Photo by Rick

Diana Frances Spencer was born into British aristocracy at Park House, Sandringham in Norfolk, England on 1st July 1961. I think that I first knew about her when I was only a child and I´m pretty sure that almost everybody has heard of Lady Di for her charity work, public scandals or for the media pressure around her fashionable image. But the truth is that she was the first British citizen to marry an heir to the British throne in almost 300 years. Their sons, Princess William and Harry are second and third in line to the throne of the United Kingdom.

When Diana was 16, she met Prince Charles for the first time when he was dating her eldest sister, Lady Sarah. She made some impression on him, but she was too young for him to date. When Diana left school, she moved to London, and worked as a housekeeper and nanny. She lived in a house with three roommates. In 1980, Diana and Charles met again when she was visiting her sister, whose husband was working for the Queen. They began to date, and six months later he proposed. At that time Prince Charles was under pressure to marry. The requirements were that he couldn’t marry a Roman Catholic, the bride should have a royal or aristocratic background, be a virgin, as well as Protestant. They finally married on 29 July, 1981 in a ceremony watched on television by an audience of 750 million.

They soon began to have big problems like Charles’ long standing affair with Camilla Parker Bowles, Diana´s suicide attempts and bulimia. So they divorced on 28 August 1996 with the consent of the Queen. She continued living at Kensington Palace, and was permitted to retain the title “Princess of Wales” but not that of “Her Royal Highness.”

Among the charities she worked with, were homeless, youth, drug addicts and elderly organizations. In addition, she developed an interest in serious illnesses including AIDS and leprosy. In the last year of her life, she was the most visible supporter of the International Campaign to Ban Land mines, which made her win the Nobel Peace Price in 1997 after her death.

On 31 August 1997, Diana died in a car crash in the Pont de lÁlma road tunnel in Paris with Dodi Al-Fayed and the security manager of the Hotel Ritz , Henri Paul, while they were driving fast to elude the paparazzi. Their car crashed into the thirteenth pillar of the tunnel. None of the four occupants was wearing a seat belt.