Princess Diana’s time at Buckingham Palace and the many charitable causes she supported is still talked of today.One of the reasons why Princess Diana’s popularity seems to be unwavering even after years of her death is the fact that she was like a breath of fresh air that entered Buckingham Palace. She was known as the Princess of Wales.One of the five children that Frances Shand Kydd and Edward John Spencer had, Princess Diana was the medium through which the Spencer family went from Earls serving the queen to being an actual part of the royal family. Throughout her life, Diana was loved for her philanthropy and her feminist attitude. Keep reading to learn more facts about her that aren’t usually talked of!The Early Life Of Princess DianaPrincess Diana, the People’s Princess, was known for the charitable causes that she provided support for and the fact that she was incredibly empathetic. It was also known that she did not always lead a very luxurious life. Her maiden name was Spencer and she led a life that was constantly troubled by the problematic marriage of her parents.Before her addition to the royal family, she was known as Diana Spencer. Having always been an incredibly beautiful woman, she was definitely sought after by many. However, she famously said on many occasions that the initial years of her life ended up becoming scars and troubled her throughout the rest of her life.Her parents eventually got divorced but this was only after they had gone through many bouts of infidelity and even physical abuse. After their parents got divorced, she was sent to boarding school at the age of 12 or 13.On July 1, 1961, Diana was born, and the name remained the same for a few years. It was in 1975 that she received the title Lady Diana Spencer. This was an outcome of her father gaining an Earldom. Before she married Prince Charles and became arguably the most delightful member of the British royal family, she was just another girl. She grew up in Sandringham Estate. She was born in one of the houses, called the Park House on the grounds of Sandringham.However, there were two things that set her apart from the crowd. As a child, Diana was a great admirer of ballet and wanted to become a dancer herself. However, her dancing lessons were cut short after her growth spurt. She ended up being almost 5 ft 11 in (1.80 m) tall, which did not fit the requirements for a ballet dancer. Hence, she ended up becoming one of the most ardent supporters of the English National Ballet and made the most generous donations towards their cause.Diana’s life was filled with many admirers. In one of the particularly terrifying incidents, two very notable celebrities, namely Sylvester Stallone and Richard Gere almost had a fistfight at a party hosted by Elton John. Thankfully, Elton John broke them off and established peace. Nobody got hurt that night but the extent to which her beauty could take people was established.In one of the surprising events that came to pass, Princess Diana performed a three-minute-long contemporary dance piece at the Royal Opera House, with the former Royal Ballet Principal named Wayne Sleep, in the year 1985.Princess Diana had four siblings. Her two sisters were Lady Sarah McCorquodale and Lady Jane Fellowes. Her brothers were named Charles Spencer and John Spencer.Schooling Of Princess DianaDiana Spencer was never great with her academics. She was sent to boarding school and struggled to keep up with the pace of the modern education system. It is quite thrilling to know that the Princess of Wales dropped out of school at the age of 16.She dropped out of an institution named West Heath School. Arguably, this was one of the factors that contributed towards her early marriage and her introduction to celebrities right from when she was around 17-18 years old. She tried to attend a finishing school named Chateau d’Oex in Switzerland but that did not work out well for her either.Following her dropping out of finishing school as well, Diana moved to London and this is where many of the events of her life took place. It is exciting to note that the person who would become such a loved part of the Royal British family also spent a lot of her time doing minimum wage jobs. She worked for several people and was not shy of working as a cleaner or a nanny.She even worked at a kindergarten and as a housekeeper for notable people. This is one of the reasons why she was known as the ‘People’s Princess’. The fact that a commoner could make it to the status of Royal Highness gave people the hope that their lives were just as valuable and that the status quo was not eternal.She had a great love for children and hence, felt safe and comfortable while working in a kindergarten and as a nanny. We can only imagine how lucky the children that she took care of felt when she rose to the status of Princess of Wales.Princess Diana’s ChildrenPrince Charles courted Lady Diana Spencer for a very short time. Although the couple said that the courting period was around a year, they actually met only around 12 times throughout this time. Even though a year should be enough, the number of times that the couple met before the proposal came through was a matter that stood out as a little icky to many.Before her marriage to Prince Charles, she was courted by many and was the apple of everyone’s eyes. It is pretty evident that she was everyone’s favorite since she was everything that anyone would expect of a great person. She was humble, gentle, sensible, believed in charity, supported women’s causes, and was impeccably beautiful. Hence, the fact that she appeared more than 50 times on the cover of People magazine throughout her life does not even seem odd.Prince Charles of Wales proposed to Princess Diana in February 1981. The couple, back then, seemed to be happy and spent the next few months getting to know each other. The royal wedding took place on 29th July 1981. Princess Diana was only 20 years old at the time of her marriage, which means that she was 18 when she first met with Prince Charles.Not only was she very young at the time of marriage, but she was also 13 years younger than her spouse. This fact later came up as one of the reasons that would contribute towards the divorce of the two. It is said that Diana’s sister, Sarah Spencer, was the one who introduced Prince Charles to her.The marriage was an elaborate affair and took place in St. Paul’s Cathedral. It is common knowledge that the weddings of the royal family typically take place at Westminster Abbey but it was believed that the marriage of Prince Charles and Princess Diana was not a matter to be taken lightly. St. Paul’s Cathedral offers more seats and thus was chosen as the wedding venue.Hence, the marriage was made as grand as possible and was televised throughout the world. Thousands of people lined the streets to catch a glimpse of the happy couple on their wedding day.If we say that Diana married the Prince of Wales in a simple wedding dress, that wouldn’t even be believable. Her train alone was 25 ft (7.62 m) long and was the longest in the history of the royal family. Her dress was customized and studded with pearls. The puffy sleeves and the overall structure and fit of the dress are still thought of fondly by fashion enthusiasts.Prince Charles proposed to her, but Diana was the one who chose a ring. Instead of having it custom-made, she chose from the catalog. She chose a sapphire ring, surrounded by diamonds and set in white gold. This ring is also the one that Prince William, her older son, used to propose to his now-wife, Kate Middleton.Following their marriage, the couple did enter Buckingham Palace but they could hardly be called a happy couple. The cracks in the relationship started showing quite early. The wedding might have cost around £57million. Prince Charles and the evidence of his infidelity were some of the reasons why the Princess of Wales eventually was diagnosed with depression. She lived in Kensington Palace after her marriage ended.Before she married Charles, there already were speculations of him having an affair with a lady named Camilla, and the relationship eventually kept growing to such a point that the couple had to separate.Princess Diana, in her marriage with Prince Charles, had two children. They were named Prince William and Prince Harry. To them, the princess of Wales was just another mother who took them to school and made them wait in line to get their orders at McDonald’s. Even the Queen appreciated Princess Diana as a mother and a philanthropist in a letter that she wrote following her death.However, this came as a surprise since it was public knowledge that the Queen asked Diana to be involved in something more pleasant, after seeing the efforts she made in HIV/AIDS awareness.In one of the funny episodes that took place, Diana invited Cindy Crawford and some other celebrity models to the house when she came to know that her son, Prince William, was crushing over them. In an interview, Prince William recalls how flustered he was and how he almost fell while trying to escape the situation.Princess Diana also paved the way for the women that her sons got married to. She was the one who broke the tradition of royal women giving birth in the palace and insisted on going to the hospital for childbirth. Both Prince William and Prince Harry were born at St. Mary’s Hospital. She was about to be 21 years old when she gave birth to Prince William.Later on, Kate Middleton gave birth to Prince George, Princess Charlotte, and Prince Louis at the same hospital.The Princess of Wales also refused to say a vow. Diana omitted the part that required her to say that she would ‘obey Prince Charles’. This was then followed by Kate Middleton and Meghan Markle during their weddings as well. Princess Diana changed the ways the royal authorities were perceived, which was monumental. Princess Margaret and Princess Anne, on the other hand, were stuck to the prescribed vows.Princess Diana accepts that she never hoped to sit on the British throne since she did things differently and wasn’t as orderly as the Queen Mother.Other Relationships Of Princess DianaOne of the controversial relationships in Diana’s life was with her bodyguard, Barry Mannakee. The two came to be very close to each other and Diana even accepted that she was in love with someone at the time. However, Barry lost his job as her bodyguard on accounts of the questionable relationship that the two shared. Shortly after this, he died in a motorcycle accident, in which Princess Diana believed that foul play was involved in his untimely death.After her divorce from Prince Charles, Diana had many relationships with celebrities such as John Kennedy Jr. and Bryan Adams. However, the love of her life was believed to be a Pakistani surgeon named Hasnat Khan. However, the two had to break it off since the inclusion into the royal family was too intimidating for him.Did You Know…Diana appeared in 50 issues of People magazine.Diana’s older sister was the one who introduced her to Prince Charles.Camilla Shand, who was married to Andrew Parker Bowles, agreed that Diana would be a great match for the Prince of Wales.Prince Charles had many relationships with women such as Lady Jane Wellesley.The picture of Princess Diana arriving at the St. Paul’s Cathedral with her father Earl Spencer is an iconic image to date due to how beautiful she looked.Diana died in Paris, of a fatal car crash. She passed away on August 31, 1997.Designed by David and Elizabeth Emanuel, Princess Diana’s wedding dress was beautiful.Sir Elton John wrote a song after Diana’s death and only performed it live once, which was at her funeral.
Princess Diana’s time at Buckingham Palace and the many charitable causes she supported is still talked of today.
