Diana Frances Spencer

Diana, Princess of Wales (Diana Frances Spencer; 1 July 1961 – 31 August 1997) was a member of the British royal family and an international personality of the late 20th century as the first wife of Charles, Prince of Wales, whom she married on 29 July 1981. The wedding, which was held at St. Paul's Cathedral, was televised and watched by a global audience of over 750 million people. The marriage produced two sons: Princes William and Harry, currently second and third in line to the thrones of the 16 Commonwealth realms, respectively.

A public figure from the announcement of her engagement to Prince Charles, Diana was born into an old, aristocratic English family with royal ancestry, and remained the focus of worldwide media scrutiny before, during and after her marriage, which ended in divorce on 28 August 1996. This media attention continued following her death in a car crash in Paris on 31 August 1997, and in the subsequent display of public mourning a week later. Diana also received recognition for her charity work and for her support of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines. From 1989, she was the president of Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children.

    "You can't comfort the afflicted with afflicting the comfortable".
    Diana Frances Spencer

Diana Spencer was born at Park House, Sandringham, in Norfolk, England, the youngest of three daughters of John Spencer, Viscount Althorp (later the 8th Earl Spencer) and his first wife Frances Spencer, Viscountess Althorp (formerly the Honourable Frances Burke Roche, and later Frances Shand Kydd). Her father was of English descent and counted the 1st Duke of Marlborough among his ancestors. Her mother, who was of English and Irish descent, was a daughter of the 4th Baron Fermoy. Diana had two older sisters, Sarah and Jane, and a younger brother, Charles. She was baptised on 30 August 1961 at St Mary Magdalene Church by the Rt Revd Percy Herbert (rector of the church and former Bishop of Norwich and Blackburn), and her godparents were: the Lady Mary Colman; Mr John Floyd (the chairman of Christie's); Mrs William Fox; Mr Alexander Gilmour; and Mrs Michael Pratt.

Diana was only seven years old when her parents were unexpectedly divorced, after much acrimony and as a result of her mother having an affair with a married man. Initially, Frances took Diana to live in an apartment in London's Knightsbridge, where Diana attended a local day school. However, Lord Spencer gained custody of Diana after a court battle for which Frances' mother, the Baroness Fermoy, denounced her own daughter as being an unfit mother. Shortly afterwards, following the divorce of her companion Peter Shand Kydd from his wife, Frances married him and moved to the island of Seil on the west coast of Scotland. Henceforth, Diana was raised by her father, but did often visit her mother. In 1973, Lord Spencer began a relationship with
then married Raine, Countess of Dartmouth, the only daughter of Alexander McCorquodale and Barbara Cartland. They were married at Caxton Hall, London, on 14 July 1976. Neither of Diana's parents had any children from their second marriages.

On her father's side, she was a descendant of King Charles II of England through four illegitimate sons:

* Henry Fitzroy, 1st Duke of Grafton, son by Barbara Villiers, 1st Duchess of Cleveland
* Charles Lennox, 1st Duke of Richmond and Lennox, son by Louise de Kérouaille
* Charles Beauclerk, 1st Duke of St Albans, son by Nell Gwyn
* James Crofts-Scott, 1st Duke of Monmouth, leader of the famous Monmouth Rebellion in 1685, son by Lucy Walter

She was also a descendant of King James II of England through an illegitimate daughter, Henrietta FitzJames, by his mistress Arabella Churchill. On her mother's side, Diana was Irish and Scottish, as well as a descendant of American heiress Frances Work, her mother's grandmother and namesake, from whom the considerable Roche fortune was derived.

The Spencers began as untitled farmers but eventually became close to the British Royal Family for centuries, rising in royal favour during the 17th century, though Diana's branch of the family did not receive its earldom until the late 18th century, when John Spencer, 1st Earl Spencer received the title in 1765. Diana's maternal grandmother, Ruth, Lady Fermoy, was a long-time friend and a lady-in-waiting to Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother. Her father had served as an equerry to King George VI and to Queen Elizabeth II.

Diana was first educated at Silfield School, Kings Lynn, Norfolk, then at Riddlesworth Hall in Norfolk, and at West Heath Girls' School (later reorganised as The New School at West Heath) in Sevenoaks, Kent, where she was regarded as a poor student, having attempted and failed all of her O-levels twice. However, she showed a particular talent for music as an accomplished pianist. Her outstanding community spirit was recognised with an award from West Heath. In 1977, at the age of 16, she left West Heath and briefly attended Institut Alpin Videmanette, a finishing school in Rougemont, Switzerland. At about that time, she first met her future husband, who was then dating her eldest sister, Lady Sarah. Diana reportedly excelled in swimming and diving, and longed to be a professional ballerina with the Royal Ballet. She studied ballet for a time, but then grew to 5'10", far too tall for the profession.

Diana moved to London before she turned seventeen, living in her mother's flat, as her mother then spent most of the year in Scotland. Soon afterwards, an apartment was purchased for £50,000 as an 18th birthday present, at Coleherne Court in Earls Court. She lived there until 1981 with three flatmates.

In London she took an advanced cooking course at her mother's suggestion, although she never became an adroit cook, and worked first as a dance instructor for youth, until a skiing accident caused her to miss three months of work. She then found employment as a playgroup (pre-preschool) assistant, did some cleaning work for her sister Sarah and several of her friends, and worked as a hostess at parties. Diana also spent time working as a nanny for an American family living in London.

The reason for the death of Diana, conspiracy theories arise. Dodi Fayed's father Mohamed Fayed is an Egyptian businessman who has the luxury store Harrods. Many theories linking perisik MI6, the CIA and the Mossad was involved in a plot to kill daughter predicted would be predicted to have embraced Islam and Muslim children, and have descendants whose names beginning with Mohammed or Fatima which later may become king / queen of England. CCTV footage showed no signs of Henri Paul was drunk when walking out to their cars. Michael Shrimpton Peguam contributed to Henri Paul was not no sign of drunkenness or impression of medicine.

Some paparazzi photographers arrived in Alma. They consist of Serge Arnal, Christian Martinez and Stéphane Darmon Serge Benhamou. On July 13, 2006, the magazine Chi published in Italian broadcasting pictures of princess Diana receiving oxygen from paramedics officers after the car accident. The picture was taken several minutes after the accident.