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Diana Frances Spencer
was born July 1, 1961 at Park House, the home her parents at Sandringham.
As a child she occasionally played with Prince Andrew and Prince Edward,
who were near her in age. Diana had two older sisters, Sarah and Jane,
and a younger brother, Charles.
When Diana was six,
her mother left her father. The Spencers divorced in 1969, and Diana's
father received custody of the children. In 1975 Diana's father became
the eighth Earl Spencer, making Diana a Lady. Diana and her siblings moved
to Althorp, the Spencer family estate in Northampton.
Diana attended private
boarding schools. Although she wasn't an especially good student, she
was excelled at sports, and won trophies for her swimming. She dreamed
of being a ballerina, but grew too tall (as an adult she was 5'10").
After leaving school in 1978 she worked as a nanny, waitress, and cleaning
woman before becoming a teacher at the Young England kindergarten in Pimlico,
London.
Her romance with the
Prince of Wales began in 1980. He was twelve years older than Diana, and
had previously dated her sister Sarah. Almost from the start, the press
took a special interest in "Lady Di." They staked out her apartment
and followed her everwhere. Diana later said that she found the constant
attention unbearable.
Diana and Charles were married July 29, 1981 at St Paul's Cathedral. The
wedding was broadcast in 74 countries and watched by 750 million people
worldwide. Diana was the first English woman to marry an heir to England's
throne in over 300 years.
At the ceremony the
Archbishop of Canterbury said,"Here is the stuff of which fairy tales
are made." But the fairy tale was an illusion, as Diana had already
discovered. Prince Charles was still in love with an old girlfriend, Camilla
Parker-Bowles. "There were three of us in this marriage, so it was
a bit crowded," Princess Diana remarked years later. Distraught,
Diana developed bulimia and attempted suicide. Despite her problems, she
was a devoted mother to her two sons, Prince William and Prince Harry.
She worked tirelessly for charity, and was beloved by the public for her
warmth and humanity.
In 1992 Princess Diana
decided to expose the truth about her relationship with Prince Charles
to the public. She secretly collaborated with author Andrew Morton on
his book Diana, Her True Story. The princess's direct involvement in the
writing of the book was not revealed to the public until after her death.
The separation of the Prince and Princess of Wales was announced on December
9, 1992. The divorce became official August 28, 1996. Princess Diana kept
the title Princess of Wales and continued to work for her favorite charities.
She and Prince Charles had joint custody of their sons.
In 1997 Princess Diana fell in love with Emad "Dodi" Fayed,
the son of billionaire businessman Mohamed Al-Fayed. Their romance ended
abruptly on August 31, 1997 when both were killed in a car accident in
Paris while fleeing from paparazzi. Princess Diana's sudden death led
to an unprecedented worldwide outpouring of grief and love. As her brother
said at her funeral, she was "the unique, the complex, the extraordinary
and irreplacable Diana, whose beauty, both internal and external, will
never be extinguished from our minds."
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