Princess+Diana

Diana, Princess of Wales Katelyn King and Emily Sabanegh

=**Early Life**= Princess Diana was born on July 1, 1961 in Norfolk, England. She was born into an English Aristocratic family who had royal ancestry. Her parents were John and Frances Spencer who were just beginning a life as farmers. Her parents became good friends with the royal family. Diana was one of 4 children. She had two older sisters, Sarah and Jane, and a younger brother, Charles. On her father's side of the family, she is linked to King Charles II of England through a list of illegitimate sons. She is also related to King James II through an illegitimate daughter. Diana's parents divorced when she was 7, because her mother was having an affair with another man. Although she visited her mother often, she was primarilly raised by her father. Diana was very interested in swimming and diving, and was also a successful ballerina until she grew too tall. She showed great talent in music and excelled in piano. Diana was not a good student, and failed all of her exams. She was very immature and naive in her younger years.

=﻿Prince Charle's and Diana Spencer's Wedding= Prince Charles was being pressured to marry by his family and all of England. He was supposed to marry Diana's older sister, Sarah, but that would mean he would have to give up his heir to the throne due to religion. Since Diana pursued the Church of England faith, she was eligible for marraige to Charles. Diana and Charles were acquainted with each other for quite some time, but he never really considered her as a wife until 1980. They began to spend more time together and he officially took her to meet his parents. Prince Charles proposed to Diana on February 6, 1981, but this engagement was kept secret until it was announced to the public on February 24. The soon to be princess was very modest and did not pick out a wedding ring that was exclusive. She ended up getting a ring from a company's special collection, where multiple copies were made. Diana and Charles were married in St. Paul's Cathedral on July 29, 1981. This wedding was watched globally by over 750 million people. This wedding was considered a "fairytale wedding" as 600,000 people crowded the streets to watch her enter the church. She was wearing a beautiful, white dress with a 25 foot train. During the ceremony, Diana left out the vows to obey her husband, which caused a great controversy at the time. Their wedding cake was a traditional fruit cake, like all the other royal weddings. It was made by a man referred to as "the cake-maker to kings".

=﻿Life as Princess of Wales= Now as the Princess of Wales, and next in line for Queen of England, Princess Diana used her position to benefit everyone. She was very interested in helping the cause against AIDS and leprosy. The Princess was the first person to be photographed touching someone with AIDS, which broke the stereotypical barrier that AIDS could be contracted through touch. She was also president of the Great Ormond Street Hospital for children, which helped many families and their sick children. Additionally, she ended up being a huge supporter of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines, which was significant because it won her the Nobel Peace Prize in 1997. Princess Diana and Prince Charles had 2 children together. Their first son, William, was born on June 21, 1982 in St. Mary's Hospital. Since he was the first born son, he is now in line to be King after his father, Prince Charles. Their second child, Harry, was born September 15, 1984. Princess Diana was known to be a very devoted mother. Instead of having a nanny raise her children like most royals have the luxury of doing, she insisted on raising them entirely on her own. This showed how she wasn't caught up in being royal or famous in any way.

Problems arose with Princess Diana and Prince Charles' marriage and was displayed in their exhibiting a lack of compassion or true love towards each other. It was rumored that he never really loved her, and it is hard to be happy in a marriage like that. To make up for deprivation of love, in 1986 she began an affair with Major James Hewitt, her former riding instructor. In return, Prince Charles turns to his ex-girlfriend, Camilla Parker-Bowles. The marriage suffered because of this, and also because of Princes Charles' jealousy of Diana's crowd pleasing abilities and media attention. The public loved her and she was the most photographed woman in the world. Her public image was an act, because she was really a very lonely and depressed person. She struggled with bulemia, and cut herself often. The couple received a letter from Queen Elizabeth, requesting they get a divorce. The divorce was finalized on August 26, 1996.

=﻿Life After Divorce= After the divorce, Diana received a settlement of 28 million dollars, along with a yearly sum of $600,000. Her former title, "Her Royal Highness", was stripped from her, as well as being the figurehead of over 100 charities she was involved in. The former princess died in a fatal car crash a year after the divorce. She and her boyfriend were in Paris trying to lose the paparazzi, when the car crashed into a wall while in a tunnel. Her heart had moved to the opposite side of her chest, and she went into cardiac arrest. The medical help performed CPR and she regained a pulse, but she died on the operating table due to a torn pulmonary vein, resulting from the displaced heart. She was not wearing a seatbelt, which may have accounted for the intensity of her injuries. Rumors have it that the driver of the vehicle was intoxicated from alcohol and drugs, but many first believed that the paparazzi were responsible. The date she died was August 31, 1997. There was a week of international mourning over her death because she was so widely loved.

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