The Life of Diana, Princess of Wales

The Life of Diana, Princess of Wales

The wedding of Lady Diana and the Prince of Wales was the love story of the decade. But the seemingly-perfect fairy-tale was destined not to have a storybook ending. The marriage broke down in acrimony and with revelations of infidelity on both sides. The couple's separation and divorce seriously damaged the monarchy itself. For Diana it was a painful process which led to depression - for which she claimed she got no support from the royal family.

Just as it seemed that Diana, Princess of Wales, had found new love, she died in a car crash on Sunday, August 31, 1997. The Princess's new friend, Mr Dodi Fayed, and the driver of the car, died in the accident as well; a bodyguard was seriously injured.

Childhood And Teenage Years

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 and the Hon Mrs Shand-Kydd. She had two elder sisters, Jane and Sarah, and a younger brother, Charles.

The root of Diana's insecurity lay in her upbringing, despite its privileges. Her family was living on the Queen's estate at Sandringham where her father had rented Park House. He had been a royal equerry for both King George VI and the young Queen Elizabeth II.

The wedding of Diana's parents was the social event of 1954

The Queen had been the chief guest when Diana's parents were married in 1954; the ceremony at Westminster Abbey was one of the social events of the year.

But Diana was only six when her parents split up. She would always remember the crunch of her mother's departing footsteps on the gravel drive. The children became pawns in a bitter custody dispute.

The happy years of her childhood ended when she was six years old

Lady Diana was sent to boarding school, eventually attending West Heath Public School in Kent. Here she excelled at sport, particularly swimming, but she failed all her O levels. Nevertheless, in later years she recalled fond schoolday memories, and supported her old school.

After school, she worked in London, first as a nanny, occasionally a cook, and then as an assistant at the Young England kindergarten in Knightsbridge.

Diana as a kindergarten teacher

Her father had moved to Althorpe near Northampton on becoming the eighth Earl Spencer. Her parents had divorced and there was a new Countess Spencer, daughter of the romantic novelist Barbara Cartland. But soon it was Diana who was to become the celebrated member of the family.

Diana and Charles announce their engagement

Rumours spread that her friendship with the Prince of Wales was blossoming into something more serious. Press and television besieged her at every turn. But her days at work were numbered. The Palace tried in vain to play down the speculation. And on February 24, 1981 the engagement became official.

However, there were doubts even then about whether they were really compatible. They appeared to have little in common, and there was the age difference: the Prince was 13 years older than Diana. When journalists asked them during the official engagement photo call whether they were in love, both answered "yes" - with the Prince adding "whatever love means". Charles, it emerged later, had confided to a friend that he did not yet love Diana but was sure he could.

St Paul's Cathedral, February 24, 1981

The Life of Diana, Princess of Wales
1961-1997

The Wedding

The wedding took place at St. Paul's Cathedral on a perfect July day. Millions of television viewers around the world were dazzled by the event, with a further 600,000 lining the route from Buckingham Palace to the Cathedral. She was the first Englishwoman to marry an heir to the throne for 300 years.

Approaching the altar

Diana was just 20. Under the watchful eyes of her mother, and on the reassuring arm of her father, Diana prepared to take her wedding vows. She showed nerves only once, when she struggled with getting her husband's many names in the right order.

The happiest day of her life?

And so the Royal Family welcomed a newcomer to its midst. It was a moment of particular satisfaction for the Queen Mother - herself born a Commoner, who had trodden this path some 60 years before.

The young couple

The Life of Diana, Princess of Wales
1961-1997

Family Life

After the wedding, the Princess of Wales quickly became involved in the official duties of the Royal family. Soon she was on a constant round of visits to nurseries, to schools, to hospitals.

The public singled her out for public affection: she seemed so genuinely pleased to be with ordinary folk, even if she could no longer be ordinary herself.

Diana charmed the crowds

Diana began to add her own fresh style to the mix that was the House of Windsor. There was nothing new in the idea of a Royal walkabout - but Diana brought to it a spontaneity that charmed almost everyone.

On her first official visit to the United States she created near hysteria. It takes something special to steal the limelight from an American President, especially among Americans. From the time of her dazzling appearance on her first public engagement with her then husband-to-be, Diana's wardrobe became a continual focus of attention.

Four generations of Royals

Diana had always longed for a big family. Within a year of her marriage, on June 21, 1982, she gave birth to a son, Prince William.

In 1984, on September 15, he had a brother -- christened Henry, though he was known simply as Harry. Diana believed in giving her children as normal an upbringing as royal circumstances would allow.

Having 'royal' fun...

William became the first male heir to go to kindergarten. They were not educated by private teachers, but went to school with other children. Diana insisted on giving them an education that was as normal as possible, and ensure that they received love - and had fun when going on holiday.

Diana meeting an AIDS patient

The Princess's charity work increased her affection with the public. She played an important role in publicising the plight of people with AIDS. Her speeches on the subject were forthright - and she did away with many prejudices. Simple gestures like Diana shaking hands with AIDS patients proved to the public that social contacts with AIDS sufferers were risk-free.

Diana's royal patronage did not stop in the committee room. Sometimes she would drop in for tea at charities she supported. Abroad too, Diana was proud to publicise the plight of the disadvantaged and the rejected. On a visit to Indonesia in 1989 she was praised for publicly shaking hands with lepers, dispelling widely-held myths about the disease.

But by the time of Prince Harry's birth, the marriage had become a shell. In 1987 when Harry started nursery school, the couple's separate lives had become public knowledge. The press was having a field day.

Di sitting alone outside Taj Mahal

On an official visit to India in 1992, Diana sat alone outside the Taj Mahal, that great monument to love. It was a graphic public declaration that though the couple were formally together, they were in fact apart.

Four months later, the publication of the book "Diana: Her True Story" by Andrew Morton ended the myth of the fairy tale. The book, based on interviews with some of the Princess's closest friends and with the tacit approval of the Princess herself, confirmed that her relationship with the Prince of Wales was cold and distant.

Camilla Parker-Bowles

It told of half-hearted suicide attempts by the Princess during the early years of the marriage, of her struggle with the eating disorder bulimia, and of her obsession with the belief that Charles continued to love a woman he had fallen for years before, Camilla Parker-Bowles. The Prince later confirmed - in an interview with the BBC's Jonathan Dimbeleby, that he and Camilla had had an extra-marital affair.

Not a happy couple

During a state visit to South Korea, it was visible that the couple had grown apart. Shortly afterwards, in December 1992, it was officially announced that Charles and Diana would separate.

Diana reveals all on the BBC's Panorama programme

The Life of Diana, Princess of Wales
1961-1997

Separation And Divorce

Diana continued her charity work after the separation. She spoke out on social problems and sometimes, as with bulimia, her contributions were borne out of personal suffering.

Wherever she went, on public or private business, often with her children to whom she was devoted, the media were there to record the event. And in what became something of a public relations battle with her estranged husband after they had separated, the Princess showed herself to be adept at using the media to cast herself in a favourable light.

She later told of steps she believed her husband's camp were taking to make her life difficult.

Diana with James Hewitt who later published a book about their affair

She gave an unprecedented and remarkably open interview with the BBC's Panorama programme on November 20, 1995. Watched by millions, she described her post-natal depression, the breakdown of her marriage to Prince Charles, her tense relationship with the Royal Family as a whole and, most shocking of all, she claimed that her estranged husband did not wish to be king.

She also predicted that she would never become Queen and that, instead, she wished to become a Queen "in peoples' hearts".

The pressure on her by the popular papers was relentless and stories of her men friends damaged her image as the wronged wife. One of those friends, an army officer, James Hewitt, to her horror, was the source of a book about their relationship.

Diana's ballgowns: up for sale

Diana accepted divorce only after pressure from the Queen. When it came through - on August 28th 1996 - she told a friend it was the saddest day of her life.

Diana, now officially, Diana, Princess of Wales, gave up all but a small nucleus of her charity work as she sought a new role for herself. She had a clear idea of what that role as "Queen of Hearts" should be and she illustrated it by visits abroad. In June 1997 she visited Mother Teresa who was in poor health.

Also in June, Princess Diana auctioned off 79 dresses and ballgowns that had appeared on front covers of magazines around the world. The auction raised �3.5m for charity and also seemed to symbolise a break with the past.

August: newspapers expose her relationship with Dodi Fayed

In the summer of 1997, Diana was seen with Dodi Fayed, the son of millionaire businessman Mohamed Al Fayed. Pictures of the Princess with Dodi on his yacht in the Mediterranean were splashed all over the world's tabloids and magazines.

The couple returned to Paris after one more holiday in Sardinia on Saturday August 30th. After dining at the Ritz that evening, they left by a limousine and were pursued by photographers on motorbikes who wanted more snapshots of the Princess and her new friend. The chase led to tragedy in a Paris underpass.

Diana began by bringing a breath of fresh air and a measure of glamour into the House of Windsor. But she became a sad figure to many as the story of her failed marriage unravelled.

Her critics blamed her for helping to strip the monarchy of some of the mystique so important for its survival.

But her strength of character in difficult personal circumstances and the unflagging support she gave to the sick and disadvantaged earned her scontinued respect. And, to the end, she remained a figure of public fascination and affection.

August 11: paparazzi expose the relationship

What Were You Doing When ...?

The end began in the Mediterranean - and it began as it was to end.

SATURDAY, AUGUST 30, 1997: Princess Diana, ex-wife of the heir to the British throne, and Dodi Fayed, eldest son of the millionaire businessman, Mohamed Al Fayed, had intended finishing their holiday on Sardinia.

The morning found them again being pestered by the paparazzi.

There was an unpleasant encounter with two photographers while the couple were swimming near the Al Fayed yacht Jonikal, moored off the Costa Smeralda.

They decided to go to Paris for a last evening together before the Princess flew back to England to spend some time with her sons, Prince William and Prince Harry, before her first scheduled public engagement of the autumn, on Thursday.

Rosa Monckton: long-time friend in whom Diana confided this summer

The constant attention of the photographers in Sardinia was a blight on what was, according to her friends, one of the happiest periods of Princess Diana's life.

Rosa Monckton had spent time with her in Greece in August, after news emerged that Princess Diana and Mr Fayed were spending a lot of time together.

At Dodi Fayed's suggestion, they travelled to Athens in a Gulfstream jet in the green and gold colours of the Harrods department store in London, owned by Mohamed Al Fayed.

Ms Monckton said later: "It was summer, she was a free woman, she was just having a good time.

"She was happy; very happy, and relaxed, and having a good time - and goodness knows she deserved it."

"It's not a matter of self-pity"

Relatives of Dodi Fayed have gone further. A London-based Arabic newspaper quoted Hussein Yassin, the brother of Mr Fayed's stepfather, as saying: "Dodi said that they were deeply in love and that the relationship was serious and they have decided to get married."

But for now, if that was the case, it was private.

Princess Diana had come to detest these 'snappers'. In her interview with the BBC's Panorama programme in November 1995, she said there had been a working relationship with the photographers.

"But now I can't tolerate it because it has become abusive. It's harassment," she said.

Diana and Dodi Fayed (far right) boarding the plane in Sardinia - Reuters TV

So the couple - as they had become - abandoned the sea and the sun and flew from Olba airport to France in the Harrods jet, leaving at lunchtime.

It did not take long for word of the arrival at 3.20pm local time of the distinctive Gulfstream at Le Bourget airport, outside Paris, to vibrate in the web of paparazzi contacts.

The couple, accompanied by a bodyguard, Trevor Rees-Jones, left in a Mercedes for Villa Windsor, the former home of the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, now owned by Mohamed Al Fayed.

They were taken by one of the Al Fayed drivers, Philippe Dourneau. A Range Rover followed, driven by Henri Paul, assistant director of security at the Ritz Hotel, also owned by Mr Al Fayed. The cars were pursued by photographers.

The Harrods spokesman, Michael Cole, has said that at one point, a dark car tried to slow down the Mercedes by braking in front of it to enable the paparazzi on motorcycles to catch up. Eventually, the Mercedes and Range Rover both passed it, and Mr Paul slowed down to block the path of the photographers.

At 3.45pm they arrived at the Windsor place in the Bois de Boulogne, west of Paris. Dodi Fayed gave Diana a guided tour of the house and garden. Then they set off for the Ritz.

A security camera recorded Princess Diana arriving at the Ritz for the last time

The Final Evening

When Princess Diana and Dodi Fayed arrived at the Ritz Hotel they found between 10 and 20 photographers waiting for them at the main entrance in Place Vendome, so they were taken to the rear, in Rue Cambon.

At some stage, Dodi Fayed took delivery of a �130,000 diamond solitaire ring which he had ordered 10 days earlier from one of the most exclusive jewellers in the district, Alberto Repossi. Its significance is a matter of speculation.

The couple left again at 7pm, when Philippe Dorneau took them in the Mercedes to Dodi's apartment. Henri Paul also left, thinking his work for the night was over.

Mike Williams covered the news conference detailing Princess Diana's last hours. Dur: 3'19"

At 7.15pm Diana and Dodi arrived at the apartment, where again the paparazzi were waiting.

Crowds of spectators and photographers at the front of the hotel

They had made a reservation for 9.30pm at the bistro Chez Benoit in Rue Saint-Martin. But when they left the apartment to go there - a little late - they were pursued by about 10 photographers on motorbikes, so decided to take refuge back at the Ritz.

They began a meal in the hotel's renowned seafood restaurant, L'Esparon, but because of the attention they were getting they moved to the Imperial Suite. Their intention was not to stay the night there, but to go to Mr Fayed's apartment.

At some stage, a scheme was devised to try to give the slip to the now considerable number of photographers outside - not to mention a growing crowd of spectators - by taking a round-about route.

Diana and Dodi waiting at the rear of the hotel: the affection is clear

The Mercedes and Range Rover they had been using during the day - and which were known to the paparazzi - were drawn up at the front as if they were expected there. The couple instead went to the rear. They waited in a corridor for five minutes until their car - a different Mercedes - pulled up, then slipped out. It was 12:20am.

In the car was a man who had been called back in to work two hours earlier, specifically to drive them: Henri Paul.

Events become increasingly vague, as much as anything because of the custom of the French investigating authorities of saying almost nothing publicly about the progress of their inquiries, although the police themselves are said to be having trouble unravelling the contradictions.

There are differing accounts of where Mr Paul had been that evening: at home watching TV or in a local bar or bars, with or without friends.

It is said that he had intended having an early night because he was to go with Princess Diana and Mr Fayed to England the following day. That he had been drinking is not in dispute; the amount is.

The car Henri Paul was in was a dark Mercedes S280. It was the base model in that range, with a smaller (2.8 litre) engine. It would be capable of about 130 mph - albeit in a long, straight line.

The westbound traffic lane in the underpass

The Final Drive

The ruse worked only in part. As the Range Rover departed, some of the photographers did follow it for a time. But as the Mercedes set off down Rue Cambon it was spotted and soon had its own accompaniment of photographers on motorcycles.

Princess Diana was the nearside (righthand) rear passenger - the usual seat for a VIP. Dodi Fayed sat on her left; the bodyguard, Trevor Rees-Jones, was the front seat passenger. He put on his seatbelt; it appears none of the others strapped themselves in.

The idea of throwing off the paparazzi is curious, whatever Mr Paul's driving skills. Anyone who has ridden a motorcycle knows that, in a built up area such as this, even a fast car will make little progress alongside even a modest two-wheeler.

The one exception might be on a straight stretch long enough to display the car's greater speed to advantage.

The Mercedes headed down Rue Cambon, round the anti-clockwise one way system in Place de la Concorde, and onto the right bank of the Seine, heading west.

Police cordon off the scene of the crash

At the end of Cours Albert 1^er there is a dip and a hump in the road just before it swings to the left and drops sharply into a four lane underpass at Place de l'Alma.

The marks of the initial impact are a little way inside the underpass against the nearside wall - on the car's right. The S280 then went left, across the two westbound traffic lanes.

Its front, a little left of centre, hit the 13th of the central pillars separating the two carriageways of the tunnel. The two front airbags deployed; the whole front end of the car crumpled, as it is designed to do.

Braking had forced the front down, so the impact threw the back upwards, crushing the front part of the roof.

Momentum made the car spin round before coming to rest, facing back the way it had come, its horn blaring.

The driver and Dodi Fayed were dead. The other man in the front, Mr Rees-Jones, suffered appalling injuries to his lower face and his chest. His life was saved probably by the seatbelt and the airbag.

Princess Diana was in the gap between the front and rear seats, unconscious with more severe head and chest injuries than anyone realised in the immediate aftermath.

What happened just before and after the crash is perhaps the most disputed part of the story.

Dr Frederic Maillez: gave first aid to the injured princess

The Final Hours

What happened in the final moments is a crucial part of the French criminal inquiry, with photographers under investigation for possible manslaughter.

Whether the car had shaken off the paparazzi is one of the disputed issues. They say it had; some of those under investigation say they were not even there until afterwards.

On the other hand the Harrods spokesman, Michael Cole, has described a scene akin to indians around a stagecoach in the American Wild West, with flashguns being fired into the car and one motorcycle weaving in front of the Mercedes to try to slow it.

A driver ahead of the Mercedes has said he saw another car swerve in front of it. Two pedestrians have told police the Mercedes had to avoid a black Peugeot 205 moments before it crashed. It has not been traced.

Robin Firestone: horrified by what she saw

Certainly a number of papaparazzi, possibly as many as 15, were on the scene soon after the crash. So were two American visitors to Paris, Jack and Robin Firestone, who were with their 12-year-old son in the back of a taxi which happened across the wreckage.

They described photographers as "swarming" all over the car, trying to get as many pictures as possible - in Robin Firestone's chilling words, it was like some sort of jungle scene.

A leaked report from the first two police officers to arrive complains that the photographers were abusively and aggressively preventing them from tending the injured.

A doctor who also chanced upon the scene, Frederic Maillez, gives a different impression. After an initial inspection he went back to his car to call the emergency services, then returned.

Dr Maillez said in a television interview: "There was already an off-duty fireman who was helping the passenger in the front passenger seat, who turned out to be the bodyguard, so I went to help the young woman in the back who turned out to be Lady Di, although I didn't recognize her at first.

"There were 10-15 photographers shooting away at me, shooting the car constantly," he said - but added: "They didn't hinder me any more than the rubberneckers or photographers who you find at serious accidents."

Death in Theatre

Such was the state of the wreckage that it took fire crews an hour to extract Princess Diana. She was taken to the Pitie Salpetriere hospital in south-east Paris, where increasingly desperate efforts were made to save her life.

It is not clear whether she was conscious at any stage. Mr Al Fayed's spokesman, Michael Cole, has revealed that an unnamed person in Paris passed on to Dodi's father her last words and requests. More than that is not known.

Doctors Bruno Rioux and Philippe Pavie said in a statement:

"The Princess of Wales was the victim of a high speed car crash tonight in Paris. She was immediately taken by the Paris SAMU emergency services which carried out initial resuscitation.

"On her arrival at Pitie Salpetriere hospital, she had massive chest injuries and hemorrhaging, followed rapidly by cardiac arrest.

"An emergency thoracectomy revealed a major wound on the left pulmonary vein.

"Despite closing this wound and two hours of external and then internal cardiac massage, circulation could not be re-established and death occurred at 4 o'clock in the morning."

Reporters were given the news by the French Interior Minister, Jean-Pierre Chevenement.

The world was about to go into shock.