Diana Frances Spencer was born on 1 July 1961 at Park House, Sandringham, Norfolk. She was the fourth of five children of John Spencer, Viscount Althorp (1924–1992), and Frances Spencer, Viscountess Althorp (née Roche; 1936–2004). The Spencer family had been closely allied with the British royal family for several generations; Diana’s grandmothers, Cynthia Spencer, Countess Spencer and Ruth Roche, Baroness Fermoy, had served as ladies-in-waiting to Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother. The Spencers were hoping for a boy to carry on the family line, and no name was chosen for a week, until they settled on Diana Frances, after her mother and after Lady Diana Spencer, a many-times-great-aunt who was also a prospective Princess of Wales.

On 30 August 1961, Diana was baptised at St. Mary Magdalene Church, Sandringham. She grew up with three siblings: Sarah, Jane, and Charles. Her infant brother, John, died shortly after his birth one year before Diana was born. The desire for an heir added strain to the Spencers’ marriage, and Lady Althorp was reportedly sent to Harley Street clinics in London to determine the cause of the “problem”. The experience was described as “humiliating” by Diana’s younger brother, Charles: “It was a dreadful time for my parents and probably the root of their divorce because I don’t think they ever got over it.” Diana grew up in Park House, situated on the Sandringham estate. The Spencers leased the house from its owner, Queen Elizabeth II. The royal family frequently holidayed at the neighbouring Sandringham House, and Diana played with the Queen’s sons Prince Andrew and Prince Edward.

Diana was seven years old when her parents divorced. Her mother later began a relationship with Peter Shand Kydd and married him in 1969. Diana lived with her mother in London during her parents’ separation in 1967, but during that year’s Christmas holidays, Lord Althorp refused to let Diana return to London with Lady Althorp. Shortly afterwards he won custody of Diana with support from his former mother-in-law, Lady Fermoy. In 1976, Lord Althorp married Raine, Countess of Dartmouth. Diana’s relationship with her stepmother was particularly bad. She resented Raine, whom she called a “bully”, and on one occasion Diana “pushed her down the stairs”. She later described her childhood as “very unhappy” and “very unstable, the whole thing”. Diana became known as Lady Diana after her father later inherited the title of Earl Spencer in 1975, at which point her father moved the entire family from Park House to Althorp, the Spencer seat in Northamptonshire.

Diana was initially home-schooled under the supervision of her governess, Gertrude Allen. She began her formal education at Silfield Private School in Gayton, Norfolk, and moved to Riddlesworth Hall School, an all-girls boarding school near Thetford, when she was nine. She joined her sisters at West Heath Girls’ School in Sevenoaks, Kent, in 1973. She did not shine academically, failing her O-levels twice. Her outstanding community spirit was recognised with an award from West Heath. She left West Heath when she was sixteen. Her brother Charles recalls her as being quite shy up until that time. She showed a talent for music as an accomplished pianist. Diana also excelled in swimming and diving, and studied ballet and tap dance.

Lady Diana first met Charles, Prince of Wales, the Queen’s eldest son and heir apparent, when she was 16 in November 1977. He was then dating her older sister, Lady Sarah. They were guests at a country weekend during the summer of 1980 when she watched him play polo and he took a serious interest in Diana as a potential bride. The relationship progressed when he invited her aboard the royal yacht Britannia for a sailing weekend to Cowes. This was followed by an invitation to Balmoral (the royal family’s Scottish residence) to meet his family one weekend in November 1980. Lady Diana was well received by the Queen, the Queen Mother and the Duke of Edinburgh. Prince Charles subsequently courted Diana in London. The Prince proposed on 6 February 1981, and Lady Diana accepted, but their engagement was kept secret for the next few weeks.

After attending Institut Alpin Videmanette (a finishing school in Rougemont, Switzerland) for one term, and leaving after the Easter term of 1978, Diana returned to London, where she shared her mother’s flat with two school friends. In London, she took an advanced cooking course, but seldom cooked for her roommates. She took a series of low-paying jobs; she worked 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-school assistant, did some cleaning work for her sister Sarah and several of her friends, and acted as a hostess at parties. Diana spent time working as a nanny for the Robertsons, an American family living in London, and worked as a nursery teacher’s assistant at the Young England School in Pimlico. In July 1979, her mother bought her a flat at Coleherne Court in Earl’s Court as an 18th birthday present. She lived there with three flatmates until 25 February 1981.

Diana made her debut as a Sloane Ranger in 1979 with a gown by Regamus. Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, Diana wore outfits and ensembles by numerous notable fashion designers. She also wore ensembles by fashion companies such as Versace, Armani, Chanel, Dior and Clarks. Among her iconic outfits are a décolleté by David and Elizabeth Emanuel worn by a newly engaged Diana at a charity event, a cocktail dress by Christina Stambolian, commonly known as the “Revenge Dress”, which she wore after Charles’s admission of adultery, an evening gown by Victor Edelstein that she wore to a reception at the White House and later became known as the “Travolta dress”, and a Catherine Walker pearl-encrusted gown and jacket dubbed the “Elvis Dress”, which she wore for the first time on an official visit to Hong Kong.

Diana was a fashion icon whose style was emulated by women around the world. Iain Hollingshead of The Telegraph wrote: “[Diana] had an ability to sell clothes just by looking at them.” An early example of the effect occurred during her courtship with Charles in 1980 when sales of Hunter Wellington boots skyrocketed after she was pictured wearing a pair on the Balmoral estate. According to designers and people who worked with Diana, she used fashion and style to endorse her charitable causes, express herself and communicate. Diana remained a prominent figure for her fashion style, and is still considered an inspiration for stylists, celebrities, and young women, including the singer Rihanna who is influenced by her and during an interview by Glamour in 2013 said: “[Diana] killed it. Every look was right. She was gangsta with her clothes. She had these crazy hats. She got oversize jackets. I loved everything she wore!” One of her favourite milliners, John Boyd, said “Diana was our best ambassador for hats, and the entire millinery industry owes her a debt.” Boyd’s pink tricorn hat Diana wore for her honeymoon was later copied by milliners across the world and credited with rebooting an industry in decline for decades.

Their engagement became official on 24 February 1981. Diana selected a large engagement ring that consisted of 14 solitaire diamonds surrounding a 12-carat oval blue Ceylon sapphire set in 18-carat white gold, which was similar to her mother’s engagement ring. The ring was made by the Crown jewellers Garrard. In 2010, it became the engagement ring of Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge. The Queen Mother gave Diana a sapphire and diamond brooch as an engagement present.

Following the engagement, Diana left her occupation as a kindergarten assistant and lived for a short period at Clarence House, which was the home of the Queen Mother. She then lived at Buckingham Palace until the wedding. Diana was the first Englishwoman to marry the first in line to the throne since Anne Hyde over 300 years earlier, and she was also the first royal bride to have a paying job before her engagement. She made her first public appearance with Prince Charles in a charity ball in March 1981 at Goldsmiths’ Hall, where she met Grace Kelly, the Princess of Monaco.

Twenty-year-old Diana became Princess of Wales when she married Charles, Prince of Wales, on 29 July 1981. The wedding was held at St Paul’s Cathedral, which offered more seating than Westminster Abbey, a church that was generally used for royal nuptials. The service was widely described as a “fairytale wedding” and was watched by a global television audience of 750 million people while 600,000 spectators lined the streets to catch a glimpse of the couple en route to the ceremony. At the altar, Diana inadvertently reversed the order of Charles’s first two names, saying “Philip Charles” Arthur George instead. She did not say she would “obey” him; that traditional vow was left out at the couple’s request, which caused some comment at the time. Diana wore a dress valued at £9,000 with a 25-foot (7.62-metre) train.

The couple had residences at Kensington Palace and Highgrove House, near Tetbury. On 5 November 1981, Diana’s pregnancy was announced. In January 1982—twelve weeks into the pregnancy—Diana fell down a staircase at Sandringham, and the royal gynaecologist Sir George Pinker was summoned from London. He found that although she had suffered severe bruising, the foetus was uninjured. Diana later confessed that she had intentionally thrown herself down the stairs because she was feeling “so inadequate”. In February 1982, pictures of a pregnant Diana in bikini while holidaying was published in the media. The Queen subsequently released a statement and called it “the blackest day in the history of British journalism.” On 21 June 1982, Diana gave birth to the couple’s first son, Prince William. Amidst some media criticism, she decided to take William—who was still a baby—on her first major tours of Australia and New Zealand, and the decision was popularly applauded. By her own admission, Diana had not initially intended to take William until Malcolm Fraser, the Australian prime minister, made the suggestion.

Following her engagement to Prince Charles, Diana made her first official public appearance in March 1981 in a charity event at Goldsmiths’ Hall. In October 1981, Charles and Diana visited Wales. Diana attended the State Opening of Parliament for the first time on 4 November 1981. Her first solo engagement was a visit to Regent Street on 18 November 1981 to switch on the Christmas lights. She attended the Trooping the Colour for the first time in June 1982, making her appearance on the balcony of Buckingham Palace afterwards. The Princess made her inaugural overseas tour in September 1982, to attend the state funeral of Grace, Princess of Monaco. Also in 1982, Diana accompanied Charles to the Netherlands and was created a Grand Cross of the Order of the Crown by Queen Beatrix. In 1983, she accompanied Charles on a tour of Australia and New Zealand with Prince William, where they met with representatives of the Māori people. Their visit to Canada in June and July 1983 included a trip to Edmonton to open the 1983 Summer Universiade and a stop in Newfoundland to commemorate the 400th anniversary of that island’s acquisition by the Crown.

Diana remains one of the most popular members of the royal family throughout history, and she continues to influence the principles of the royal family and its younger generations. She was a major presence on the world stage from her engagement to Prince Charles in 1981 until her death in 1997, and was often described as the “world’s most photographed woman”. She was noted for her compassion, style, charisma, and high-profile charity work, as well as her ill-fated marriage. Diana’s former private secretary, Patrick Jephson described her as an organised and hardworking person, and pointed out Charles was not able to “reconcile with his wife’s extraordinary popularity”, a viewpoint supported by biographer Tina Brown. He also said she was a tough boss who was “equally quick to appreciate hard work”, but could also be defiant “if she felt she had been the victim of injustice”. Paul Burrell, who worked as a butler for Diana, remembered her as a “deep thinker” capable of “introspective analysis”. She was often described as a devoted mother to her children, who are believed to be influenced by her personality and way of life. In the early years, Diana was often noted for her shy nature, while journalist Michael White perceived her as being “smart”, “shrewd and funny”. Those who communicated with her closely describe her as a person who was led by “her heart”. In an article for The Guardian, Monica Ali described Diana as having a strong character, because she entered the royal family as an inexperienced girl with little education, but could handle their expectations, and overcome the difficulties and sufferings of her marital life. Ali also believes that she “had a lasting influence on the public discourse, particularly in matters of mental health” by discussing her eating disorder publicly.

In 1983, she confided in the then-Premier of Newfoundland, Brian Peckford, “I am finding it very difficult to cope with the pressures of being Princess of Wales, but I am learning to cope with it.” As Princess of Wales, she was expected to make regular public appearances at hospitals, schools, and other facilities, in the 20th-century model of royal patronage. From the mid-1980s, she became increasingly associated with numerous charities. She carried out 191 official engagements in 1988 and 397 in 1991. The Princess developed an intense interest in serious illnesses and health-related matters outside the purview of traditional royal involvement, including AIDS and leprosy. In recognition of her effect as a philanthropist, Stephen Lee, director of the UK Institute of Charity Fundraising Managers, said “Her overall effect on charity is probably more significant than any other person’s in the 20th century.”

A second son, Prince Harry, was born on 15 September 1984. The Princess said she and Charles were closest during her pregnancy with Harry. She was aware their second child was a boy, but did not share the knowledge with anyone else, including Charles.

In February 1984, Diana was the patron of London City Ballet when she travelled to Norway on her own to attend a performance organised by the company. In April 1985, Charles and Diana visited Italy, and were later joined by Princes William and Harry. They met with President Alessandro Pertini. Their visit to the Holy See included a private audience with Pope John Paul II. In November 1985, the couple visited the United States, meeting President Ronald Reagan and First Lady Nancy Reagan at the White House. Diana had a busy year in 1986. She embarked with Charles on a tour of Japan, Indonesia, Spain, and Canada. In Canada they visited Expo 86, where Diana fainted in the California Pavilion. In November 1986, she went on a six-day tour to the Arab Gulf States including Oman, Qatar, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, where she met King Fahd and Sultan Qaboos bin Said al Said.

In 1987, Diana was awarded the Honorary Freedom of the City of London, the highest honour which is in the power of the City of London to bestow on someone. In June 1995, she travelled to Moscow. She paid a visit to a children’s hospital she had previously supported when she provided them with medical equipment. In Moscow, she received the International Leonardo Prize, which is given to “the most distinguished patrons and people in the arts, medicine, and sports”. In December 1995, Diana received the United Cerebral Palsy Humanitarian of the Year Award in New York City for her philanthropic efforts. In October 1996, for her works on the elderly, she was awarded a gold medal at a health care conference organised by the Pio Manzù Centre in Rimini, Italy.

Diana was a staunch and longtime supporter of charities and organisations that focused on social and mental issues, including Relate and Turning Point. Relate was relaunched in 1987 as a renewed version to its predecessor, the National Marriage Guidance Council. Diana became its patron in 1989. Turning Point, a health and social care organisation, was founded in 1964 to help and support those affected by drug and alcohol misuse and mental health problems. She became the charity’s patron in 1987 and visited the charity on a regular basis, meeting the sufferers at its centres or institutions including Rampton and Broadmoor. In 1990 during a speech for Turning Point she said, “It takes professionalism to convince a doubting public that it should accept back into its midst many of those diagnosed as psychotics, neurotics and other sufferers who Victorian communities decided should be kept out of sight in the safety of mental institutions.” Despite the protocol problems of travelling to a Muslim country, she made a trip to Pakistan later that year in order to visit a rehabilitation centre in Lahore as a sign of “her commitment to working against drug abuse”.

In 1988, Charles and Diana visited Thailand and toured Australia for the bicentenary celebrations. In February 1989, she spent a few days in New York as a solo visit. During a tour of Harlem Hospital Center, she made a profound impact on the public by spontaneously hugging a seven-year-old child with AIDS. In March 1989, she had her second trip to the Arab Gulf States, in which she visited Kuwait and the UAE.

In 1988, Diana opened Children with Leukaemia (later renamed Children with Cancer UK) in memory of two young cancer victims. In November 1987, a few days after the death of Jean O’Gorman from cancer, Diana met her family. The deaths of Jean and her brother affected her and she assisted their family to establish the charity. It was opened by her on 12 January 1988 at Mill Hill Secondary School, and she supported it until her death in 1997.

In 1989, Diana was at a birthday party for Camilla’s sister, Annabel Elliot, when she confronted Camilla about her and Charles’s extramarital affair. These affairs were later exposed in May 1992 with the publication of Andrew Morton’s book, Diana: Her True Story. The book, which also revealed Diana’s allegedly suicidal unhappiness, caused a media storm. Morton later stated that in 1991 he had also conducted a secret interview with Diana in which she had talked about her marital issues and difficulties.

The Princess began her work with AIDS victims in the 1980s. In 1989, she opened Landmark Aids Centre in South London. She was not averse to making physical contact with AIDS patients, though it was still unknown whether the disease could be spread that way. Diana was the first British royal figure to contact AIDS patients. In 1987, she held hands with an AIDS patient in one of her early efforts to de-stigmatise the condition. Diana noted: “HIV does not make people dangerous to know. You can shake their hands and give them a hug. Heaven knows they need it. What’s more, you can share their homes, their workplaces, and their playgrounds and toys.” To Diana’s disappointment, the Queen did not support this type of charity work, suggesting she get involved in “something more pleasant”. In October 1990, Diana opened Grandma’s House, a home for young AIDS victims in Washington, D.C. She was also a patron of the National AIDS Trust. In 1991, she hugged one victim during a visit to the AIDS ward of the Middlesex Hospital, which she had opened in 1987 as the first hospital unit dedicated to this cause in the UK. As the patron of Turning Point, a health and social care organisation, Diana visited its project in London for people with HIV/AIDS in 1992. She later established and led fundraising campaigns for AIDS research.

For her first solo official trip, Diana visited The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust, a cancer treatment hospital in London. She later chose this charity to be among the organisations that benefited from the auction of her clothes in New York. The trust’s communications manager said, “The Princess had done much to remove the stigma and taboo associated with diseases such as cancer, AIDS, HIV and leprosy.” Diana became president of the hospital on 27 June 1989. The Wolfson Children’s Cancer Unit was opened by Diana on 25 February 1993. In February 1996, Diana, who had been informed about a newly opened cancer hospital built by Imran Khan, travelled to Pakistan to visit its children’s cancer wards and attend a fundraising dinner in aid of the charity in Lahore. She later visited the hospital again in May 1997. In June 1996, she travelled to Chicago in her capacity as president of the Royal Marsden Hospital in order to attend a fundraising event and raised more than £1 million for cancer research. In September 1996, after being asked by Katharine Graham, Diana went to Washington and appeared at a White House breakfast in respect of the Nina Hyde Center for Breast Cancer Research. She also attended an annual fund-raiser for breast cancer research organised by The Washington Post at the same centre.

In November 1989, Diana visited a leprosy hospital in Indonesia. Following her visit, she became patron of the Leprosy Mission, an organisation dedicated to providing medicine, treatment, and other support services to those who are afflicted with the disease. She remained the patron of this charity and visited several of its hospitals around the world, especially in India, Nepal, Zimbabwe and Nigeria until her death in 1997. She touched those affected by the disease when many people believed it could be contracted through casual contact. “It has always been my concern to touch people with leprosy, trying to show in a simple action that they are not reviled, nor are we repulsed,” she commented. The Diana Princess of Wales Health Education and Media Centre in Noida, India, was opened in her honour in November 1999, funded by the Diana Princess of Wales Memorial Fund to give social support to the people affected by leprosy and disability.

The Princess was named to the International Best Dressed List Hall of Fame in 1989. In 2004, People cited her as one of the all-time most beautiful women. In 2012, Time included Diana on its All-TIME 100 Fashion Icons list.

The Flame of Liberty was erected in 1989 on the Place de l’Alma in Paris above the entrance to the tunnel in which the fatal crash later occurred. It became an unofficial memorial to Diana. The Place de l’Alma was renamed Place Diana princesse de Galles in 2019.

In March 1990, Diana and Charles toured Nigeria and Cameroon. The President of Cameroon hosted an official dinner to welcome them in Yaoundé. Highlights of the tour included visits by Diana to hospitals and projects focusing on women’s development. In May 1990, they visited Hungary for four days. It was the first visit by members of the royal family to “a former Warsaw Pact country”. They attended a dinner hosted by President Árpád Göncz and viewed a fashion display at the Museum of Applied Arts in Budapest. Peto Institute was among the places visited by Diana, and she presented its director with an honorary OBE. In November 1990, the royal couple went to Japan to attend the enthronement of Emperor Akihito.

In her desire to play an encouraging role during the Gulf War, Diana visited Germany in December 1990 to meet with the families of soldiers. She subsequently travelled to Germany in January 1991 to visit RAF Bruggen, and later wrote an encouraging letter which was published in Soldier, Navy News and RAF News. In 1991, Charles and Diana visited Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario, where they presented the university with a replica of their royal charter. In September 1991, Diana visited Pakistan on a solo trip, and went to Brazil with Charles. During the Brazilian tour, Diana paid visits to organisations that battled homelessness among street children. Her final trips with Charles were to India and South Korea in 1992. She visited Mother Teresa’s hospice in Kolkata, India, in 1992. The two women met each other again that year and developed a personal relationship. It was also during the Indian tour that pictures of Diana alone in front of the Taj Mahal made headlines.

The Princess’s influential short hairstyle was created by Sam McKnight after a Vogue shoot in 1990, which, in McKnight and Donatella Versace’s opinion, brought her more liberty as “it always looked great”. The Princess reportedly did her own make up and would always have a hairstylist by her side before an event. She told McKnight: “It’s not for me, Sam. It is for the people I visit or who come to see me. They don’t want me in off-duty mode, they want a princess. Let’s give them what they want.”

During 1992 and 1993, leaked tapes of telephone conversations reflected negatively on both the Charles and Diana. Tape recordings of Diana and James Gilbey were made public in August 1992, and transcripts were published the same month. The article, “Squidgygate”, was followed in November 1992 by the leaked “Camillagate” tapes, intimate exchanges between Charles and Camilla, published in the tabloids. In December 1992, Prime Minister John Major announced the couple’s “amicable separation” to the House of Commons.

Between 1992 and 1993, Diana hired voice coach Peter Settelen to help her develop her public speaking voice. In a videotape recorded by Settelen in 1992, Diana said that in 1984 through to 1986, she had been “deeply in love with someone who worked in this environment.” It is thought she was referring to Barry Mannakee, who was transferred to the Diplomatic Protection Squad in 1986 after his managers had determined that his relationship with Diana had been inappropriate. Diana said in the tape that Mannakee had been “chucked out” from his role as her bodyguard following suspicion that the two were having an affair. Penny Junor suggested in her 1998 book that Diana was in a romantic relationship with Mannakee. Diana’s friends dismissed the claim as absurd. In the subsequently released tapes Diana said she had feelings for that “someone”, saying “I was quite happy to give all this up [and] just to go off and live with him”. She described him as “the greatest friend [she’s] ever had”, though she denied any sexual relationship with him. She also spoke bitterly of her husband saying that “[He] made me feel so inadequate in every possible way, that each time I came up for air he pushed me down again.” Charles’s aunt, Princess Margaret, burned “highly personal” letters that Diana had written to the Queen Mother in 1993. Biographer William Shawcross considered Margaret’s action to be “understandable” as she was “protecting her mother and other members of the family”, but “regrettable from a historical viewpoint”.

Diana was a long-standing and active supporter of Centrepoint, a charity which provides accommodation and support to homeless people, and became patron in 1992. She supported organisations that battle poverty and homelessness. The Princess was a supporter of young homeless people and spoke out on behalf of them by saying that “they deserve a decent start in life”. “We, as a part of society, must ensure that young people – who are our future – are given the chance they deserve,” she said. Diana used to take young William and Harry for private visits to Centrepoint services and homeless shelters. “The young people at Centrepoint were always really touched by her visits and by her genuine feelings for them,” said one of the charity’s staff members. Prince William later became the patron of this charity.

Before and after her death, Diana has been depicted in contemporary art. The first biopics about Diana and Charles were Charles and Diana: A Royal Love Story and The Royal Romance of Charles and Diana that were broadcast on American TV channels on 17 and 20 September 1981, respectively. In December 1992, ABC aired Charles and Diana: Unhappily Ever After, a TV movie about marital discord between Diana and Charles. In the 1990s, British magazine Private Eye called her “Cheryl” and Prince Charles “Brian”.

Although she blamed Camilla Parker Bowles for her marital troubles, Diana began to believe her husband had also been involved in other affairs. In October 1993, Diana wrote to her butler Paul Burrell, telling him that she believed her husband was now in love with his personal assistant Tiggy Legge-Bourke—who was also his sons’ former nanny—and was planning to have her killed “to make the path clear for him to marry Tiggy”. Legge-Bourke had been hired by Charles as a young companion for his sons while they were in his care, and Diana was resentful of Legge-Bourke and her relationship with the young princes. Prince Charles sought public understanding via a televised interview with Jonathan Dimbleby on 29 June 1994. In the interview, he said he had rekindled his relationship with Camilla in 1986 only after his marriage to Diana had “irretrievably broken down”.

In December 1993, she announced that she would withdraw from public life, but in November 1994 she said she wished to “make a partial return”. In her capacity as the vice-president of British Red Cross, she was interested in playing an important role for its 125th anniversary celebrations. Later, the Queen formally invited her to attend the anniversary celebrations of D-Day. In February 1995, Diana visited Japan. She paid a formal visit to Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko, and visited the National Children’s Hospital in Tokyo. In June 1995, Diana went to the Venice Biennale art festival, and also visited Moscow where she received the International Leonardo Prize. In November 1995, Diana undertook a four-day trip to Argentina in order to attend a charity event. The Princess visited many other countries, including Belgium, Nepal, Switzerland, and Zimbabwe, alongside numerous others. During her separation from Charles which lasted for almost four years, she participated in major national occasions as a senior member of the royal family, notably including “the commemorations of the 50th anniversaries of Victory in Europe Day and Victory over Japan Day” in 1995. The Princess’s 36th and final birthday celebration was held at Tate Gallery, which was also a commemorative event for the gallery’s 100th anniversary. In July 1997, Diana attended Gianni Versace’s funeral in Milan, Italy.

In 1993, Mirror Group Newspapers (MGN) published photographs of Diana that were taken by gym owner Bryce Taylor. The photos showed her exercising in the gym LA Fitness wearing “a leotard and cycling shorts”. The Princess’s lawyers immediately filed a criminal complaint that sought “a permanent ban on the sale and publication of the photographs” around the world. However, some newspapers outside the UK published the pictures. The courts granted an injunction against Taylor and MGN that prohibited “further publication of the pictures”. MGN later issued an apology after facing much criticism from the public. It is said that MGN gave Diana £1 million as a payment for her legal costs and donated £200,000 to her charities. Taylor apologised as well and paid Diana £300,000, although it was alleged that a member of the royal family had helped him financially.

Following her death, Diana left a £21 million estate, “netting £17 million after estate taxes”, which were left in the hands of trustees, her mother, and her sister, Lady Sarah. The will was signed in June 1993, but Diana had it modified in February 1996 to remove the name of her personal secretary from the list of trustees and have her sister Sarah replace him. After applying personal and inheritance taxes, a net estate of £12.9 million was left to be distributed among the beneficiaries. Her two sons subsequently inherited the majority of her estate. Each of them received their part upon turning 30 years old in 2012 and 2014 respectively. Many of Diana’s possessions were initially left in the care of her brother who put them on show in Althorp twice a year until they were returned to the princes. They were also put on display in American museums and as of 2011 raised two million dollars for charities. Among the objects were her dresses and suits along with numerous family paintings, jewels and two diamond tiaras. Diana’s engagement ring was given to William, who later passed it to his wife, Catherine Middleton, while her wedding dress and a yellow gold watch were given to Harry.

Journalist Martin Bashir interviewed Diana for the BBC current affairs show Panorama. The interview was broadcast on 20 November 1995. The Princess discussed her own and her husband’s extramarital affairs. Referring to Charles’s relationship with Camilla, she said: “Well, there were three of us in this marriage, so it was a bit crowded.” She also expressed doubt about her husband’s suitability for kingship. Authors Tina Brown, Sally Bedell Smith and Sarah Bradford support Diana’s admission in the interview that she had suffered from depression, “rampant bulimia” and had engaged numerous times in the act of self mutilation; the show’s transcript records Diana confirming many of her mental health problems, including that she had “hurt (her) arms and legs”. The combination of illnesses from which Diana herself said she suffered resulted in some of her biographers opining that she had a borderline personality disorder.

Diana was widely known for her encounters with sick and dying patients, and the poor and unwanted whom she used to comfort, an action that earned her more popularity. She was mindful of people’s thoughts and feelings, and later revealed her wish to become a beloved figure among the people, saying in her 1995 interview, that “[She would] like to be a queen of people’s hearts, in people’s hearts.” According to Tina Brown, she could charm people with a single glance. Brown also points out that Diana’s fame had spread around the world, even affecting Tony Blair who reportedly said Diana had shown the nation “a new way to be British”. Diana is often credited with widening the range of charity works carried out by the royal family in a more modern style, as well as affecting some of the household’s traditional manners. Eugene Robinson of The Washington Post wrote in an article that “Diana imbued her role as royal princess with vitality, activism and, above all, glamour.” Alicia Carroll of The New York Times described Diana as “a breath of fresh air” who was the main reason the royal family was known in the United States. Despite all the marital issues and scandals, Diana continued to enjoy a high level of popularity in the polls while her husband was suffering from low levels of public approval. Her peak popularity rate in the United Kingdom between 1981 and 2012 was 47%.

The interview proved to be the tipping point. On 20 December, Buckingham Palace 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 Counsellors, and, according to the BBC, was decided after two weeks of talks. Charles formally agreed to the divorce in a written statement soon after. In February 1996, Diana announced her agreement after negotiations with Charles and representatives of the Queen, irritating Buckingham Palace by issuing her own announcement of the divorce agreement and its terms. In July 1996, the couple agreed on the terms of their divorce. This followed shortly after Diana’s accusation that Charles’s personal assistant Tiggy Legge-Bourke had aborted his child, after which Legge-Bourke instructed her attorney Peter Carter-Ruck to demand an apology. Diana’s private secretary Patrick Jephson resigned shortly before the story broke, later writing that she had “exulted in accusing Legge-Bourke of having had an abortion”.

The divorce was finalised on 28 August 1996. Diana received a lump sum settlement of £17 million as well as £400,000 per year. The couple signed a confidentiality agreement that prohibited them from discussing the details of the divorce or of their married life. Days before, letters patent were issued with general rules to regulate royal titles after divorce. Diana lost the style “Her Royal Highness” and instead was styled Diana, Princess of Wales. As the mother of the prince expected to one day ascend to the throne, she continued to be regarded as a member of the royal family and was accorded the same precedence she enjoyed during her marriage. The Queen reportedly wanted to let Diana continue to use the style of Royal Highness after her divorce, but Charles had insisted on removing it. Prince William was reported to have reassured his mother: “Don’t worry, Mummy, I will give it back to you one day when I am King.” Almost a year before, according to Tina Brown, Philip had warned Diana: “If you don’t behave, my girl, we’ll take your title away.” She is said to have replied: “My title is a lot older than yours, Philip.” By the time of Diana’s death in 1997, she had not spoken to her mother in four months. By contrast, Diana’s relationship with her estranged stepmother had reportedly improved.

After her 1996 divorce, Diana retained the double apartment on the north side of Kensington Palace that she had shared with Charles since the first year of their marriage; the apartment remained her home until her death the following year. She also moved her offices to Kensington Palace but was permitted “to use the state apartments at St James’s Palace”. Furthermore, she continued to have access to the jewellery that she had received during her marriage, and was allowed to use the air transport of the British royal family and government. In a book published in 2003, Paul Burrell claimed Diana’s private letters had revealed that her brother, Lord Spencer, had refused to allow her to live at Althorp, despite her request.

Diana dated the British-Pakistani heart surgeon Hasnat Khan, who was called “the love of her life” by many of her closest friends after her death, and she is said to have described him as “Mr Wonderful”. In May 1996, Diana visited Lahore upon invitation of Imran Khan, a relative of Hasnat Khan, and visited the latter’s family in secret. Khan was intensely private and the relationship was conducted in secrecy, with Diana lying to members of the press who questioned her about it. Their relationship lasted almost two years with differing accounts of who ended it. She is said to have spoken of her distress when “he” ended their relationship. However, according to Khan’s testimonial at the inquest for her death, it was Diana who ended their relationship in the summer of 1997. Burrell also said the relationship was ended by Diana in July 1997. Burrell also claimed that Diana’s mother, Frances Shand Kydd, disapproved of her daughter’s relationship with a Muslim man.

In May 1997, Diana opened the Richard Attenborough Centre for Disability and the Arts in Leicester, after being asked by her friend Richard Attenborough. In June 1997, her dresses and suits were sold at Christie’s auction houses in London and New York, and the proceeds that were earned from these events were donated to charities. Her final official engagement was a visit to Northwick Park Hospital, London, on 21 July 1997.

In March 1997, Diana visited South Africa, where she met with President Nelson Mandela. On 2 November 2002, Mandela announced that the Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund would be teaming up with the Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fund to help victims of AIDS. They had planned the combination of the two charities a few months before her death. Mandela later praised Diana for her efforts surrounding the issue of HIV/AIDS: “When she stroked the limbs of someone with leprosy or sat on the bed of a man with HIV/AIDS and held his hand, she transformed public attitudes and improved the life chances of such people”. Diana had used her celebrity status to “fight stigma attached to people living with HIV/AIDS”, Mandela said. In 2009, a panel including Sir Ian McKellen and Alan Hollinghurst chose Diana’s portrait to be shown in the Gay Icons exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery, London. In October 2017, the Attitude magazine honoured Diana with its Legacy Award for her HIV/AIDS work. Prince Harry accepted the award on behalf of his mother.

Diana was the patron of HALO Trust, an organisation that removes debris—particularly landmines—left behind by war. In January 1997, pictures of Diana touring an Angolan minefield in a ballistic helmet and flak jacket were seen worldwide. During her campaign, she was accused of meddling in politics and called a ‘loose cannon’ by the Earl Howe, an official in the British Ministry of Defence. Despite the criticism, HALO states that Diana’s efforts resulted in raising international awareness about landmines and the subsequent sufferings caused by them. In June 1997, she gave a speech at a landmines conference held at the Royal Geographical Society, and travelled to Washington, D.C. to help promote the American Red Cross landmines campaign. From 7 to 10 August 1997, just days before her death, she visited Bosnia and Herzegovina with Jerry White and Ken Rutherford of the Landmine Survivors Network.

A few months after Diana’s death in 1997, the International Campaign to Ban Landmines won the Nobel Peace Prize.

On 31 August 1997, Diana died in a car crash in the Pont de l’Alma tunnel in Paris while the driver was fleeing the paparazzi. The crash also resulted in the deaths of her companion Dodi Fayed and the driver, Henri Paul, who was the acting security manager of the Hôtel Ritz Paris. Diana’s bodyguard, Trevor Rees-Jones, survived the crash. The televised funeral, on 6 September, was watched by a British television audience that peaked at 32.10 million, which was one of the United Kingdom’s highest viewing figures ever. Millions more watched the event around the world.

The sudden and unexpected death of an extraordinarily popular royal figure brought statements from senior figures worldwide and many tributes by members of the public. People left public offerings of flowers, candles, cards, and personal messages outside Kensington Palace for many months. Her coffin, draped with the royal flag, was brought to London from Paris by Prince Charles and Diana’s two sisters on 31 August 1997. The coffin was taken to a private mortuary and then placed in the Chapel Royal, St James’s Palace.

On 5 September, Queen Elizabeth II paid tribute to her in a live television broadcast. Diana’s funeral took place in Westminster Abbey on 6 September. Her sons walked in the funeral procession behind her coffin, along with her ex-husband the Prince of Wales, the Duke of Edinburgh, Diana’s brother Lord Spencer, and representatives of some of her charities. Lord Spencer said of his sister, “She proved in the last year that she needed no royal title to continue to generate her particular brand of magic.” Re-written in tribute to Diana, “Candle in the Wind 1997” was performed by Elton John at the funeral service (the only occasion the song has been performed live). Released as a single in 1997, the global proceeds from the song have gone to Diana’s charities.

In 1997, Diana was one of the runners-up for Time magazine’s person of the Year. In 1999, Time magazine named Diana one of the 100 Most Important People of the 20th Century. In 2002, Diana ranked third on the BBC’s poll of the 100 Greatest Britons, above the Queen and other British monarchs. In 2003, VH1 ranked her at number nine on its 200 Greatest Pop Culture Icons list, which recognises “the folks that have significantly inspired and impacted American society”. In 2006, the Japanese public ranked Diana twelfth in The Top 100 Historical Persons in Japan. In 2018, Diana ranked fifteenth on the BBC History’s poll of 100 Women Who Changed the World. In 2020, Time magazine included Diana’s name on its list of 100 Women of the Year. She was chosen as the Woman of the Year 1987 for her efforts in de-stigmatising the conditions surrounding HIV/AIDS patients.

Rosa ‘Princess of Wales’, a white blend rose cultivar, is named in honour of Diana. She received it as a tribute for her 10-year cooperation with the British Lung Foundation. It was bred by Harkness in the United Kingdom and introduced in 1997. The nostalgic floribunda is also known as ‘Hardinkum’. It has a double bloom form, and a mild to strong fragrance. The rose is said to be one of Diana’s favourites. After her death, the proceeds from selling the roses in 1998–99 were donated to the British Lung Foundation. In 2002, it was granted the Award of Garden Merit by the Royal Horticultural Society. Rosa ‘Diana, Princess of Wales’, a pink blend garden rose, was first introduced in 1998 at the British Embassy in the United States. The classical hybrid tea rose was bred by Keith W. Zary of Jackson & Perkins and is also known under the names ‘Elegant Lady’ and ‘Jacshaq’. It has a classic bloom form with ivory petals, and a mild, sweet fragrance. “15% of the retail price” for buying each of the roses was donated to the Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fund. It was also not sold in the United Kingdom in order to prevent from creating a competition with Rosa ‘Princess of Wales’.

The initial French judicial investigation concluded that the crash was caused by Paul’s intoxication, reckless driving, speeding (65 mph), and effects of prescription drugs. In February 1998, Mohamed Al-Fayed, owner of the Paris Ritz where Paul had worked, publicly said the crash had been planned and accused MI6 and the Duke of Edinburgh. An inquest that started in London in 2004 and continued in 2007–08 attributed the crash to grossly negligent driving by Paul and to the pursuing paparazzi, who forced Paul to speed into the tunnel. On 7 April 2008, the jury returned a verdict of “unlawful killing”. On the day after the final verdict of the inquest, Al-Fayed announced that he would end his 10-year campaign to establish that the tragedy was murder; he said he did so for the sake of Diana’s children.

The Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fund was established after her death and was granted intellectual property rights over her image. In 1998, the fund sued the Franklin Mint, accusing it of illegally selling Diana dolls, plates, and jewellery after having been refused a license to do so. In California, where the initial case was tried, a suit to preserve the right of publicity may be filed on behalf of a dead person, but only if that person is a Californian. The Memorial Fund therefore filed the lawsuit on behalf of the estate and, upon losing the case, was required to pay the Franklin Mint’s legal costs of £3 million which, combined with other fees, caused the Memorial Fund to freeze its grants to charities. In 2003, the Franklin Mint counter-sued. In November 2004, the case was settled out of court with the Memorial Fund agreeing to pay £13.5 million (US$21.5 million) to charitable causes on which both sides agreed. In addition to this, the Memorial Fund had spent a total of close to £4 million (US$6.5 million) in costs and fees relating to this litigation, and as a result froze grants allocated to a number of charities.

In 1998, Azermarka issued postage stamps commemorating Diana in Azerbaijan. The English text on souvenir sheets issued reads “DIANA, PRINCESS OF WALES The Princess that (sic) captured people’s hearts (1961–1997)”. Several other countries issued commemorative stamps that year, including Great Britain, Somalia, and Congo. HayPost also issued a postage stamp commemorating Diana in Armenia at the same year.

In 1999, after the submission of a Freedom of Information Act request filed by the Internet news service apbonline.com, it was revealed that Diana had been placed under surveillance by the National Security Agency until her death, and the organisation kept a top secret file on her containing more than 1,000 pages. The contents of Diana’s NSA file cannot be disclosed because of national security concerns. The NSA officials insisted Diana was not a “target of [their] massive, worldwide electronic eavesdropping infrastructure.” Despite multiple inquiries for the files to be declassified—with one of the notable ones being filed by Mohamed Al-Fayed—the NSA has refused to release the documents.

In July 1999, Tracey Emin created a number of monoprint drawings featuring textual references about Diana’s public and private life for Temple of Diana, a themed exhibition at The Blue Gallery, London. Works such as They Wanted You To Be Destroyed (1999) related to Diana’s bulimia, while others included affectionate texts such as Love Was on Your Side and Diana’s Dress with puffy sleeves. Another text praised her selflessness – The things you did to help other people, showing Diana in protective clothing walking through a minefield in Angola – while another referenced the conspiracy theories. Of her drawings, Emin maintained “They’re quite sentimental … and there’s nothing cynical about it whatsoever.”

In November 2002, a £4,000 bronze plaque was unveiled by Earl Spencer at Northampton Guildhall as a memorial to his sister. In February 2013, OCAD University in Toronto announced that its new 25,000 square foot arts centre would be named the Princess of Wales Visual Arts Centre. Princess Diana Drive was named in her memory in Trenton, New Jersey. Diana’s granddaughter, Charlotte Elizabeth Diana (born 2015), and her niece, Charlotte Diana (born 2012), are named after her.

There were two memorials inside Harrods department store, commissioned by Dodi Fayed’s father, who owned the store from 1985 to 2010. The first memorial was a pyramid-shaped display containing photos of the princess and al-Fayed’s son, a wine glass said to be from their last dinner, and a ring purchased by Dodi the day prior to the crash. The second, Innocent Victims, unveiled in 2005, was a bronze statue of Fayed dancing with Diana on a beach beneath the wings of an albatross. In January 2018, it was announced that the statue would be returned to the Al-Fayed family.

In 2005, Martín Sastre premiered during the Venice Biennale the film Diana: The Rose Conspiracy. This fictional work starts with the world discovering Diana alive and enjoying a happy undercover new life in a dangerous cantegril on the outskirts of Montevideo. Shot at an Uruguayan slum using a Diana impersonator from São Paulo, the film was selected by the Italian Art Critics Association as one of the Venice Biennial’s best works.

The Concert for Diana at Wembley Stadium was held on 1 July 2007. The event, organised by the princes William and Harry, celebrated the 46th anniversary of their mother’s birth and occurred a few weeks before the 10th anniversary of her death on 31 August. The proceeds from this event were donated to Diana’s charities. On 31 August 2007, a memorial service for Diana took place in the Guards Chapel. Guests included members of the royal family and their relatives, members of the Spencer family, members of Diana’s wedding party, Diana’s close friends and aides, representatives from many of her charities, British politicians Gordon Brown, Tony Blair, and John Major, and friends from the entertainment world such as David Frost, Elton John, and Cliff Richard.

In 2007, following an earlier series referencing the conspiracy theories, Stella Vine created a series of Diana paintings for her first major solo exhibition at Modern Art Oxford gallery. Vine intended to portray Diana’s combined strength and vulnerability as well as her closeness to her two sons. The works, all completed in 2007, included Diana branches, Diana family picnic, Diana veil, Diana crash and Diana pram, which incorporates the quotation “I vow to thee my country”. Vine asserted her own abiding attraction to “the beauty and the tragedy of Diana’s life”.

The 2007 docudrama Diana: Last Days of a Princess details the final two months of her life. She is portrayed by Irish actress Genevieve O’Reilly. On an October 2007 episode of The Chaser’s War on Everything, Andrew Hansen mocked Diana in his “Eulogy Song”, which immediately created considerable controversy in the Australian media.

In 2008, Ken Wharfe, a former bodyguard of Diana, claimed that her scandalous conversations with James Gilbey (commonly referred to as the Squidgygate) were in fact recorded by the GCHQ, which intentionally released them on a “loop”. People close to Diana believed the action was intended to defame her. Wharfe said Diana herself believed that members of the royal family were all being monitored, though he also stated that the main reason for it could be the potential threats of the IRA.

In January 2013, a previously unseen photograph of Diana taken during her engagement to Charles was put up for auction. The picture belonged to the Daily Mirror newspaper and has “Not to be published” written on it. In it, a young Diana lies across the lap of an unidentified man.

On 19 March 2013, ten of Diana’s dresses, including a midnight blue velvet gown she wore to a 1985 state dinner at the White House when she danced with John Travolta (which became known as the Travolta dress), raised over £800,000 at auction in London.

In 2016, fashion designer Sharmadean Reid designed a collection of clothes for ASOS.com inspired by Diana’s style. “Di’s incredible relationship with accessible sportswear through to luxury fashion forms the cornerstone of the collection and feels more modern than ever,” Reid said about Diana in a press release.

In January 2017, a series of letters that Diana and other members of the royal family had written to a Buckingham Palace steward were sold as a part of a collection titled “the private letters between a trusted butler and the royal family”. The six letters that were written by Diana included information about her young sons’ daily life and raised £15,100.

“Diana: Her Fashion Story”, an exhibition of gowns and suits worn by Diana, was announced to be opened at Kensington Palace in February 2017 as a tribute to mark her 20th death anniversary, with her favorite dresses created by numerous fashion designers, including Catherine Walker and Victor Edelstein, being displayed. The exhibition opened on 24 February displaying a collection of 25 dresses, and was set to remain open until 2018.

Following the opening of an exhibition of Diana’s clothes and dresses at Kensington Palace in 2017, Catherine Bennett of The Guardian said such exhibitions are among the suitable ways to commemorate public figures whose fashion styles were noted due to their achievements. The exhibition suggests to detractors who, like many other princesses, “looking lovely in different clothes was pretty much her life’s work” which also brings interest in her clothing.

Diana was an inspiration for Off-White’s Spring 2018 show at Paris Fashion Week in 2017. The designer Virgil Abloh used Diana’s signature looks as fragments to design new suits and attire. Supermodel Naomi Campbell, dressed in a combination of white blazer and cropped spandex leggings in reference to Diana’s formal and off-duty styles, closed off the show. In 2019, Tory Burch used Diana’s early ’80s style as an inspiration for her Spring 2020 show at New York Fashion Week.

In January 2017, Diana’s sons commissioned a statue of their mother for Kensington Palace to commemorate the 20th anniversary of her death. In an official statement released by Kensington Palace, William and Harry said “Our mother touched so many lives. We hope the statue will help all those who visit Kensington Palace to reflect on her life and her legacy.” The money will be raised through public donations, and a small committee consisting of close friends and advisers, including Diana’s sister Lady Sarah McCorquodale, are said to be working on the project. In December 2017, it was announced that Ian Rank-Broadley had been commissioned to execute the statue. Its completion was initially expected in 2019. In August 2020, it was announced that the statue would be installed in the Sunken Garden of Kensington Palace on 1 July 2021, which would have been her 60th birthday.

In 2017, Prince William and Prince Harry commissioned two documentaries to mark the 20th anniversary of her death. The first of the two, Diana, Our Mother: Her Life and Legacy, was broadcast on ITV and HBO on 24 July 2017. This film focuses on Diana’s legacy and humanitarian efforts for causes such as AIDS, landmines, homelessness and cancer. The second documentary, Diana, 7 Days, aired on 27 August on BBC and focused on Diana’s death and the subsequent outpouring of grief.

On 31 August 2019, the Princess Diana 3D Virtual Museum was launched to mark the 22nd anniversary of Diana’s death. Operated by the Princess & the Platypus Foundation, the online museum consists of over 1,000 of Diana’s items which were photographed using the techniques of virtual reality.