Diana, Princess of Wales, (Diana Frances; née Spencer; 1 July 1961 – 31 August 1997) was the first wife of Charles, Prince of Wales. Their sons, Princes William and Henry, are second and third in line to the thrones of the United Kingdom and fifteen other Commonwealth Realms.
A public figure from the announcement of her engagement to Prince Charles, Diana remained the focus of near-constant media scrutiny in the United Kingdom and around the world before, during and after her marriage, even in the years following her sudden death in a car crash, which was followed by a spontaneous and prolonged show of public mourning. Contemporary responses to Diana's life and legacy were mixed but a popular fascination with the Princess endures. The long-awaited Coroner's Inquest concluded in April 2008 Diana had been unlawfully killed by the negligent driving of the following vehicles and the driver of the Mercedes in which they were travelling.
Diana, Last Days of a Princess - Dramatisation based on first hand accounts and family memories of the events leading up to the death of Princess Diana and Dodi Al-Fayed. Here, the events of Diana'... Video here
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Early life
Diana was the youngest daughter of John Spencer, Viscount Althorp, later the 8th Earl Spencer, and his first wife, Frances, Viscountess Althorp (formerly the Honourable Frances Burke Roche, and later Frances Shand Kydd). She was born at Park House, Sandringham in Norfolk, England on 1 July 1961 at 6.45 in the evening[citation needed]. She was baptised on August 30, 1961 at St. Mary Magdalene Church by the Rt. Rev. Percy Herbert (rector of the church and former Bishop of Norwich and Blackburn), with godparents that included John Floyd (the chairman of Christie's). She was the fourth child to the couple, with elder sisters Sarah, born in 1955, and Jane, born in 1957, as well as an infant brother, The Honourable John Spencer, who was born and died on 12 January 1960. The heir to the Spencer titles and estates, her younger brother, Charles, was born three years after her, in 1964.
Following her parents' acrimonious divorce in 1969 (over Lady Althorp's affair with wallpaper heir Peter Shand Kydd), Diana's mother took her and her younger brother to live in an apartment in London's Knightsbridge, where Diana attended a local day school. At Christmas the children returned to Norfolk with their mother, and Lord Althorp subsequently refused to allow them to return to London. Lady Althorp sued for custody, but her mother's testimony during the trial against her contributed to the court awarding custody of Diana and her brother to their father.
In 1976 Lord Spencer married Raine, Countess of Dartmouth, the only daughter of romantic novelist Barbara Cartland, after he was named as the "other party" in the Dartmouths' divorce. During this time Diana travelled between her parents' homes. Her father inherited the earldom and Spencer seat in Northamptonshire in 1975, and with her mother moved to the Island of Seil on the west coast of Scotland. Diana, like her siblings, did not get along with her stepmother.
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