I. INTRODUCTION
To become a princess is part of almost every girl’s dream. Ever since the story of Cinderella, Snow White, and other fictional princesses have been told, many hoped of having the same destiny as they had. Some wish to wear a pretty tiara embedded with precious jewels, others just want to find and marry Prince Charming. The feeling of royalty at your feet would be so good to be true.
A shy girl named Diana Spencer was given the opportunity to become a Princess of the English Monarchy. She had her very own tiara and married a handsome prince, just like in fairy tales. The beautiful young lady captured hearts around the world for her warm kindness and dedication towards the people. She became one of the world’s most glamorous and famous figures. Everyone thought that she was the luckiest and happiest girl living. But the ending of Princess Diana’s story didn’t turn out quite as expected, nor had a “happy ever after”. II. BODY
Diana Frances Spencer was born on July 1, 1961 at Park House, the home that her parents rented on Queen Elizabeth II’s state at Sandringham and where her childhood playmates were the queen’s younger sons, Prince Andrew and Prince Edward. She was the youngest daughter of Edward John Spencer and Frances Ruth Burke Roche, the Viscount and Viscountess Althorp (Encyclopedia Britannica). Her father had been a royal equerry for both King George VI and Queen Elizabeth II, making them close to the royal family (BBC). Unfortunately, Diana’s parents split up when she was six. Still, that didn’t stop her in becoming Lady Diana Spencer when her father earned the title Earl Spencer (Encyclopedia Britannica). Lady Diana was sent to boarding school, eventually attending West Health Public School in Kent where she excelled at sports, particularly swimming (BBC). She worked in London after studying; first as a nanny, then as an assistant at the Young England Kindergarten in Knightsbridge (BBC). According to Gilchrist, author of Princess Diana, Diana renewed her contacts with the Royal family, and her friendship with Charles grew in 1980 after they met at a country house party. Rumors spread that their relationship was blossoming into something more serious (BBC). Press and television besieged her at every turn. On February 24, 1981, their engagement was announced, and on July 29, 1981, they were married in St. Paul’s Cathedral in a globally televised ceremony (Encyclopedia Britannica). While married, she bore the title “Princess of Wales”. Princess Diana quickly became involved in the official duties of the Royal family. She gradually became used to public appearances and was soon more popular than her husband. Soon she was on a constant round of visits to nurseries, to schools, to hospitals. The public singled her out for public affection: she seemed so genuinely pleased to be with ordinary people (BBC). According to BBC, Diana had always longed for a big family. Within a year of her marriage, on June 21, 1982, she gave birth to their first child, Prince William. William’s younger brother, Prince Henry, was born on September 15, 1984. Diana believed on in giving her children a normal upbringing that royal circumstances would allow. They were not educated by private teachers, but went to school with other children. Although Diana’s life looked perfect, she was far from happy. The publication of the book, “Diana: Her True Story” by Andrew Morton confirmed that her relationship with the Prince of Wales was cold and distant (BBC). It told of half-hearted suicide attempts by the Princess during the early years of the marriage, of her struggle with the eating disorder bulimia, and of her obsession with the belief that Charles continued to love a woman he had fallen for years before, Camilla Parker-Bowles. The Prince later confirmed in an interview with the BBC’s Jonathan Dimbeleby, that he and Camilla had had an extra-marital affair (BBC). A tabloid newspaper also revealed private telephone conversations between Diana and James Gilby which showed they were lovers (Gilchrist). Little is known about her life at this time, but it was clear she was seeing other men also. During a state visit to South Korea, it was visible that the couple had grown apart (BBC).
In December 1992, it was officially announced that Charles and Diana would separate (BBC). Wherever she went, the media were there to record the event. And in what became something of a public relations battle with her estranged husband after they had separated, the Princess showed herself to be adept at using the media to cast herself in a favorable light (BBC). Diana gave an open interview with Martin Bashir for BBC’s ”Panorama”. “There were three of us in this marriage, so it was a bit crowded,” Diana told BBC. Watched by millions, she described her post-natal depression, the breakdown of her marriage to Prince Charles, her tense relationship with the Royal family as a whole and, the most terrifying of all, she claimed that Charles did not wish to be king (BBC). The confessions were so shocking that Queen Elizabeth II requested an “early divorce” for the Prince and Princess of Wales (Huffington Post). Diana accepted divorce only after pressure from the Queen. When it came through, on August 29, 1996, she told a friend it was the saddest day of her life (Huffington Post).
After the divorce, Diana maintained her high public profile and continued many of the activities she had earlier undertaken on behalf of charities, supporting causes as diverse as the arts, children’s issues, and AIDS patients (Britannica Encyclopedia). She also was involved in efforts to ban land mines. Her popularity in both Britain and throughout the world attracted much attention from the press, and she became one of the most-photographed women in the world (Britannica Encyclopedia). Although she used to limelight in promoting her charitable work, the media, particularly the paparazzi, were often too intrusive.
In July 1997, she went on a holiday with her children and Al Fayeds, a rich Muslim family who had been friends of the Spencers for a long time. During the holiday, she started a romance with Dodi Al Fayed. Paparazzi were so frantically following them on their first holiday alone that they decided to return to Paris on August 30th (Gilchrist). That night, after they had dinner at the Ritz Hotel, owned by Dodi’s father, they were trying to escape from paparazzi when their car, driven at over 160 km an hour, crashed against a pillar of a tunnel under the streets of Paris (Gilchrist). Though the paparazzi were initially blamed for causing the accident, a French judge in 1999 cleared them of any wrongdoing, instead faulting the driver, who was found to have had a blood-alcohol level over the legal limit at the time of the crash. In April 2008, however, a British inquest jury ruled both the driver and the paparazzi guilty of unlawful killing through grossly negligent driving, though it found no evidence of a conspiracy to kill Diana or Fayed, an accusation long made by Fayed’s father (Encyclopedia Britannica)
Britain and the world were shocked by the news. Her death and funeral produced unprecedented expressions of public mourning, testifying to her enormous hold on people’s hearts (Encyclopedia Britannica). At her funeral, Elton John sang a song he re-wrote for her, Like a Candle in the Wind (Children’s Encyclopedia for Women). It says: “Goodbye England's rose, may you ever grow in our hearts, you were the grace that placed yourself, where lives were torn apart”. Her body now lies on an island in a lake, in the gardens of her family house in Althorp (Gilchrist). The Queen of “people’s heart” may have died, but her legend will still keep on burning. III. Conclusion
“Beginning with the shy teenage girl who captured hearts around the world and then as a blushing bride, the exhibition follows her growth into a sophisticated princess and dedicated mother, who became internationally respected and admired as much as her beauty as for her tireless work for charities,” (Goff). Even though her ‘fairytale romance’ with Prince Charles went wrong, Diana never fails to fulfill her duties as a modern princess. She changed the view of people, especially girls, on being a princess. I think that to become one, you must be brave enough to face the circumstances that the road will take. You will not be promised of a good life, but you must promise a better life to the people that serves you. Being a princess is not just all about fame, it is about responsibility.
Princess Diana might have died early at age 36, but she has already done so many great things. She taught us the importance of helping others and being open to achieve a fulfilling life. Prince Harry once said, “…she made us, and so many other people, happy. May this be the way that she is remembered.”