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Diana, Princess of Wales, was divorced and all but discarded by the royal family. Yet, she remained one of the most popular and admired women in the world. Seemingly intended to take the royal family into the 21st century, she looked destined to follow in the footsteps of the Queen Mother as Queen Consort of Britain and the Commonwealth. But, Diana was unable to cope with the turbulence of royal life, and she temporarily withdrew from her public duties. Over the next few months, I will be seeking a more suitable way of combining a meaningful public role with, hopefully, a more private life.
Equally unable to stay in the shadows, Diana's retirement was brief. Public adulation had become a powerful substitute for the warmth and affection she found lacking in her marriage. Refusing to go quietly, Diana still deployed her beauty and glamour to devastating effect. She was a limelight stealer of legendary proportion. Her charisma has ensured that she will not be a footnote in history as her enemies intended. Once our future queen, she will be remembered for her special appeal. To many, she was a princess in her own right, one whose charm eclipsed
the family who had rejected her as a non-starter for queen. A princess alone, she rarely met her former in-laws, and even rarer did she appear relaxed with them. Disillusioned by her experience of royalty, Diana turned away from their traditional style. At Viscount Linley's wedding to heiress Serena Stanhope, Diana's individuality underlined her difficult position, neither totally in nor out of the royal family. On such occasions, she and they tolerated each other. Then Diana would go her separate way and withdraw once more into the seclusion of her three-story apartment at Kensington Palace.
Here in the echoing emptiness of a palace that was never truly a family home, she tried to dispel her loneliness. She obviously wanted it to be a family home because it was very much the center of her life with the boys, particularly obviously when they were back from school. It was much more really like a young single woman's apartment than what you would think of as a rough and tumble family home. Diana's future rested on her position as mother of the royal heir and spare, her sons William and Harry, her power base amid the uncertainties of her future. A year before her death, the title Her Royal Highness was taken away from her.
It was very interesting that her brother said at the funeral service she didn't need the royal title to go continue to go on producing her special sort of magic. And I think from the outside world, that was obviously the important thing. I suspect it may have been very much more important to her than we on the outside realized. In stripping Diana of the title Her Royal Highness, royalty lost one of its star performers. Diana's combination of regal dignity and Hollywood allure outshone the staid and formal House of Windsor. This was the last occasion she would join the royal family at a state banquet.
Her power to outshine a glittering array of tiaraed and titled heads created undercurrents of rivalry and jealousy, which marred Diana's short reign as a queen in waiting. Diana rebelled against her husband and his family, which resulted in her eventual divorce. Deprived of the life she should have had, Diana rejected Queen Elizabeth II's style of monarchy and created for herself a symbolic role. When watching documentaries about Diana, you can see how heavily the pressure of public expectation weighed on her, often leading to a painful pattern of trying to please everyone else while neglecting her own inner happiness.
It's a powerful reminder of how easily we can lose sight of our own needs when trying to manage external pressures, which is why we believe having professional support to navigate these feelings is so essential. And why we're glad to team up with BetterHelp for this paid partnership. BetterHelp makes starting therapy easier by matching you with a credentialed therapist quickly through a simple online quiz, helping you unpack those overwhelming patterns and build tools for greater self-compassion. You can communicate entirely on your own terms, whether that's through video, phone, or text. And if your initial match isn't the right fit, you can switch anytime at no extra cost. Over 6 million people have already turned to BetterHelp
for support, earning the platform a 4.8 out of 5 rating on the App Store. If you're ready to focus on your own well-being and find the best path forward, click the link in the description or go to betterhelp.com/absolutehistory to get 10% off your first month of therapy. I'd like to be a queen of people's hearts, in people's hearts. But I don't see myself being queen this country. How was it possible to compensate a princess for the loss of her identity? Charles had made a generous divorce settlement worth then about 17 million pounds. Diana had so many sumptuous gowns as Princess of Wales that recently she decided to auction some for
charity. Each breathtaking dress was valued for being worn by the woman who was once wife of the heir to the British throne. Diana's wardrobe was vast. When stored, her dresses apparently spanned the width of 10 average terraced houses, and she had a 7-ft rack just for her blouses. She kept the Aladdin's cave of jewels that marked every public triumph and private tragedy of her 16 years as Princess of Wales.
Daughter of an English Earl, Diana was wealthy in her own right. With her Spencer family trust fund and her private collection of jewels and memorabilia, Diana may have been worth 40 million pounds. Whether they cost two or 10,000 pounds, her gowns were not chosen for their price, but for their bewitching effect. Diana's beauty and glamour was a constant reminder to Charles that the crowds were casting him aside in favor of his more attractive wife. As time went on after they were married, it was quite clearly the crowds wanting to see Diana. And I think there are pieces of film where you see in a sense the crowd on the side of the road where Charles was actually disappointed
because it wasn't Diana who was coming over to talk to them or shake their hands. I think it would have been difficult for anybody to cope with, but particularly somebody like the Prince of Wales who'd been brought up to believe that in every way he was the preeminent figure as the heir to the throne. And to be upstaged by somebody, particularly somebody who had seemed very much the junior partner, I would have just thought would have been very threatening. Diana followed the pattern of other rich and under-loved wives. Her response to her husband's treatment was to spend, spend, spend. And he, like other dissatisfied husbands, grudgingly paid the price.
Diana joined the ladies who lunched, frequenting smart restaurants in an effort to fill the lonely hours while Charles was busy elsewhere. In fact, Diana's favorite shopping area, Kensington High Street, became known locally as Kensington Di Street. I don't think that um the money was that important. It was the loss of prestige. awful humiliation of the thing going wrong because remember what a fairy tale marriage it all was. Disillusioning for us and above all for her. Starting out with her fiance in 1981, Lady Diana Spencer could never have guessed the treacherous road ahead. Her naivety matched her readiness to please.
Hidden was the magic that would turn her from a shy teenager to a global enchantress. She was a child, a Sloane Ranger of 19, not terribly well educated. I mean, she always herself would admit that the best prize she had at school was for having the finest groomed guinea pig. Um but she was very practical, I think then. Um and she was 20 when she married the heir to the throne, 21 when she produced, you know, first child. It was an awful lot to cope with. They thought she was going to be a sort of biddable creature wearing slightly frumpy but acceptable clothes and smiling and bowing and accepting flowers, but really not doing anything else and bearing an heir and a spare. But instead, of course, she was this
stunning success. And um it was very difficult for Prince Charles cuz the whole thing had got completely out of control. And um you know, I think he regretted it terribly. I mean, had she stayed behind the scenes, maybe they'd be married still today. In looks, Diana was like her mother, Frances Shand Kydd, who was divorced acrimoniously by Diana's father and then lived in virtual exile with her second husband. The loss of her mother from the family home was one of the early causes of Diana's troubled personality. Diana's destiny was shaped by a sense of abandonment.
Mothering her younger brother Charles developed Diana's caring side. Her eating disorder, bulimia, began when Diana was a teenager in imitation of her older sister Sarah's problem with anorexia. Later, as Prince Charles's fiance, she succumbed secretly to her old eating habits when pressures began to mount facing the most intensive public scrutiny. Her brother said at the funeral that part of the problem was her own deep sense of insecurity and her deep sense of lack of self-worth. And of course, to those people who saw her mostly in public can hardly believe that, but I'm
sure he was right. I'm sure it was true and I suspect that all stemmed from their very difficult childhood, which was obviously was very insecure and did both make them both feel very unhappy and rather lost at times. Although undoubtedly pressures which he felt in the marriage would have contributed at a later stage. Charles's lack of understanding of Diana, 12 years his junior, sharpened the divisions between them. She wanted a romantic marriage. His needs were more pragmatic. I suspect given his background and given his upbringing that he would have had a much more formal approach to the idea of marriage and the idea of a royal partnership than perhaps she did as a very romantic young girl who fell in
love with somebody who she saw as her Prince Charming as well as the Prince of Wales at a very vulnerable and presumably very unformed age and she was only 19, just out of the school. And I suspect she had different expectations perhaps than he did. Diana quickly learned to pretend. Even on her honeymoon, she covered up her doubts and private fears. Diana was um still very young. She married Charles at very, very little experience and had come from a very shaky background where the main um nurturers in her life had abandoned her one way or the other. So, she was enormously emotionally needy. What used to happen was when she felt Charles was drifting away and not connecting, you know, when she was perhaps unhappy or
she needed to talk to him about something, instead of doing it and letting perhaps a little bit of breathing space to come between them, she over demanded. She demanded his attention. She wanted him and the more she grabbed his attention and the worse the stunts became, the emotional stunts to get his attention became, the further he went away. He wasn't used to people answering him back. He wasn't used to in particular women telling him what they thought and he just turned his back on it and got out of the place. He just moved on and I don't think he ever tried. He was just perplexed. He couldn't understand someone who having been told what to do didn't do it.
The volcanic private relationship between the Prince and Princess of Wales finally erupted in 1992. On their last joint tour, they embarrassed their Korean hosts by their negative and hostile conduct with each other. Nicknamed the Glums, they were never allowed to repeat this pantomime performance, which prompted private Foreign Office apologies to Korea. The couple separated, but still Diana feared leaving the Royal House of Windsor, to which she had given so much, as she explained in a TV interview.
I don't want a divorce. But, obviously, we need clarity on the situation. There has been enormous discussion over the last 3 years in particular. So, all I say to that is that I await my husband's decision of which way we are all going to go. There are just so many things that contribute to the breakdown of a marriage. You simply can't say it was one thing. It was the jealousy. And remember, two people make a contribution to a marriage splitting. And Diana made a lot of attempts to talk to Charles, to try to make the relationship work, even suggesting that they did things together at one point. She did a lot of work to try to make the marriage look better than it was. And it was Charles's feeling that it was
hypocritical to appear in public or to do these little gestures that would make it seem all right. His belief that he should remain true to him, true to what was going on, was actually also part of the reason it kind of gathered momentum. And it may be again, when we look at the intense media interest. I mean, any of us having a relationship difficulties, if we read about it every day, I think we'd all go galloping towards the courts a lot faster than if we were left, you know, to get on with how we might try to make a relationship better. Diana's shameful friend, her bulimia, was a constant presence during these years. On an official visit to Canada, she lived on a diet of chocolate bars and needed medical attention when she
fainted during a visit to Expo '86. Charles failed to recognize his wife's condition, forcing her to keep up royal appearances when she needed rest and recuperation and understanding. During their gatherings at royal residences such as Sandringham, family tensions made Diana's illness worse, resulting in cries for help. To have so much pain inside yourself that you try and hurt yourself on the outside cuz you want help, but it's the wrong help you're asking for. People see it as crying wolf or attention seeking. And they think because you're in the media all the time, you've got enough attention in inverted commas. But I was actually crying out cuz I wanted to get better in order to go
forward and continue my duty and my role as wife, mother, Princess of Wales. The vow she had made on her wedding day was sincere. To Charles and his family, she gave her youth, but her husband's love for Camilla Parker Bowles caused destructive jealousy. If you read, for example, the biography of the Prince of Wales, she was, in a sense, aware of the possibility of this other relationship, even when they were engaged. In 1986, the year of these posed holiday photos, the royal marriage entered its terminal phase. Diana asked astrologer Penny Thornton for advice. One morning, out of the blue, the telephone rang, and this voice just said, "Hello, it's the Princess of Wales." She just wanted to know if there was uh a light at the end of the tunnel.
So, it was when I realized that she was in trouble, that this wasn't just someone who was um just wanted to have a look at their horoscope, which a lot of people do, a kind of self-indulgent trip. Um I thought, "Right, she's in trouble. Well, I'll drop everything." And I did, I dropped everything and saw her a couple of days later. When I arrived at Kensington Palace and I sat down and I started to talk about the charts and looked at Charles and everything, when she finally told me the dire straits they were in, it was an extraordinary thing, because at one time on one level, she knew I predicted it, or and yet I was surprised to hear my prediction. You know, it was the
reality of it was quite something, and it was, she was in a very severe state of distress at that particular time. Diana turned to a series of male companions. The art dealer Oliver Hoare offered guidance, but became embroiled in a scandal involving unsolicited telephone calls to his home. And England's rugby captain Will Carling allowed his friendship with Diana to create a rift with his wife. They later divorced. Diana's most notorious affair was with Guards officer James Hewitt, who came to enjoy his reputation as Diana's lover. For 5 years, James made Diana's broken marriage bearable.
Did your relationship go beyond a close friendship? Yes, it did. Yes. Were you unfaithful? Yes, I adored him. Yes, I was in love with him. When their personal life had failed, Charles and Diana were obliged to play their part in royal pageantry, their coldness now scarcely concealed. Resigned to the fact that his marriage to Diana had been a disaster, Charles turned his back on his young wife. The sad thing is that he was so indifferent to Diana that I don't think um he would have minded if it had been uh a road sweeper or anything, because I think that uh well, perhaps it would have given him more ammunition to be critical of her. I don't think
he cared, and of course, indifference is one of the worst things in a relationship. For comfort and support, Diana turned her attention to her charities, who welcomed her with open arms. Hugging has no harmful side effects. If we all play our part in making our children feel valued, the result will be tremendous. There are potential huggers in every household. It was this tactile style that marked Diana out from the more reserved royal family she'd married into.
Giving love was her trademark. She always cared about the disabled. Abroad, she turned her attention to people afflicted by leprosy. These people were all part of her constituency of the rejected, as her brother said so movingly at her funeral. Diana's philosophy mirrored that of Mother Teresa and her nuns, who worked tirelessly for the sick, homeless, and underprivileged. Sadly, Mother Teresa died within days of Diana. She, like millions all over the world, had been touched by Diana's warm and caring personality.
Diana was using her charity work to compensate for her loveless marriage. It was at the time of Prince Andrew's wedding in 1986 that Charles and Diana's marriage had, in Charles's own words, "irretrievably broken down." Although Fergie's wedding day seemed perfect, the new Duchess of York, an old friend of Diana's, was unsuited to royal life and would make many mistakes. Oblivious to the shortcomings of her new sister-in-law, Diana maneuvered her friend into the royal life as her ally and to divert attention away from herself. There was a close relationship between Sarah and Diana. They were chums and they really were close. They had each other. But then that relationship soured as Sarah seemed to be getting on better and
the Queen was much more affectionate towards Sarah then I think that caused a certain split between the two. With the publication of the Duchess of York's life story, the relationship with Fergie came under considerable strain. They had some estrangement which was about the various aspects of Sarah's publicity about her book and so on and what she'd said in her book. It wouldn't surprise me. Um Diana was fiercely concerned about people's loyalty to her and I think again that might reflect her own insecurity at a basic level.
She was one of those people for whom you were either with her or against her. It was very difficult, I think, for many people to tread a middle path or perhaps to be loyal to two people who she saw as one of them being her enemies. I've known several instances of people who were good friends of hers who did feel very loyal and concerned about her but with whom she was very angry because she saw some action of theirs as being disloyal. Diana's truculence and unwillingness to pose or smile on occasions that did not suit her led to unseemly clashes. Trying to live two conflicting lives, Diana strove to attain maximum publicity for her limited public role and virtual
obscurity for her private life. But even on holidays, the cameras followed her. Oh, get lost. Diana felt a victim, persecuted and harassed, but her use of the media was always an area of both confusion and controversy in her life. At times, her apparent awareness of photographers in the press was then blighted by her naivety at the eventual outcome. She knew what she was doing when she rang individual columnists and told them her side of the story. She knew what she was doing when she posed for very beautiful photographs or sexy photographs in different locations where
even though the newspaper photographers might not be immediately apparent, she knew they were at the other end of a long lens. But on the other hand, I think she didn't really she wasn't really in control because she was very upset when they then said, "Well, you know, you've in a sense opened the door to this. Why are you so incredibly miserable when we chase you around to your health club or your tennis game or with the boys or whatever it may be?" And she didn't really understand how she couldn't play both games. Diana's determination to give paparazzi photographers a hard time could lead to farcical situations.
Suddenly it all seemed to get silly when Diana got a hold of this tennis racket and put it up in front of her face. I was walking backwards and at one point I was trying to focus. The tennis racket had Prince Extender written across the front of it and I thought this was a really funny picture so I was trying to focus on the Prince bit. And I didn't realize I stopped to focus and this Prince Extender was getting closer and suddenly my lens just went black when she just bumped into me and I said something like, "Oh, sorry." Which seemed really silly, cuz you know, considering the situation we was in. So, I carried on walking backwards and I was aware that there was a door behind me. I suddenly realized it was a lift
that we were going into a lift. I was walking backwards into a lift. And this hand just grabbed my shoulder and I knew it was Diana. And she just pulled me out of the lift and I immediately jumped in after her and then this BA official just said, "Out. O U T out." "Out." "Out. O U T out." "Have a nice trip, ma'am." While Diana resented such intrusions into her private holidays, she was acutely aware that her role on official occasions, like a visit to India, required a more regal image. Although they had a marriage in name only, as Princess of Wales, she accompanied her husband on official visits. At home and abroad, she was the essence of royalty. On another visit to India, she posed alone in front of the Taj Mahal, her
solitude sending out a message of her frustration at her husband's absence and his private disregard for her. Even alone, she treated her foreign visits with a solemn purpose, remembering the importance of representing Britain abroad. She often did this against a background of sniping criticism from faceless enemies at home, who feared that her glamorous style raised her profile higher than her husband's. Madam, what do you think of the royal pageant? I think the turnout was exceptional. Really quite extraordinary. Diana would be courteous and respectful of other cultures, yet she always allowed her own mesmerizing qualities to
come through. Because of this, she was received with genuine warmth in places where other members of her husband's family might not have been. As Princess of Wales, she showed skills and diplomacy many politicians would envy, building bridges and cementing international friendships along the way. She had traveled far from her first tentative public speech to the people of Wales in 1981, when she was expecting her first child, Prince William. capital Cardiff. I look forward to returning many times in the future. And also, I'd like to just add how proud I am to be Princess of such a wonderful place. In 1973, at the age of 12, Diana followed her two sisters to West Heath School in
where the order and routine provided a sense of stability. Established in 1865, its small country house environment has always encouraged the development of individual talents. Her ties with West Heath School remained strong. In 1987, she returned to give a speech and open the new sports hall. It was an appropriate task for someone who had excelled as an athlete and accomplished swimmer. Despite a naturally quick wit, Diana was not good at exams, and she didn't stay on for the final year. My years at West Heath were certainly very happy ones indeed.
I made many friends who I often see, and in spite of what Miss Rudd and my other teachers may have thought at the time, I did actually learn something. Though you would never have known by my O-level results. Years later, with great maternal pride, Diana took William to Wales on St. David's Day, presenting him as the future king. William's role provided Diana with her greatest expectations, and he may be the best hope for the future of the British monarchy.
Prince William and his brother Harry gave Diana the emotional support to carry her through the worst years. They were the real source of her strength. She strove to bring them up differently from the formal manner of earlier royal generations. By providing a series of adventurous thrills, Diana tried to give them exposure to people and situations far removed from Charles' own upbringing. At her funeral, Diana's brother pledged that his family would do all they can to continue the imaginative way in which she was steering her two exceptional sons, so that their souls are not simply immersed by duty and tradition, but can sing openly as she planned.
Diana's obsession with press intrusion affected William. Finding the paparazzi's coverage of their private ski trips overwhelming, William later refused to return to the scenes of his mother's battles with photographers. Excuse me. I got the um Could I ask you to respect my children's space? Yes, ma'am. Because I brought the children out here for a holiday. Right. We've had 15 cameras following us today. As a parent, I want to protect children. Right. By giving her sons lavish holidays in exotic locations, Diana could have been accused of sometimes spoiling her children.
Perhaps she was just overcompensating her sons for the distress of their parents' bitter separation and divorce. I think that Prince William has understood it for a great number of years, too long in a way, because uh he was very disturbed and unhappy at the time of the breakup and the divorce, and uh became very protective of her. Enjoying a holiday in the sun with her family, Diana tried to avoid her mother's own pitfall of a second failed marriage, which could have been disastrous for her and devastating for her sons. Unlike her mother, Diana was not destined for a life in the shadows. Diana's enemies long forecast that she would copy her mother Frances, nicknamed the Bolter, when she left Diana's father
for another man. Despite virtual isolation in her remote Scottish home, Frances kept in regular contact with her children and grandchildren. In her final years, Diana understood her mother better. This must have been the most awful blow to her because she's obviously had a very difficult life herself, and I imagine she must feel at some level that some of the problems that have occurred go right back to the stage at which her marriage to Diana's father broke up. I imagine that she would want to be close to them, but whether that's possible given that she lives geographically so far away in Scotland, I don't know.
Diana's father was a vital prop in the difficult times when her marriage was disintegrating. Sadly, he died in March 1992. His funeral was a harrowing occasion for all his family. Prince Charles arrived just in time by helicopter, preoccupied with other duties. Earl Spencer had lived on borrowed time after a brain hemorrhage, and seeing Prince William growing up was precious to him, as he recalled in a television interview. William was five yesterday. I thought of that, I might not have been there, but I was there on April ringing him up and talking to him on his fifth birthday, which was great fun.
Great day for him. You sent him a lovely present. And he had a happy day. And hope to hear all about it from him later on. Diana's family history had been marred by feuds. She, her sisters, and brother disliked Raine, their stepmother, although later she became one of Diana's strong circle of women friends. Charles didn't add his name to Diana's touching floral tribute. His message was attached to a wreath sent by the Queen and Prince Philip. Charles attended Earl Spencer's memorial service with his wife and sons.
The show of togetherness was deceptive. Charles had felt obliged to join Diana for appearances' sake at other Spencer family gatherings in the past. On his father's death, Diana's brother became the new Earl Spencer. The Princess of Wales continued with her royal commitments, but not for long. Diana's decision in December 1993 to withdraw, at least temporarily, from public life climaxed with a dramatic speech which she had planned to make at a charity function. Her friend, Lord Archer's role, was to steer her through this traumatic event. We got her on stage at the end of the meeting.
Um and I introduced her. And I simply said, "Her Royal Highness, Princess of Wales, would like to make a statement." And she was trembling. she was in She was very, very The thing was Her Royal Highness, the Princess of Wales, would like to make a short statement. Your Royal Highness. Ladies and gentlemen, it is a great pleasure to be here with you sharing in your successes of the past year. When I started my public life 12 years ago, I understood the media might be interested in what I did.
I realized then their attention would inevitably focus on both our private and public lives. But I was not aware of how overwhelming that attention would become, nor the extent to which it would affect both my public duties and my personal life in a manner that's been hard to bear. At the end of this year, when I've completed my diary of official engagements, I will be reducing the extent of the public life I've led so far. Obviously, I attach great importance to my charity work, and I intend to focus on a smaller range of areas in the future.
Over the next few months, I will be seeking a more suitable way of combining a meaningful public role with hopefully a more private life. My first priority will continue to be our children, William and Harry, who deserve as much love and care and attention as I am able to give, as well as an appreciation of the tradition into which they were born. I would like to add that this decision has been reached with a full understanding of the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh, who have always shown me kindness and support.
I hope you can find it in your hearts to understand and to give me the time and space that has been lacking in recent years. I couldn't stand here today and make this sort of statement without acknowledging the heartfelt support I've been given by the public in general. Your kindness and affection has carried me through some of the most difficult periods. And always, your love and care has eased that journey. And for that, I thank you from the bottom of my heart.
I mean, this was pin-dropping stuff. Because they hadn't been expecting it. They'd come to celebrate a charity function. They hadn't expected a constitutional announcement. And they burst into thunderous applause. And I could see her trembling. Your Royal Highness, I know I speak for all of us when I say we sympathize with the decision you have taken. Whatever course your life now takes, be assured there are many charities and individuals all over the world who will remain grateful for the dedicated service and care you have brought to everything you do. On behalf of those people who cannot be with us today, thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, Her Royal Highness, the Princess of Wales.
Follow me, Mom. Walk down into the audience, and she just followed her. And they remained standing, and cheered her all out of the room. Diana's retirement was brief. Unable to return to an ordinary life, she began to create her own role against a backdrop of charity work and good causes. Through her association with the Red Cross, for instance, she successfully raised their profile over many important campaigns.
Here, she was making a visit to Nepal in the Himalayas. As an ambassador for Britain, she was unequaled. She was an extraordinary ambassador for us to the third world, what we used to call the third world, to people in countries who were suffering from one thing or another, which she identified with at home, but which she picked up very strongly when she was abroad, whether again it was AIDS in Africa or the plight of children which she who she visited with Mother Teresa in India, or the whole landmines issue where she was so important in identifying and drawing attention to something which governments have been talking about for a long time, but no one in general was had remote interest in.
By visiting the killing fields of Angola, Diana was able to draw the world's attention to the millions of unexploded landmines still taking their toll on the young and innocent in a country trying to pick itself up from a long and bloody civil war. Her efforts were criticized. She was called a loose cannon. She had many trying to highlight a problem that's going on all around the world. A year after her divorce, Diana was full of hope for a happy future. She took her boys on a holiday to the French Riviera with the businessman Mohamed Al-Fayed and his family, including his son by his first marriage, the handsome bachelor Dodi.
The happy group cruised on his luxurious yacht, the Jonikal. Diana ignored Dodi's reputation as a playboy and was impressed by his gentle, considerate nature. They spent further time together and their friendship rapidly developed into love. He gave her the attention and tenderness she craved. Diana's brother said she had found joy in her life and days before her death, she told a friend that her time with Dodi was pure bliss.
She certainly looked very radiant and very happy even in the smudgy long-distance photographs we saw of her on holiday. I think the fact that she was prepared slightly later to be photographed with Dodi Al Fayed in a way which she certainly hadn't been with some of the other supposed male friends in her life did indicate that she felt confident about the relationship and therefore presumably felt very happy. But whether it was the kind of relationship would have developed, I don't know. We hear all the rumors in the press that they were going to be engaged. But I think that's just in the realms of speculation.
Death came suddenly and terribly after a crash in Paris. Charles brought his ex-wife home to a country in mourning. Half the world watched by television and millions lined the streets of London for a funeral unlike any other. The public grief for the death of the people's princess dictated the nature of a unique funeral for a unique person and asked the monarchy to reconsider its position. I think it would be impossible at this stage to gauge what will happen over the long term, but I think what has been fascinating is to watch the way in which perhaps the country felt differently about something than the Queen and those
who immediately surrounded her. Not so probably so much in personal feelings, but in terms of the way of expressing those personal feelings. And she responded. She responded to what she must have heard either through the media, through her advisers, through the Prime Minister, whoever it may have been who advised her that she was out of step with the country's feelings on this. And she of course responded magnificently and did a wonderful broadcast. And I think most people felt that in a sense restored the position. Diana, Princess of Wales, died when she had at last found the happiness that had eluded her for most of her 36 years.
She had spent her summer of love with Dodi Fayed, a handsome and affectionate man who gave her the attention and tenderness she craved. Just as their future looked bright and promising, death came suddenly and tragically. Now the world will remember Diana, the irreplaceable princess who became, as she had wished, a queen in people's hearts.
