Introduction
It would be difficult to find a more inspiring, beloved yet tragic figure in the history of the 20th century British monarchy than Princess Diana Windsor. The phenomenon of the worldwide love for her has been explored by multiple authors, both within and outside the academic sphere. Relatively approachable, not a member of the Royal family herself, to be precise, Diana symbolized the fairy tale with the happy ending for millions of young women around the world. Beautiful, married to a prince, and eager to respond to fan mail, she was, in comparative terms, Cinderella personified in many people’s opinion. Yet, it would be an unforgivable ignorance to diminish her legacy only to the idea of a promise of happily ever after. Not only because Diana’s marriage to prince Charles slowly deteriorated over the years, finally ending with a scandal, but primarily because her impact is larger and more substantial than glamour.
This paper aims to provide a brief overview of princess Diana’s life, starting with her childhood and until the very last years. It examines her admirable charity work in different areas, focusing on the main achievements. It also provides an insight into what has been motivating her throughout this work, while her relationship with the Royal family has continuously been worsening. Overall this paper attempts to contextualize the life and accomplishments of the one who has been known as people’s princes.
Childhood and Early Life
Diana Frances Spencer was born on the 1st of July 1961, into the Earl family in Norfolk. The new addition to the family was somewhat of a disappointment, with Diana’s parents hoping for the male heir to secure the household’s future (Morton 64). Her parents got divorced when the future princess was only six years of age, and Diana has always remembered her mother’s crunching footsteps as she left the house (BBC). The unpleasant custody dispute, unfortunately, usual in such cases, followed, with Diana’s father Earl Spencer getting to keep the children. What followed for Diana was a long line of nannies she resented, a quiet desire to had been born a boy and a childhood both privileged and lonely (Morton 63). The sense of the noble heritage and the responsibility that came with it plagued Diana Spencer’s young years. Not even the famous Spencer’s garden parties for the children and the firework displays at the Guide Park were able to compensate for her loneliness.
Overall, Diana had three siblings: Sarah, Jane, and Charles, the youngest and long-awaited male heir, who used to tease his sister mercilessly. Diana was envious of Charles in many aspects, starting with his reputation as a well-behaved boy and finishing with his successes in the schoolroom (Morton 74). Although the fights between siblings are a natural part of growing up in a large family, Charles was in a privileged position in the eyes of their nannies as a quieter and more presentable child.
However, it was the parental rivalry that remained little Diana’s constant torment throughout her childhood years. Frances and Johnnie were in the state of permanent battle for their children’s affection, often exercising extravagance and lavishness to win them over. These schemes used to culminate in materialistic and rather ugly scenes, which in 1969 led to Diana having to make the most agonizing decision in her early life. When her cousin was due to have a wedding, Diana received two rehearsal dresses: a white from her mother and a green from her father (Morton 75). Even when talking to a biographer, Lady Di was unable to recall which she ended up choosing but remembered clearly how either choice terrified her as a display of favoritism.
Education
Despite being known as an attentive reader and a bright girl with tenderness for younger children and a big passion for art, Diana struggled at school quite seriously. While a pupil in the Silfield Private School, she excelled in swimming, dancing, and other physical activities (Morton 76). Despite being socially popular, she had difficulties attracting attention to herself in the academic setting and was not outspoken. Eager to engage in school activities and be accepted by her peers, she still felt on edge due to her parents’ divorce, an unusual occurrence for her social class (Morton 78). The school experience was further complicated by the significant academic successes of her siblings, Charles and Jane in particular.
Admirable Work
Diana has been a devoted charity actress for her entire life, dedicating enormous amounts of time and effort to helping those in need. As a princess, she provided patronage for over 100 charities dedicated to helping the disabled, homeless, and patients with HIV (“Princess Diana Charitable Work | Princess Diana Legacy”). When princess Diana made her famous visit to London’s Middlesex Hospital in 1987, the AIDS panic was at its peak, and the social stigma surrounding the disease was unimaginable. Her decision to publicly advocate for the rights of HIV-positive patients was a brave choice, as it went against what was considered the norm by the media at the time. This advocacy was furthered by the 1989 visit to the Harlem hospital, where the princess famously hugged a 7-year-old boy, who could not get adopted due to the diagnosis. Diana’s love for children, a well-known fact about her, must have contributed to this display of bravery and compassion.
Diana’s admirable non-profit work, as mentioned already, was not limited to the HIV/AIDS crisis alone. In 1997, she toured a minefield in Angola as a part of the project of dismantling the landmines, that were continuously harmful to children and refugees. In protective clothing and headgear, she walked between the landmines to highlight the dangerous issue (“The History Of Princess Diana’s Landmines Walk—And How Prince Harry Is Honoring Her Legacy”). The people of Angola to this day remember the princess’s visit and how considerate, polite, and genuinely interested she seemed in talking to them. Interestingly enough, the United Nations Mine Ban Treaty came into fruition only a few months after Diana’s tragic death in August 1997.
Successes, Failures, And Motivation
Despite how much of a disaster Diana’s marriage to prince Charles ended up being, it is impossible not to mention her first visit to the Balmoral castle. When invited to the countryside Scottish residence of the Royal family, Diana was terrified of making the wrong impression. The place was reserved only for the closest friends and the elite guests of the royals, and the invitation signified that Charles’s courtship of her had taken a serious turn. By that time, Diana has already spent several years working in London as an assistant in the Young England Kindergarten (“Princess Diana”). Hence, “a city girl” in her habits and interests, Diana was wary of finding out how much Charles’s family enjoyed countryside-specific activities, such as hunting, fishing, and prolonged outdoor walks. Nevertheless, she completely won everyone over and made the perfect first impression on her future family members, and the Duke of Edinburgh in particular.
The second success depicted in this nature is of a much grander scale and international importance. Namely, Diana’s first international overseas tour as the Princess of Wales was her and Charles’s trip to Australia and New Zealand. Politically speaking, this was an extremely sensitive mission at the time, with those countries’ representatives rumored to be thinking of exiting the United Kingdom. For the first time, Diana bit the bullet of the international attention, following her this closely, with the press focusing on every aspect of the princess’s appearance and behavior. The tour turned out to be a splendid success: thousands of people crowded all throughout the royal root to see the new Cinderella (Morton 45). It caused a further spike in Diana’s already enormous popularity and, thus, caused a downside of prince Charles falling into her shadow. Feeling left out and jealous, Charles was taking his anger out on Diana, who wasn’t able to explain to him how she had not called for such attention (Morton 44). In a way, Diana being left without her spouse’s support during her first royal mission only puts a greater emphasis on her personal success.
When it comes to Diana’s failures, a researcher is always faced with a complicated and uncomfortable question of what can be considered a failure. Diana remains, no doubt, the most beloved member of the British monarchy to this day, with people bringing flowers to her memorial to this day. She had no fall from grace in the public eye, at least not for the regular people, who continued to react with deserved respect and great adoration to her charity work and fashion choices. The main failure associated with Diana’s name is the catastrophe that her royal marriage turned out into. Although it would be incredibly unfair to consider this to be her sole personal failure, especially considering the specifics, the scandal needs to be addressed for the complete overview.
Diana could not have known that at the time of courting and marrying her, prince Charles was in the middle of the prolonged affair with a married woman Camilla Parker-Bowels. According to the princess’s accounts, queen Elizabeth and other members of the Royal Family knew of the situation, which led to them facilitating the prince’s engagement to Diana. After moving into the Windsor palace and starting exhausting classes in history and etiquette, Diana discovered that Charles had a golden bracelet made for Camilla in his office (Morton 34). Furthermore, the special gift was signed with the private pet names, Fred and Gladys (Brown 120). As this heartbreaking discovery met Diana before her wedding to Charles, it is safe to say that the event signified a shattering of the rose-colored glasses. Even according to the standards of the arranged marriages, becoming a wife to someone who already has a mistress can definitely not be considered a success.
Another constant struggle in Diana’s life was to do with her lifelong eating disorder, which worsened due to the unimaginable stress levels of her daily life. Diana’s bulimia nervosa developed in adolescence but became appalling by the time of her honeymoon. Throughout the yacht trip, Diana would, in her own words, “gobble up everything she could find” and “be sick in two minutes” (Morton 38). The crippling disappointment in the royal marriage that has just begun must have made the already dangerous disease unbearable for her. Later, tabloids went so far as to attribute the failure of Charles and Diana’s marriage to the fits of princess’s eating disorder.
When it comes to motivation, there is no shortage of sources: across interviews, Diana confesses that her love for her sons William and Harry is her primal motivational source. Her desire to bring them to security and to surround them with love informed the vast majority of the decisions in her life since becoming a mother (Morton 61). One might say it can be linked to her emotionally troubled childhood, where no amount of toys and gifts could compensate for the feeling of not being wanted. Her charity work as well has been motivated by her love “for children and little people” (Morton 59). As this paper demonstrates, Diana was called the people’s princess for a reason, and her dedication to the most vulnerable among them is both the reward and the ultimate motivation.
Later Years and Tragic Death
After divorcing prince Charles in 1996, Diana’s efforts were focused on ensuring she will remain in close contact with William and Harry, as well as attempting to get privacy. The latter was largely unsuccessful, as the tabloids, scandalized by the royal divorce, began to haunt her once again. The efforts of prince Charles’ PR team contributed to Diana’s growing reputation as an emotionally volatile woman who does not fully understand what she is saying (“Princess Diana”). The interview, given by Diana to Andrew Morton, whose biography of her is referenced multiple times throughout this paper, has only strengthened this idea. To the conservative people of Britain, Diana had to be emotionally volatile and otherwise unstable to preserve the reputation of prince Charles.
Such an unfair and arguably misogynistic perception of Diana has significantly complicated her personal quest by normalcy. While attempting to live as a regular woman, she found love again: first with a cardiac surgeon Hasnat Khan, and then with an Egyptian heir Dodi Hayed (“Princess Diana”). Yet her relationship with the latter has ended with one of the most well-known tragedies of the 20th century: the car crash on the 31st of August.
Conclusion
Diana’s death was faced with international mourning, and the British public this time has turned against Charles and the Royals. Some of the papers outside of the UK have even speculated on the monarchy’s involvement in the accident, claiming that they wanted Diana gone after her interview. It is important to remember that there is no evidence to prove these very serious claims, yet Diana’s contribution to the unmasking the life behind the palace’s façade is undeniable. A philanthropist, a mother, and a genuinely warm soul, she lived a life of great personal difficulty despite the material privileges of the upper class. To this day, she is remembered as a kind, dedicated, and passionate women loved by many people around the world.
References
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Brown, Tina. The Diana Chronicles. Anchor, 2008, pp. 1-567.
“The History Of Princess Diana’s Landmines Walk—And How Prince Harry Is Honoring Her Legacy”. Time, 2021. Web.
Morton, Andrew. Diana. Her True Story – In Her Own Words. Michael O’Mara Books Limited, 2017, pp. 1-448.
“Princess Diana”. Biography, 2021. Web.
“Princess Diana Charitable Work | Princess Diana Legacy”. Dianaslegacy.Co.Uk, 2021. Web.