Transcript Slajd 1 - Gimnazjum Nr 44

Author: Ola Piegat 1c
She was born at Park House,
Sandringham in Norfolk, England
on 1 July 1961 at 6.45 p.m.
Diana was the
youngest daughter
of John
Spencer,Viscount
Althorp, later the
8th Earl Spencer,
and his first wife,
Frances,
Viscountess
Althorp.
Diana's parents divorced in
1969.
Prince Charles had known Diana for several
years, but he first took a serious interest in
her as a potential bride during the summer of
1980, when they were guests together at a
country weekend, where she watched him
play polo. The relationship developed as he
invited her soon afterwards for a sailing
weekend to Cowes, aboard the royal yacht
Britannia. This was followed by an invitation
to Balmoral Castle, the Windsor family's
Scottish home, to meet his family. Diana was
well received at Balmoral by Queen
Elizabeth, by Prince Philip, and by the
Queen Mother. The couple then had several
dates in London. The prince proposed on 6
February 1981, and Diana accepted, but
their engagement was kept secret for the
next few weeks.
Their engagement became official on 24
February 1981, with the heir to the throne
presenting the princess-to-be with a walnutsized £30,000 ring consisting of 14 diamonds
surrounding a sapphire. Diana accepted the
proposal immediately.
The 20-year-old became the Princess of Wales
when she married Prince Charles at St Paul's
Cathedral, which offered more seating than
Westminster Abbey, which was previously used
for royal nuptials, on 29 July 1981 in what was
widely billed as a "fairytale wedding" watched
by a global television audience of 750 million.
At the altar Diana accidentally reversed the
order of Charles' names, saying Philip Charles
Arthur George instead. She also did not say
she would "obey," which caused a sensation at
the time. The wedding started at 11:20 A.M.
BST, and Diana wore a gown valued at £9000
with 25 foot train and the finest lace.
On 5 November 1981, Diana's first pregnancy
was officially announced, and she frankly
discussed her condition to the press. In the
private Lindo wing of St. Mary's Hospital,
Paddington on 21 June 1982, Diana gave birth
to her first son and heir, William. There was
some controversy in the media when she
decided to take William, still a baby, on her first
major overseas visit to Australia and New
Zealand. A second son, Harry was born a little
over two years later on 15 September
1984.Diana was a devoted mother and lavished
her sons with love, cuddles and affection. They
came first and foremost in her life. It was she
who chose their schools, their clothes and
planned their outings. She also negotiated her
public duties around their time-tables.
Prince William
Prince Harry
Cammila Parker-Bowles
Wife of Prince Charles
In the early 1990s, the marriage of Diana and Charles fell
apart, an event at first suppressed, then sensationalised, by
the world media. Both the Prince and Princess of Wales
allegedly spoke to the press through friends, each blaming
the other for the marriage's demise. Charles resumed his old,
pre-marital affair with Camilla Parker-Bowles. Asked what part
Camilla had played in the break-up of her marriage, Diana
commented during the BBC programme Panorama, "Well
there were three of us in this marriage, so it was a bit
crowded." During the Panorama television interview, shown
on 20 November 1995, Diana confirmed she had an affair
with her riding instructor, James Hewitt. Charles had
confirmed his own affair over a year earlier in a televised
interview with Jonathan Dimbleby. The Prince and Princess of
Wales were separated on 9 December 1992. While she
blamed Camilla Parker-Bowles for her marital troubles, as
early as October 1993, Diana was writing to a friend that she
believed her husband was now in love with Tiggy LeggeBourke and wanted to marry her. On 3 December 1993,
Diana announced her withdrawal from public life.
In December 1995, the Queen asked Charles and Diana for
"an early divorce". This followed shortly after Diana's
accusation that Tiggy Legge-Bourke had aborted Charles's
child, causing Tiggy to instruct Peter Carter-Ruck to demand
an apology. Two days before this story broke, Diana's
secretary Patrick Jephson resigned, later claiming that
Diana had "exulted in accusing Legge-Bourke of having had
an abortion".
On 20 December 1995, Buckingham Palace publicly
announced that the Queen had sent letters to Charles and
Diana advising them to divorce. The Queen's move was
backed by the Prime Minister and by senior Privy
Councillors, and, according to the BBC, was decided after
two weeks of talks. Prince Charles immediately agreed with
the suggestion. In February 1996, Diana announced her
agreement as well.
The divorce was finalised on 28 August 1996.
After the divorce, Diana retained her apartment in
Kensington Palace, completely redecorated, and it
remained her home until her death.
She publicly dated the respected heart surgeon from
Pakistan, Hasnat Khan, who was called "the love of her
life", for almost two years, before Khan ended the
relationship due to cultural differences. She soon after
began her relationship with Dodi Al-Fayed. These details
were confirmed by witnesses at the inquest in
November/December 2007.
After her divorce, Diana worked particularly for the Red
Cross and campaigned to rid the world of land mines. Her
work was on a humanitarian rather than a political level.
She pursued her own interests in philanthropy, music,
fashion, entertaining and travel—although she still
required royal consent to take her children on holiday or to
represent the UK abroad. Without a holiday or weekend
home, Diana spent most of her time in London, often
without her sons, who were with Prince Charles or at
boarding school.
Starting in the mid- to late
1980s, the Princess of Wales
became very well known for
her support of several charity
projects. This stemmed
naturally from her role as
Princess of Wales—she was
expected to engage in hospital
visits where she comforted the
sick and in so doing, assumed
the patronage of various
charitable organisations—and
form an interest in certain
illnesses and health-related
matters. Diana was a
supporter of the International
Campaign to Ban Landmines,
a campaign that went on to
win the Nobel Peace Prize in
1997.
AIDS awareness
In April 1987, the Princess of Wales was one of the
first high-profile celebrities to be photographed
touching a person infected with HIV at the 'chain of
hope' organization. She contributed to changing the
public opinion of AIDS sufferers.
Landmines
In January 1997, pictures of the Princess touring an
Angolan minefield in a ballistic helmet and flak jacket
were seen worldwide. It was during this campaign that
some accused the Princess of meddling in politics and
declared her a 'loose cannon.In August 1997, just
days before her death, she visited Bosnia with the
Landmine Survivors Network. Her interest in
Landmines was focused on the injuries they create,
often to children, long after a conflict is over.
She is believed to have influenced the signing, though
only after her death, of the Ottawa Treaty, which
created an International ban on the use of antipersonnel Landmines
The entrance to the Pont d'Alma tunnel, the site of Diana's fatal car accident.
On 31 August 1997, Diana died after a car crash in the Pont de l'Alma road tunnel in Paris
along with Dodi Al-Fayed and the acting security manager of the Hôtel Ritz Paris, Henri
Paul, who was instructed to drive the hired Mercedes-Benz through Paris in order to elude
the paparazzi. Their black 1994 Mercedes-Benz S280 crashed into the thirteenth pillar of
the tunnel. The two-lane tunnel was built without metal barriers in front of the pillars. None
of the four occupants wore seat belts.
Despite lengthy resuscitation attempts, including internal cardiac massage, she died at 4
a.m. local time. Her funeral on 6 September 1997 was broadcast and watched by an
estimated 2.5 billion people worldwide.
An eighteen month French judicial
investigation concluded in 1999 that the car
crash that killed Diana was caused by Paul,
who lost control of the car at high speed
while intoxicated.
Since February 1999, Dodi's father,
Mohamed Al-Fayed (the owner of the Hôtel
Ritz, for which Paul worked) has claimed
that the crash was a result of a conspiracy,
and has since contended that the crash was
orchestrated by MI6 on the instructions of
Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh.
An inquest headed by Lord Justice Scott
Baker into the deaths of Diana and Dodi
Fayed began at the Royal Courts of Justice,
London on 2 October 2007 and was a
continuation of the original inquest that
began in 2004. A jury decided on 7 April
2008 that Diana had been unlawfully killed
by the grossly negligent driving of chauffeur
Henri Paul and press photographers. The
following day Mr. Fayed announced he
would end his 10 year campaign for the
sake of the late Princess of Wales' children.