Diana, Princess of Wales was born on 1 July 1961, she was a member of the British royal family. She was the first wife of Charles, Prince of Wales- the heir apparent to the British throne and the mother of Prince William and Prince Harry. Diana’s activism and glamour made her an international icon and earned her ending popularity as well as unprecedented public scrutiny, exacerbated by her tumultuous private life.
Diana was born into the British nobility and grew up close to the royal family on their Sandringham estate. In 1981, while working as a nursery teacher’s assistant, she become engaged to Prince Charles, the eldest son of Queen Elizabeth II. Their wedding took place at St Paul’s Cathedral in 1981 and made her Princess of Wales, a role in which she was ethnically received by the public. They had two sons, William and Harry, who were then second and third in the line of succession to the British throne. Diana’s marriage to Charles suffered due to their incompatibility and extramarital affairs. They separated in 1992, soon after the breakdown of their relationship become public knowledge. Their marital difficulties become increasingly publicised, and they divorced in 1996.
As Princess of Wales, Diana undertook royal duties on behalf of the Queen and represented her at functions across Commonwealth realms. She was celebrated in the media for her unconventional approach to charity work. Her patronages initially centred on children and the elderly but she later become known for her involvement in two particular campaigns, that involving the social attitudes towards and the acceptance of AIDS patients, and the campaign promoted through the International Red Cross for the removal of landmines. She also raised awareness and advocated for ways to help people affected with cancer snd mental illness. The princess was initially noted for her shyness, but her charisma and friendliness endeared her to the public and helped her reputation survive the acrimonious collapse of her marriage. Considered to be very photogenic, she was a leader of fashion in the 1980s and 1990s.
On 31 August 1997, Diana died in a car crash in the Pnt de’Alma tunnel in Paris while the driver was fleeing the paparazzi. The crash also resulted in the death of her companion Dodi Fayed and the driver, Henri Paul, who was the acting security manager of the Hotel Ritz Paris. Trevor Rees-Hones, who was employed as a bodyguard by Dodi’sfather, survived the crash. The Televised funeral, on 6 September, was watched by a British television audience that peaked at 32.10 million, which was one of the United Kingdom’s highest viewing figures ever. Millions more watched the event around the world.
The sudden and unexpected death of an extraordinarily popular royal figure brought statements from senior figures worldwide and many tributes by members of the public. People left flowers, candles, cards, and personal messages outside Kensington Palace for many months. Her coffin, draped with the royal flag, was brought to London from Paris by Prince Charles and Diana’s two sisters on 31 August 1997. The coffin was taken to a private mortuary and then placed in the Chapel Royal, St James’s Palace.
On 5 September, Queen Elizabeth II paid tribute to her in a live television broadcast. Diana’s funeral took place in Westminster Abbey on 6 September. Her sons walked in the funeral procession behind her coffin, along with her ex-husband the Prince of Wales, the Duke of Edinburgh, Diana’s brother Lord Spencer, and representatives of some of her charities. Lord Spencer said of his sister, “She proved in the last year that she needed no royal title to continue to generate her particular brand of magic.” Re-written in tribute to Diana, “Candle in the Wind 1997” was performed by Elton John at the funeral service (the only occasion the song has been performed live). Released as a single in 1997, the global proceeds from the song have gone to Diana’s charities.
The sudden death of Princess of Wales has given rise to many conspiracy theories, After 1998, it was theorised that there was an orchestrated criminal conspiracy surrounding the death of Diana, Princess of Wales. Official investigations in both Britain and France found that Diana died in a manner consistent with media reports following the fatal car crash in Paris on 31 August 1997. In 1999, a French investigation concluded that Diana died as the result of a crash. The French investigator, Judge Hervé Stephan, concluded that the paparazzi were some distance from the Mercedes S280 when it crashed and were not responsible. After hearing evidence at the British inquest, a jury in 2008 returned a verdict of “unlawful killing” by driver Henri Paul and the paparazzi pursuing the car. The jury’s verdict also stated: “In addition, the death of the deceased was caused or contributed to by the fact that the deceased was not wearing a seat belt and by the fact that the Mercedes struck the pillar in the Alma Tunnel rather than colliding with something else”.
Active in disputing the official version of events was the British tabloid newspaper, the Daily Express, and Egyptian businessman Mohamed Al-Fayed, whose son, Dodi, was Diana’s wife at the time and also died in the crash. In 2001, Diana’s butler Paul Burrell published a note that he claimed had been written by Diana in 1995, in which there were allegations that her former husband was “planning ‘an accident in [Diana’s] car, brake failure and serious head injury” so that he could marry again. A special Metropolitan Police inquiry team was established in 2004, Operation Paget, headed by Commissioner John Stevens to investigate the various conspiracy theories which led up to the British inquest. This investigation looked into 175 conspiracy claims that had been made by Fayed. Among the witnesses questioned was Prince Charles, who is 2005 told Stevens that he did not know about his former wife’s note from 1995 and could not understand why she had these feelings. Fayed has persistently propounded what were found to be conspiracy theories at the inquest and has repeatedly claimed that he believes his son was murdered with Diana.
What actually happened with Diana we never going to know but there were certain things which were fishy, such as the drunken driver, why the CCTV cameras in the tunnel were not working? and what about the note that Diana wrote? The truth has gone with the long lost Princess of Wales.
