Princess Diana
1961 - 1997
Princess of Wales, “Queen of Hearts”
by Rit Nosotro First Published:: 2003( )
Although her life was filled with adversity and tragic events, Diana Spencer
always had a burden for the less fortunate, the sick, and the needy. Even when
she was going through troubling times in her own life, she continued to remember
that there were others who were in pain, and that she had the ability to help
them.
The girl who was to become Princess of Wales was born on the first of July in
1961, in Norfolk England, to the Viscount and Viscountess Althorp. Her tribulations
began early in life, as her parents divorced when she was only six years old.
Both of them remarried and Diana and her younger brother Charles split their
childhood years between their two homes, while her two older sisters Sarah and
Jane were away at boarding school.
For her education, Diana attended the exclusive West Heath boarding school in
Kent for four years, but decided to drop out when she was sixteen. She then
attended one term at a Swiss finishing school after which she ended her formal
schooling and obtained a job as a nursery school teacher’s aide in London.
In February of 1981, Prince Charles proposed to Diana. During the official engagement
announcement they appeared together in public for the first time. The marriage
ceremony was held on July 29 of the same year, at St. Paul’s Cathedral,
in front of 2,500 people and an estimated worldwide television audience of 750
million people. The couple’s first son, William, was born in 1982, and
his brother Harry followed in 1984.
Near the end of the 1980’s, Princess Diana began to devote much of her
time to charity work. Her favorite causes to support were subjects that were
often taboo for the time; things like HIV/AIDS, drug addiction, and domestic
abuse. To support different causes, she traveled thousands of miles around the
world each year, sometimes taking her sons along with her so that they could
see and understand the troubles and hardships of the less fortunate. Her dedication
to the causes she believed in endeared her even more to the rest of the world,
and the media still could not get enough of her. Her reputation as the “people’s
princess” continued to grow, although it was around this time that reports
first began of marital trouble between Charles and Diana. It was speculated
in the press that both Charles and Diana were participating in extramarital
affairs.
The truth behind these reports eventually drove the Prince and Princess apart.
On the ninth of December, 1992, a spokesperson for Buckingham Palace announced
that Charles and Diana were separating.
A few years later, Queen Elizabeth II made an unprecedented decision and asked
the couple to consider settling for a divorce. Diana consented in February of
1996, and broke official protocol by not informing the queen of her decision
first. The royal family reached an agreement with the Princess that stated that
she would be barred from ever succeeding to the throne and she was forced to
drop the prefix Her Royal Highness from her name, shortening it to the simpler
Diana, Princess of Wales.
Even through her heart-breaking and exhausting divorce, Diana chose to continue
her charity work as far as possible. Once they were officially divorced, she
cut the number of charities that she actively contributed to down to six, where
it had once been near 110. She worked endlessly to support these causes and
kept a tiring schedule of travel and public appearances. In June of 1997, Diana
auctioned off 79 of her evening gowns at Christie’s in New York for the
benefit of AIDS and cancer funds, raising more than $5.7 million.
In her tireless effort to increase awareness about land mines, Diana traveled
to many conflict-filled areas such as Angola and the former Yugoslavia. She
raised great controversy when she was photographed shaking hands with a man
who was infected with AIDS, which was unheard of contact for the time. Acts
of kindness like this were what endeared her to the world as the “queen
of hearts” and the “people’s princess.” She did not
care about her social standing as royalty. She only cared that there were people
who were sick, dying, and lonely and that she could help them. For her efforts,
she was awarded with various humanitarian prizes.
In August, 1997, the world was shocked to learn of the death of Princess Diana.
She was killed in a car accident in the early hours of the morning after leaving
a Paris hotel. The driver of the car (who was later found to have been intoxicated)
was killed at the scene, as was Diana’s companion, Dodi al-Fayed. Diana
died a few hours later after going into cardiac arrest at the age of 36. It
was discovered that none of the passengers had been wearing seatbelts when the
accident occurred.
Her death was met by disbelief and an outpouring of sorrow from all around the
world. People came from all over to place flowers at Westminster Abbey and Buckingham
Palace. Her funeral was televised and viewed by millions, and more than one
million people lined the three mile funeral route to Westminster Abbey on the
6th of September, 1997.
Princess Diana is remembered to this day as the “queen of hearts”
because of her selfless giving and stewardship to others. Even though she endured
heartbreak and troubles such as divorce and grief in her own life, she realized
that there were others with bigger struggles, and that she had the power to
help them overcome as she had done. Her goal to be known as the “queen
of people’s hearts” had been achieved through her love and compassion
to the less fortunate.
Diana has been described as intensely religious. This was not the outward form
which many see as sterile and irrelevant, but another reflection of our age:
worship and believe as you please. Don't be concerned about morality. De inclusive.
And her frequent dallying with clairvoyants and mystics - a sinful practice
all too common in the aristocracy - is so "new age".
She belonged to a new generation. Her parents were divorced. She was a depressive.
Her marriage a loveless failure. She divorced after ten years. She had trouble
with her in-laws, attempting suicide in a cry for help. She was bulimic needing
psychiatric help, but she preferred an astrologer and a tarot card reader. She
could not cope with work and marriage. She lurched from one unhappy affair to
another and was willing to talk to anybody about her unhappiness. During another
affair, she was killed by speed, alcohol and a drunken driver.
At her funeral, her brother said: "For all the status, the glamour, the
applause, Diana remained throughout a very insecure person at heart, almost
child-like in her desire to do good for others so she could release herself
from deep feelings of unworthiness of which her eating disorders were merely
a symptom. The world sensed this part of her character and cherished her for
her vulnerability whilst admiring her for her honesty." Diana, Princess
of Wales, an X Generationist, was a post-modernist.
It is said that Prince Charles fell in love with Orthodoxy during his 1996 visit
to Mount Athos with its 2,000 monks of various nationalities. He spent four
hours at Vatopedi Monastery speaking with the Abbot and that there was some
sort of ceremony held involving him - an induction as a catechumen perhaps?
It is also said that the tragic death of his wife, Diana, Princess of Wales
in 1997 was the great catalyst toward Orthodoxy in the Prince's life
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