the princess with Dodi on a yacht in the Mediterranean appeared in all the tabloids and magazines in the world.

The couple returned to Paris on Saturday 30 August after another holiday in Sardinia. After dinner at the Ritz that same evening, they drove out in a limousine and were pursued by motorcycle photographers who wanted to take more pictures couple in love. The chase led to tragedy in an underground tunnel.

Princess Diana of Wales was a breath of fresh air and brought glamor to the Windsor household. But she became a sad figure for many when the truth about her failed marriage was revealed.

Critics accuse her of depriving the monarchy of the mystical veneer so essential to its survival.

But by the strength of her character in difficult personal circumstances, and by her relentless support for the sick and destitute, Diana of Wales earned her respect. She remained a figure of public admiration and love to the end.

What, in fact, did I know about Princess Diana until today? The fact that she was and is the favorite of the English people, as well as Australians, New Zealanders, Canadians and many other inhabitants of the planet, was unhappy in marriage with Prince Charles, in union with him gave birth to two sons, one of whom, probably very soon, can become king. She died while still very young. After the accident, the body of the son of Egyptian billionaire Dodi Al-Fayed, who was her alleged lover, was found in the tunnel next to her.

Here you go. First, I found as many photos of Princess Diana as possible. I looked at these photos and thought about how amazing and beautiful they are. On many of them, she seems to be shining with happiness, so all sunny, bright. But staged shots, as it turned out, are very often deceptive. It has long been no secret that when 19-year-old Diana Spencer married 33-year-old Prince Charles, she knew that he had been in a relationship with a married lady Camilla Parker-Bowles for eight years, she also knew that and after marriage, her husband will associate with this woman. Imagine the state of a girl who initially counted on some kind of fairy tale, they say the heir to the throne himself drew attention to her, she will become a princess, he will love her, idolize her, she is young and pretty, which means life will be beautiful. In addition to the fact that Charles was cold to his young wife, they were also separated by a huge gap in intellectual and spiritual development. Charles was interested in politics, philosophy, ecology, history, painting, architecture with early years, adored hunting and fishing, could not do without servants, but nevertheless he was ready to crawl on his knees all day, weeding his beds with organic vegetables. And Princess Diana barely finished school, no one was particularly involved in her upbringing, her parents divorced when she was six years old, when she turned 15, her father brought her into the house new wife, the future princess was left to the nannies and to herself, she loved to read women's novels, played the piano well and loved ballet, she was not going to maintain intelligent conversations with her husband Dee, especially in Honeymoon. Perfectly two different person“Diana and Charles, they were never meant to be happy for a single day. I read the book "Princess Diana. Life Told by Herself”, in which our heroine tells almost everything about her life without concealment.

At first, Diana cherished the hope that she could outshine her husband's mistress Camilla, but very quickly realized that she would never win this battle. And depression began, attacks of bulimia and even attempts to injure herself, it is clear that freely or not, she wanted to attract her husband's attention to herself. In her book, Princess Diana writes a lot about her rival Camille, she literally pours mud on her, calling her a Rottweiler with a huge lower jaw, sagging breasts, calls her an untidy, foul-smelling slob. Diana talks on the topic: how could Prince Charles be so tightly attached to Camilla? Charles initially visited the bedroom of his legal wife once every three weeks, and after the birth of the heirs, he completely ceased to fulfill his marital duty. Naturally, the temperamental and freedom-loving Diana began to make lovers for herself. She was always ready for a divorce, she threw herself into each of her novels as if into a pool with her head. But all these guys, they did not love her, perhaps they were in love, they wanted her as a woman, they were delighted that the princess herself paid attention to them, nothing more. One of the lovers sold his revelations and Diana's letters for a very large sum of money. Just think - her lovers are divided into official and unofficial, the first five, the second eight. Do you think she's a whore? Or just a woman who yearned for love?

But ordinary people adored their princess, as soon as she appeared on an official visit in any place where the British dynasty rules, people flocked to her by rivers and waterfalls, be it Britain, Australia, New Zealand or Canada. Diana always looked fantastic, while she did not spend a penny on her outfits. All the fashion houses of the world were ready to send her their outfits for free, if only she put them on and appeared in front of the world like that.

Princess Diana died when she was 36 years old. A beautiful end to a bright and unusual story. Whatever one may say, but Diana remained the favorite of the people, the “queen of hearts”, she did not know how to hypocrite, but what can I say? Many girls in her place would simply turn a blind eye to the betrayal of an unloved husband, portray happiness and save the marriage at all costs, but Diana wanted something real. Unrestrained, sensitive, prone to depression and tantrums, this young woman was the exact opposite of her mother-in-law, Queen Elizabeth II. Decades will pass from the day of her death, and the people will remember her. Charity, many good deeds, not only a pretty appearance won the love of the people of Diana.

Wedding photos of Princess Diana and Prince Charles.

Only after the divorce, Diana was able to afford to appear in public in jeans.

Before Diana, Prince Charles met with her sister Sarah, but something went wrong with them ...

In this photo, Diana and her rival Camilla.

Childhood photo of Princess Diana, though she was not a princess then :) Diana adored hamsters and guinea pigs, but did not like dogs.

A rare photo of Princess Diana, where she was without bangs, with an open forehead, she was very good!

And this is also Princess Diana! Ballet lover.

The paparazzi often photographed Princess Diana in swimsuits. Our heroine knew about this and willingly posed for the photographers who sat "in the bushes".

In this photo, a very young Princess Diana.

Pictured with billionaire Dodi Al-Fayed.

Ha! And that's her too!

It was her first summer fully spent in the status of a divorced woman. A year has passed since their official breakup with Charles. A friend appeared next to Diana, on whom she could count, she had just returned from a joint vacation with her sons and was full of hope that life would finally change.

If this actually happened, the royal family would be in a terrible position.

Dreaming of a prince

Princess Diana was the youngest of three daughters of Viscount Althorp John Spencer and his wife Frances. All the family fortune and titles were inherited by their younger brother Charles, while the sisters were to be successfully married.

The lively and direct Diana turned out to be immune to the exact sciences and studying at school. In college, she lasted a year, paying much more attention to music, dancing and reading novels by Barbara Cartland (the book "The King's Bride" was her favorite).

When Diana turned 18, she suddenly turned into the heroine of such a novel herself.

The heir to the British throne, Prince Charles, has long been looking for a bride. The noble married lady Camilla Parker-Bowles, with whom he kissed at the races in front of everyone, did not suit the court in all respects: even if Camilla had left her husband, the heir could not marry a divorced woman.

Heeding the hard requests (if not orders) of his father, Charles agreed to Diana's candidacy as his wife. He knew her older sister Sarah, visited the Spencer estate, and it didn’t make much difference for him who to marry, if it was not Camilla.

Reality

They had been talking for less than a year when Charles proposed to her, begging her to think carefully. Diana agreed with lightning speed: whether she really fell in love with Charles or convinced herself of this, so as not to spoil the fairy tale, is now difficult to say. On February 24, 1981, the engagement was officially announced.

Almost immediately, Charles went on a tour of Australia and New Zealand, leaving his bride in literally to be eaten by the paparazzi. Diana at that time lived in London in the same apartment with her friends and went to work every day in a kindergarten, where she worked as an assistant teacher. Photographers rented an apartment opposite and guarded her every minute.

After moving to Kensington Palace, things didn't get any easier.

Before the wedding, it became clear that Charles and Diana had nothing in common - he was a "prince" to the marrow of his bones, who loved traditional royal entertainment (polo, hunting) and listened to Haydn in the evenings; Diana, on the other hand, was an ordinary young resident of London - despite her aristocratic origin. The thirteen-year age difference made the gulf between them even deeper.

... And two weeks before the wedding, Diana found out that Charles did not even think of ending his previous relationship with Camilla Parker-Bowles. In desperation, she sobbed into her sister's shoulder that she could not marry him!

"Bad luck Dutch (Diana's childhood nickname), your portraits are all over the tea napkins, so it's too late to back out," she heard back.

Due to shattered nerves, Diana began to have bulimic attacks.

The dressmakers who worked on the wedding dress of the princess had to sew it in at the waist several times. Stunning in beauty and scale, the wedding ceremony in St. Paul's Cathedral was watched by 750 thousand viewers, another 600 thousand people went out into the street to see everything live.

Britain was happy: before their eyes the wedding of the century was taking place. No one imagined what tragedy it would end in.

Diana vs. Court

A year after the wedding, she gave birth to Charles's son, and the country's heir to the throne. Relations in the marriage became even more tense: Diana fell into postpartum depression, and the confused Charles, at the slightest hint of a quarrel, simply left the house. Where he was going, Diana did not doubt for a second.

“Bad luck Dutch (Diana’s childhood nickname), your portraits are already on all the tea napkins, so it’s too late to retreat”

To some extent, they both just wanted to be loved, but did not know how to give love first. Charles spent most of his childhood away from his mother, who was solving important government issues, and from his father he heard more criticism than praise. Diana, on the other hand, was so upset by the divorce of her parents that even as an adult she did not stop judging her mother:

“She should have stayed with us! I would never, ever leave my children! I'd rather die!"

In matters of raising William and Harry, she was adamant and easily violated royal traditions: she chose the names herself, decided to give birth not in the palace, but in the hospital, and did not miss the opportunity to show her sons real, not royal life.

The queen was unnerved, but Elizabeth held on. Until the relationship between Diana and Charles turned into open hostility. Tired of constant deceit, Diana initiated the publication of a book in which she honestly described all the ins and outs of her marriage to Charles.

“On the table lay a letter on the stamped paper of Windsor Castle, written in such a recognizable clear handwriting of the queen. It began with the words "Dear Diana ...", and ended, as usual: "With love, from mom."

Diana: her true story was published in May 1992. Since then, their family has actually ceased to exist - but officially the divorce occurred in 1996 at the initiative of the queen. Giving an interview with the BBC, in which Diana openly admitted her own infidelities to Charles and accused Camilla of the collapse of their marriage, she left Elizabeth no other choice. These scandals had to be stopped at all costs.

“On the table lay a letter on the stamped paper of Windsor Castle, written in such a recognizable clear handwriting of the Queen. It began with the words "Dear Diana ...", and ended, as usual: "With love, from mom." The princess was very hurt by the mention contained in the letter that the queen consulted with the government and the church, ”recalled Diana’s butler Paul Burrell.

She was allowed to remain at Kensington Palace as the mother of the heirs to the throne. But then, with a shudder, they began to follow the new Diana - who had finally become a free woman.

In the year that has passed since the divorce, she managed to make friends with film producer Dodi Al-Fayed. Unlike Charles, he happily dedicated everything to Diana. free time and shared her hobbies in swimming, music, dancing ... During those holidays in July 1996, she introduced him to her sons.

What would happen if their friendship turned into something more? The Muslim stepfather of the heirs to the British throne - such a queen could not imagine in herself nightmare. The death of Diana and Dodi in a car accident resolved this difficult conflict forever.

20 years ago, on August 31, 1997, Princess Diana of Wales tragically died in a car accident. Some idolized her, calling Diana the “Queen of Human Hearts” and “Rose of the World”, others criticized her, but the Princess of Wales definitely entered the history of the United Kingdom, and interest in her personality has not faded to this day. Around the World shares 10 facts about the most popular princess.

I studied badly

Until the age of nine, Diana was homeschooled. Then she was assigned to the West Hill Special School for Girls, but she could not study there. At the age of 16, Diana failed several exams at once, after which her father sent her to a school in Switzerland, but very soon she returned home to England.

Worked as a teacher and cleaner

On her 18th birthday, her parents gave Diana a luxurious apartment in London, where she lived with her friends. At this time, Diana, who always loved children, got a job in a kindergarten and worked as a cleaner.

I wanted to be a ballerina

Diana had an excellent musical ear, and she adored ballet. She attended dance classes, and after becoming a princess, she supported the English National Ballet. Diana also swam well, played tennis and skied.

Her sister first started dating Prince Charles

Diana was 16 years old when she first met Prince Charles, who was then dating her older sister Sarah. Only three years later, Charles drew attention to Diana. They got married when Diana was 20 and Charles was 32.

Chose an engagement ring from a catalog

Royal brides have always made their wedding rings to order. Diana chose a ring from the catalog of the jewelry house Garrard. The ring was adorned with a 12 carat sapphire and 14 diamonds. Now this ring is worn by the wife of Diana's eldest son William, the Duchess Cambridge Kate Middleton.

Confused the name of the groom at the altar

The Wedding of the Century took place on July 29, 1981. 3.5 thousand people gathered in St. Paul's Cathedral, another 750 million watched the ceremony on TV. At the altar, Diana mixed up the order of the prince's names, calling him Philip Charles Arthur George. Also in her oath, for the first time in the history of the royal family, she did not use the word "obey", which became a sensation in society.

Her son became the first royal heir to be born in a hospital

The first son of Diana and Charles was born in 1982, and Prince William became the first royal heir to be born in a hospital - before that, childbirth took place in the palace. Two years later, the couple's second child, Prince Harry, appeared in the same hospital. From that moment on, the royal marriage began to fall apart. By the way, Diana tried to give her sons an experience that was not accepted in the royal family: for example, she fired the nanny, she took the boys to Disneyland herself, they even went to McDonald's.

I was afraid to ride and fell in love with the instructor

As a child, Diana fell off her horse and has been afraid to ride ever since. Riding instructor James Hewitt was originally brought in to train William and Harry, but he also helped Diana overcome her fear of horses. Later, a romance began between them. The marriage of Diana and Charles broke up in the early 1990s, it became a worldwide sensation. In an interview, the ex-spouses accused each other of cheating, while Charles publicly spoke about his long-standing romance with Camilla Parker-Bowles.

I wanted to be the "queen of hearts"

Diana said that her only talent was the ability to take care of other people. It was her charity work that made her so popular not only in the UK, but throughout the world. Diana became one of the first dignitaries who drew public attention to the problem of AIDS. She publicly shook hands with infected people, trying to change the world's perception of this disease. Diana worked in palliative care, oversaw a leper colony, helped the homeless, and was a patron of several hospitals. She supported over 100 charitable foundations. During her visit to Moscow, Diana visited primary school, Tushino Children's Hospital and opened a branch of the fund for helping children with disabilities.

Was buried on the island

Diana died in a car accident in 1997, she was 36 years old. In the car, she was with her lover, millionaire Dodi Al-Fayed. There are several versions of the causes of the accident, ranging from the drunkenness of the driver and the lovers' attempt to hide from the paparazzi to conspiracy theories of a planned murder. During the investigation, it was reported that no one in the car was wearing seat belts. The broadcast of the funeral of the "people's" princess was watched by 2.5 billion people. Diana was buried in the family estate of the Earl Spencer family on a small island.

Photo: Fox Photos / Stringer / Getty Images, Princess Diana Archive / Stringer / Getty Images, Tim Graham (x2) / Contributor / Getty Images, Anwar Hussein / Contributor / Getty Images, Tim Graham (x3) / Contributor / Getty Images, Ralf -Finn Hestoft / Contributor / Getty Images

Andrew Morton's acclaimed biography, Diana, will be released this week in the UK. Her True Story, which will be supplemented for the first time with a transcript of the audio recordings of the mother of Princes William and Harry. Excerpts from this book appeared on the network, in which Lady Di talks about her childhood and relationships with men. As the princess herself admits, as a child she was very unhappy: “Mom constantly cried. They often quarreled with my father, and once I even saw my father hit my mother in the face. It was terrible. My brother and sisters and I lived in constant fear because we didn’t know when the next scandal would break out.”

As a teenager, it was difficult for Diana to establish contact with other children: “At the age of 14, I realized that I did not have a single talent. And it was very difficult for me to communicate with boys, I didn’t know how to behave around them, so I was friends only with girls. Although, to be honest, I spent most of my free time from classes in the ballet class alone, practicing hour after hour at the barre. It was my way of escaping reality,” admitted the Princess of Wales.

After Diana's parents divorced, and her father John Spencer married a second time to the daughter of the famous English writer Lady Barbara Cartland - Rhine, he almost completely stopped communicating with the children from a previous marriage: “We did not find a common language with the stepmother. She is very Difficult person. In addition, after my father had a cerebral hemorrhage in 1978, she forbade the medical staff to let us see him. I don't know what he thought, maybe he thought we had abandoned him, but it wasn't! I suffered a lot because of this, ”Diana said about one of the most difficult periods In my life.

Diana's father with his wife Raine