Background
The late Diana, Princess of Wales Lady Diana Frances Spencer was born on July 1, 1961 in Norfolk. Lady Diana Spencer married the Prince of Wales at St Paul's Cathedral in London on July 29, 1981.
During his marriage to Princess undertook a wide range of royal duties. The family was very important to the princess, who had two sons: Prince William and Prince Henry (Harry). After her divorce from the Prince of Wales, the Princess continued to be regarded as a member of the Royal Family.
Diana, Princess of Wales died on Sunday, August 31, 1997 after a car accident in Paris.
There was widespread public mourning for the death of this popular figure, culminating with her funeral in Westminster Abbey on Saturday September 6, 1997.
Even after his death, the work of the princess lives in the form of charity and commemorative projects designed to help the needy.
Childhood and teenage years
Diana, Princess of Wales, formerly Lady 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 (8) Earl Spencer and the late Hon. Mrs. Shand-Kydd, daughter of the fourth Baron Fermoy.
Earl Spencer was Equerry to George VI from 1950 to 1952, and to the Queen from 1952 to 1954. Lady Diana's parents, who had married in 1954, separated in 1967 and the marriage was dissolved in 1969. Earl Spencer married Raine, Countess of Dartmouth in 1976.
Along with his two older sisters Sarah (born 1955), Jane (born 1957) and his younger brother Charles (born 1964), Lady Diana continued to live with her father at Park House, Sandringham, until the death of his grandfather, the seventh Earl Spencer. In 1975, the family moved to the Spencer seat at Althorp (a stately home dating from 1508), in Northamptonshire, in the English Midlands.
Lady Diana was educated first at a preparatory school, Riddlesworth Hall in Diss, Norfolk, and then in 1974 went as a boarder to West Heath, near Sevenoaks, Kent. At school he showed a talent for music (as a pianist), dancing and domestic economy, and won the school girl giving maximum help to the school and his school.
She left West Heath in 1977 and went to finishing school at the Institut Alpin Videmanette in Rougemont, Switzerland, who left after the Easter term of 1978. The following year he moved to an apartment in Coleherne Court, London. For a while she looked after the child of an American couple, and she worked as a kindergarten teacher at the Young England School in Pimlico.
Marriage and family
The February 24, 1981 was officially announced that Lady Diana was to marry the Prince of Wales. As neighbors at Sandringham until 1975, families have been known for many years, and Lady Diana and Prince had met again when he was invited to a weekend at Althorp in November 1977.
They married in St Paul's Cathedral in London on July 29, 1981 in a ceremony that attracted a global television and radio audience estimated at around 1,000 million people, and hundreds of thousands of people lining the route from Buckingham Palace to the Cathedral. The wedding was at Buckingham Palace.
The marriage was solemnized by the Archbishop of Canterbury Dr Runcie, together with the Dean of St. Paul, the clergy of other denominations read prayers. Music included the hymns "Christ is made the sure foundation", "I swear to you my country", the anthem "I was glad '(by Sir Hubert Parry), a song composed especially" Let the people praise thee' by Professor Mathias and Handel's Let the Bright Seraphim "performed by Dame Kiri Te Kanawa. The lesson was read by the Speaker of the House of Commons, Mr. George Thomas (the late Lord Tonypandy).
The Princess was the first Englishwoman to marry an heir to the throne for 300 years (when Lady Anne Hyde married the future James II from whom descended the princess). The bride wore a silk taffeta gown with a 25-foot train designed by the Emanuels, the veil is held in place by the Spencer family diamond tiara, and carried a bouquet of gardenias, lilies of the valley, white freesia, golden roses, white orchids and stephanotis. It was attended by five bridesmaids, including Princess Margaret's daughter Lady Sarah Armstrong-Jones (now Lady Sarah Chatto), Prince Andrew (now The Duke of York) and Prince Edward (now The Earl of Wessex) were the Prince of Wales's supporters (a Royal custom instead of a best man).
The Prince and Princess of Wales spent part of their honeymoon at the Mountbatten family home at Broadlands, Hampshire, before flying to Gibraltar
to join the Royal Yacht HMY BRITANNIA for a 12-day cruise through the Mediterranean to Egypt . They finished their honeymoon with a stay at Balmoral.
The Prince and Princess made their principal home at Highgrove House, near Tetbury, Gloucestershire, and shared an apartment in Kensington Palace.
The Princess of Wales had two sons. Prince William Arthur Philip Louis was born on June 21, 1982 and Prince Henry (Harry) Charles Albert David on September 15, 1984, in St Mary's Hospital, Paddington, London. The princess had 17 godchildren.
In December 1992 it was announced that the Prince and Princess of Wales had agreed to separate. The Princess based her home and office in Kensington Palace, while the Prince was based at the Palace of St James and continued to live at Highgrove.
In November 1995, The Princess gave a television interview in which he spoke of his unhappiness in his personal life and the pressures of his public service. The Prince and Princess were divorced on August 28, 1996.
The Princes continued to share equal responsibility for raising their children. The Princess continued to be regarded as a member of the Royal Family.
The Queen, Prince and Princess of Wales agreed that the Princess was to be known after the divorce as Diana, Princess of Wales, without the style "Her Royal Highness" (as the princess gave her the style 'HRH' on marriage therefore expected to give it up in divorce). The Princess continued to live at Kensington Palace, with its office located there.