Special Topic Mag. Gross By Astrid Horejs June 2000 0 Childhood and teenage years Diana, Princess of Wales, formerly Lady Diana Frances Spencer, was born on 1 July 1961 at Park House near Sandringham, Norfolk. She was the youngest daughter of the then Viscount and Viscountess Althorp. Diana's childhood had been overshadowed by her parents' broken marriage. She was only six, living with two sisters and a brother on the royal family's Sandringham estate in eastern England when her mother Frances left home in a society scandal involving a messy custody battle. Earl Spencer later married Raine, Countess of Dartmouth in 1976. Together with her two elder sisters Sarah (born 1955), Jane (born 1957) and her younger brother Charles (born 1964), Lady Diana continued to live with her father at Park House, Sandringham, until the death of her grandfather, the 7th Earl Spencer. In 1975, the family moved to the Spencer family house at Althorp, in Northamptonshire, in the English Midlands. Lady Diana was educated first at a preparatory school, Riddlesworth Hall at Diss, Norfolk, and then in 1974 went as a boarder to West Heath, near Sevenoaks, Kent. At school she showed a particular talent for music, dancing and domestic science, and gained the school's award for the girl giving maximum help to the school and her schoolfellows. She left West Heath in 1977 and went to finishing school at the Institute Alpine Videmanette in Rougemont, Switzerland, which she left after the Easter term of 1978. The following year she moved to a flat in Coleherne Court, London. For a while she looked after the child of an American couple, and she worked as a kindergarten teacher at Young England School in Pimlico. The Wedding It was officially announced on February 24, 1981 that Lady Diana would marry The Prince of Wales, eldest son of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, is heir apparent to the throne. The Prince was born at Buckingham Palace on 14 November 1948. Their families had known each other for years and The Prince and Lady Diana had met again when he was invited to a weekend at Althorp. They were married in St Paul’s Cathedral on July 29, 1981. The 1 ceremony drew a world-wide audience of over 1,000 million people. Hundreds of thousands of people lined the route from Buckingham Palace to the Cathedral. Princess Diana was the first Englishwomen to marry a heir to the throne for 300 years. Princess Diana wore a silk taffeta dress with a 25 foot train designed by the Emanuals. Her veil was held in place by the Spencer Family diamond tiara. Her bouquet was of gardenias, lilies of the valley, white freesia, golden roses, white orchids and stephanotis. There were five bridesmaids. Honeymoon The Prince and Princess of Wales spent their first part of their honeymoon at the Mountbatten family home at Broadlands, Hampshire. Afterwards the pair of newlyweds flew to Gibraltar to join the Royal Yacht HMY BRITANNIA. The yacht embarked on a 12 day cruise through the Mediterranean to Egypt. Their honeymoon ended with a stay at Balmoral. Marriage After the marriage the Prince and Princess of Wales lived primarily at Highgrove house near Tetbury, Gloucestershire. They also shared an apartment at Kensington Palace. In the early years of her own marriage, Diana outshone her husband on every royal occasion, drawing the attention of the crowds and the focus of the cameras. But privately she was in despair over her disintegrating marriage and a husband whose affections still belonged to another woman, Camilla Parker Bowles, and who was envious of her fame. As far as Queen Elizabeth was concerned, Diana's duty was to remain silent, accepting with dignity the traditions of royalty that have long sanctioned male infidelity. The wife's reward was in the privileges and celebrity royalty offered. But Diana was a modern woman with romantic notions about her marriage. She fought back. In November 1995, after being married for 14 years, Diana gave a television interview, without the knowledge of her advisers or even the queen, in which she broke the cherished royal tradition of reserve and set out her demands for her future as an ex-royal. She gave an anguished account of her suffering over her husband's undying passion for Parker Bowles. Diana told how, in her unhappiness, she had developed the eating disorder bulimia nervosa and described the aides of the royal family as her enemies. 2 After her separation from The Prince, the Princess continued to appear with the Royal family on major national occasions, such as the commemorations of the 50th anniversary of VE (Victory in Europe) and VJ (Victory over Japan) Days in 1995. FEHLT WAS Their Children Prince William Arthur Philip Louis was born on 21 June 1982 at St Mary's Hospital, Paddington, in London. Prince William began his education at Mrs Mynor's Nursery School in west London. Prince William is currently at Eton College, Windsor, where he will study geography, biology and history of art at A Level. Prince William is a keen sportsman and prefers football, rugby, tennis, swimming and water polo. He has acted in school plays, and enjoys reading and film- going. Prince William's first public appearance was on a visit to Wales on St David's Day (1 March), at a service at Llandaff Cathedral, aged 8. Prince William does not yet carry out public engagements on his own. Prince Henry Charles Albert David was born on 15 September 1984 at St Mary's Hospital, Paddington. In September, Prince Harry started at Eton College, Windsor. Public role After her marriage, The Princess of Wales quickly became involved in the official duties of the Royal family. Her first tour with The Prince was a three-day visit to Wales in October 1981. Official overseas visits undertaken with The Prince include Australia, Brazil, India, Canada, Nigeria, Cameroon, Indonesia, Spain, Italy, France, Portugal and Japan. Their last joint overseas visit was to South Korea in 1992. The Princess's first official visit overseas on her own was in September 1982, when she represented The Queen at the state funeral of Princess Grace of Monaco. 3 The Princess visited afterwards many countries on her own including Germany, the United States, Pakistan, Switzerland, Hungary, Egypt, Belgium, France, South Africa, Zimbabwe and Nepal. The Princess was best known for her charitable work. During her marriage, the Princess was president or patron of over 100 charities. The Princess did much to publicise work on behalf of homeless and also disabled people, children and people with HIV/Aids. Following her divorce, the Princess resigned from most of her work for charity. The Princess remained as patron of Centrepoint (homeless charity), English National Ballet, Leprosy Mission and National Aids Trust, and as President of the Hospital for Sick Children. In June 1997, the Princess attended receptions in London and New York as previews of the sale of a number of dresses and suits worn by her on official engagements, with the proceeds going to charity. Her last official engagement in Britain was on 21 July, when she visited Northwick Park Hospital, London (children's accident and emergency unit). In the year before her death, the Princess was an active campaigner for a ban on the manufacture and use of land mines. In January 1997, she visited Angola as part of her campaign. in June, the Princess spoke at the landmines conference at the Royal Geographical Society in London. The Princess's last public engagements were during her visit to Bosnia from 7 to 10 August, when she visited landmine projects in Travnic, Sarajevo and Zenezica. Dodi and Diana He lived like a prince and died at the side of a princess Diana, Princess of Wales, and Dodi, the film producer son of Mohammed Al Fayed, the owner of Harrods luxury department store and the exclusive Ritz hotel in Paris, were spotted on several occasions amid the yachts and palaces owned by the Egyptian family. Diana, 36, whose father is a personal friend of Mohammed Al Fayed, met Dodi, 41, some ten years ago, at Windsor, during a polo match. The photographs were the first evidence of a relationship between Diana and another man since her divorce from Prince Charles in August 1996 -- and rocketed the 42-year-old Al Fayed to the status of international celebrity. Despite his rich friends and lavish lifestyle, friends said Al Fayed was very quiet, even aloof at times -- a tabloid unknown until the British press published the photographs of him with Princess Diana. 4 The tabloids charted their travels aboard his father's $32 million yacht and speculated about the possibility of the Egyptian becoming the stepfather to the future King of England. London tabloids have described Al Fayed as a handsome playboy with a love of fast cars and beautiful women. Al Fayed was a graduate of the British Army's elite Sandhurst military Academy and once served as a junior officer in London for the United Arab Emirates. Diana took her two sons, Princes William and Harry to spend part of their summer holidays at one of the Al Fayeds' holiday homes in the exclusive resort of Saint-Tropez, in the south of France. the couple were subjected to the constant flash of the media glare and the pages of the international press were filled with photographs of Dodi and Diana. Every move was snapped up by the press: the couple relaxing in bright sunshine, dipping into the blue Mediterranean sea and sharing intimate moments at the Paris Ritz.