Princess Diana: The Greatest gift to Britain
“Call me Diana, not Princess Diana.” That is one of many great quotes from Princess Diana, this quote really defines who Princess Diana really was. My topic is about the great Princess Diana, she was a very good person, and she didn't deserve to die as soon as she did. Princess Diana was the best thing the British monarchy ever had because she balanced her royal duties with being a mother, she contributed to many charitable endeavors, and she handled divorce with grace and class; she died much too soon.
Princess Diana was born on July 1, 1961, to Frances Shand Kydd and John Spencer. She became Lady Diana Spencer after her father had inherited the title of Earl Spencer in 1975. When she was young her parents decided to get a divorce, and her father got the custody of the children. After her education at home, she began to attend Riddlesworth Hall School and then attended West Heath school. When she was a child, she was well known for her shyness, although she did show a great interest in music and dancing. From a young age she was brought up to be a kind and fair ruler, and nothing less.
She ended up marrying the heir to the British throne, Prince Charles. He was dating her older sister Lady Sarah, until he started hanging more around Diana. He grew a great interest in Diana, he considered her someone more marriage type. They met on November 16th, 1977 and they fell in love. They decided to get married and start a family. The couple married on july 29, 1981. Their wedding was broadcasted all around the world for people to see. Millions of people watched this grand wedding that went down in g as The Wedding of the Century.
Diana loved helping people that were less fortunate, or in great need of help. She grew a very special gift with help make people who were disabled feel comfortable around her. In 1987, she did something wonderful that no one will probably ever forget. She agreed to opening the first British hospital ward dedicated to AIDS patients. Around this time many people thought so many false things about the disease and how it was spread. Everyone thought AIDS got spread by touch, so people were afraid to touch others with the disease. The hospital for people with AIDS asked Diana if she would publicly shake hands with AIDS patients, she said yes. This is one of many things that made her such a lovably, caring person.
On June 21, 1982, she gave birth to her first son after a long, difficult pregnancy. Baby William Arthur Philip Louis was born in St. Mary’s Hospital in London. For the few months after the birth of William, the royal family was at its highest joys. Diana loved being a mother, and Charles loved being a father. Both Diana and Charles grew in a home with parents who were distant, so they made sure that the would never do that to their kids. In 1984, Diana discovered that she was pregnant again. Although Charles was dying for a daughter, on September 15, 1984, Diana gave birth to her second son at the same hospital. The baby was named Henry Charles Albert David, but they just decided to call him Harry. Princess Diana was a really good and caring mother to her two sons. She was always taking them on countless trips and making sure that they were always having fun.
Diana soon realized that when the kids came, the media got even worse. When things got tough raising the kids in the spotlight, she just took up more hobbies with charities and events to help people. Although things in the public life were great, the royal marriage had been struggling. Diana quotes “Then suddenly as Harry was born it just went bang, our marriage… the whole thing went down the drain.” As time when on, the press started noticing the royal couple starting to not spend as much time together as usual. For example, in 1987 reporters said that supposedly Prince Charles had spent 38 days at Balmoral Castle without Diana or the kids. Another reason their marriage was falling about was their age difference. Diana was still in her 20s and she wanted to live life and have fun, but Charles was nearly in his 40s. So fun for him was basically over.
The more her marriage was falling apart, the more concerned she came with her public appearance. She wanted to make sure she was still seen as the warm, lovably, caring woman, who just wanted to help make the world a better place. Diana struggled with feeling like she had little to no power in the royal family, so she turned to where she knew she had lots of power; which was in the press and public. This action worked out well for her because the British press and the public were squarely on her side. Television stations mainly showed and chronicled her visits to hospitals and her work with many charities and homeless families. Princes Diana definitely handled her divorce well in the public eye.
While Diana was going through this hard time in her life, the one thing she wanted to make sure of was that her kids didn't grow up in the same lonly home of divorce that she did. She often took the boys with her to do charity work. When they weren't going back and forth from Diana to Charles, the boys had a pretty normal childhood, with eating out, hanging out with friends, and going to the park. Diana and Charles wanted to make sure the boys weren't left out from having a fun childhood, especially with the divorce going on.
Despite the divorce, Diana definitely impacted Britain at the time and even still to this day. Diana did many charity work with AIDS patients, homeless families, and many more. She did this things not only to make sure she kept up with her image, but also to help change and help the world. Without people like Princess Diana, the way things are today would be the same. Princess Diana's goal in life was to always help others, and that's what she lived by. Even through many struggles in her own family, she still found ways and time to continue with her charities and appearances to the people. That alone made Britain the place it is now.
At the highest time in her public life with helping and caring for others, she was struggling with struggles of her own; divorce. As ive said before, divorce had a really big impact on her, but she still pushed through the pain to help others in need.Princess Diana's actions really showed the people that no matter what is happening in your life you can still help someone who has it a lot worse than you. For that is why people look up and admire Princess Diana for all of her hard work and love throughout her lifetime.
In July 1997, Diana had received an invitation to a vacation to the tropical paradise of St.Tropez at an estate belonging to a businessman Mohamed Al Fayed. Al Fayed had introduced Diana to his unmarried, 41-year-old spmg, Emad; or well known as Dodi. So once she got back from this vacation feeling very refreshed from all the stress before hand, she was so excited to see Dodi again. Before she could see him aging she had to attend one of her good friends funeral, Gianni Versace; who had been murdered in Florida. After the funeral, on July 22nd Diana traveled to Milan, Italy, for a celebrity service. After she had returned from Milan, Dodi invited her to Paris for a romantic weekend. Things between them had started to really being and seem to be going in the right direction.
On August 30, Diana and Dodi arrived back in Paris to visit the boys for a short time, she was really looking forward to seeing the boys after being away for a while. After a nice dinner with Dodi is when things took a left turn. Around 12:20 am on August 31, Diana and Dodi were in a terribly car accident that left Princess Diana dead. The doctor tried to save her, but unfortunately they couldn't stop the internal bleeding and Princess Diana was pronounced dead at 4;00 am on August 31, 1997.
Both the Queen and Charles disced to wait to wake the boys and tell them the terrible news. According to sources Charles didn't take her death very well, which was shocking to some. Very soon after Princess Diana's death, word had already been reached throughout the entire world. British Prime Minister Tony Blair summed up what was going to happen for everyone saying this “This is going to produce real public grief on a scale that is hard to imagine.” He was absolutely right, people all through the world took her death very emotionally.
From some sources, the boys didn't really take their mother's death well, but the queen and Charles helped them through it all. They also made sure that the boys were well shielded from the press.
On September 6, 1997, London's streets were filled with tons of people to say goodbye to an amazing, loving, caring person who will forever be looked up to by many. More than 2.5 billion people watched the funeral on television. It was the largest television event in history, which was more viewers than her wedding with Charles.
Many years went by and still no organizers could erect a permanent memorial for Princess Diana in London. Finally, in July 2004, the Queen officially unveiled Princess Diana's Memorial Fountain in Hyde Park. Queen Elizabeth herself called Princes Diana a “remarkable human being” That shows that to even the people that was close to Princess Diana thought of her as a wonderful person.
To this day, Princess Diana is looked up to, and is still a wonderful icon to many people. Through her many years of charity work, and helping and caring for those in need, that has shown people what a great person she was. Even through one of the toughest things in her life which was the divorce that shocked many, she still kept her head high and continued to help others in need. So for that is why she is and will always be remembered and loved by many.
Princess Diana was one of the best things that has happened to Britain, even with many struggles of her own she still did her charity work and helped others. All that while balancing being a mom and a wife, she died much too young. “When you are happy, you can forgive a great deal.” this quote really defined Princess Diana's whole life.