Diana, Princess of Wales: An Unforgettable Legacy

Diana Frances Spencer was born on July 1, 1961 to John Spencer, 8th Earl Spencer and Frances Shand Kydd. The Spencers were one of the most oldest and important families of Great Britain. By the time Diana was born, she was already titled "Lady Diana Spencer", respectively. The Spencer family was very close to the royal family often helping them as faithful allies. Diana was known for even playing with Prince Andrew and Edward.

By the late 70's, Prince Charles was under much scrutiny by his mother to marry. He was first romantically linked to Lady Diana's older sister, Lady Sarah McCorquodale. Charles, first, took a serious interest in Diana in 1980 taking her to a polo match. Their relationship then grew from petty polo matches to a proposal on February 6, 1981.

The couple officialy announced their engagement on February 21, 1981 when Diana picked out the large, now iconic, sapphire and diamond engagement ring. Lady Diana was only twenty years old when she made the three-and-a-half minute walk down the isle on July 29 to wed Charles Phillip Arthur George. The wedding was understandably dubbed the "fairy-tale wedding" by the 750 million people that tuned in to watch the wedding of the century.

Just three months after the wedding, the newly titled Her Royal Highness Princess of Wales announced that she was pregnant with her first child. On June 21,1982 she gave birth to William Arthur Phillip Louis. Only two years after William was born, Harry Charles Albert David was conceived on September 15, 1984. The princess was known to be an extremely hands-on mom, personally picking the nannies, and even taking baby William on his first tour of Australia and New Zealand.

By the mid-80's, the princess became patron of an extensive amount of charities. 118 to be exact. Her charities dealed with serious illnesses such as HIV/AIDS, helping the homeless, drug addicts, and the youth. During her final year she used her growing popularity to highlight the world-wide problem of land-mines. The International Campaign to Ban Land-Mines went on to win the 1997 Noble Peace Prize after her death.

During the 1990's, Prince Charles's and Princess Diana's marriage had inevitably fallen apart. Both spoke openly to the press and blamed each other for the unhappiness. Infidelity was a common factor of both. The highly publicized and scrutinized affair between Prince Charles and Camilla Parker-Bowels was one of the key reasons of the break-up. Diana famously said in an interview, "There were three of us in the marriage so it was a bit crowded."

After many attacks between the two of them in the media, the queen advised the prince and princess to divorce. On August 28, 1996 the divorce was finalized. Diana signed a clause to prevent her from disclosing details about the divorce along with a lump sum of £17 million.

Even after the strain of the divorce, Diana's personal life did not suffer. She dated a respected Pakistani heart surgeon but then ended the relationship due to pressures of the media. After a month, she started to date the son of Egyptian billionaire, Dodi Fayed. Diana spent multiple holidays with him and his family.

On August 30, 1997 Diana and Dodi arrived in Paris for a romantic dinner night which soon ended in tragedy. After they left dinner at the Ritz Hotel, the couple left in a Mercedes-Benz. The couple's car was then chased by paparazzi. The car crashed in the Alma tunnel at speeds of 120 miles per hour by the drunk driver, Henri Paul. Dodi and the driver were killed on impact but Diana was rushed to hospital where she died at 4 am. The funeral was held on September 6th, 1997 and was viewed by 2 billion people. It still remains the most watched funeral ever. She was laid to rest on an island on the Spencer's estate.

The unbelievable impact that she left on the world today will never be forgotten, no matter how long after her death. We will never forget where we were when we found out the news, "Diana, Princess of Wales and the Queen of Hearts has died." She knew how to use her popularity to help other people. She gave hope to people that didn't have any reason to have any hope. I think that Tony Blair said it best when he said, "She was the people's princess and that's how she will remain. For now and for eternity."

♥ In loving memory, Princess Diana ♥
Gone but never forgotten