Remembering Princess Diana: Princess of Wales and her legacy 28 years later

On August 31, 1997: A former princess left Hotel Ritz in Paris, got into her car, and was being escorted somewhere when the unthinkable happened.

The unthinkable eventually seized her life short, and the princess who was no longer part of royalty, came to be eternally solidified among the highest ranks of the life she had left behind — it was Lady Diana Spencer, forever a princess.

When Diana, former wife to King Charles, mother to Princes William and Harry, was driven to her fate in the Pont de l’Alma tunnel, with her black Mercedes totaled, she eventually succumbed to her injuries later than her companions.

While her speculated fiancé at the time, Dodi Al-Fayed and security head for The Ritz as well as her driver for the night, Henri Paul, died on the spot, Diana wouldn’t knock on death’s door until she was transported to Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital in the southeast of Paris, and was eventually pronounced dead at around four in the morning.

The aftermath

Diana’s passing not only shook the world but also managed to cut a large gash in the already delicate fabric of their relationship with the fabric.

Members of the Crown were held accountable like never before, if not for her death then surely for their responses to the tragedy.

Queen Elizabeth, who was initially criticised for her lack of warmth in public leading up to her former daughter-in-law’s funeral, eventually addressed the nation as their queen and “as a grandmother”.

Four days after the former Princess of Wales passed away, September 4, the Queen came outside and viewed the floral tributes paid to Diana outside Buckingham Palace.

On September 5, she addressed the nation who had been asking, “Show us you care, Ma’am”, according to the headline for the Daily Express at the time.

“I want to pay tribute to Diana myself. She was an exceptional and gifted human being. In good times and bad, she never lost her capacity to smile and laugh, nor to inspire others with her warmth and kindness,” she spoke in a televised deliverance commemorating the death of a beloved princess, someone who would remain attached to the threads of her family for a long time to come.

Though the BBC reported that “for five long days, the Queen remained in Balmoral, seemingly unaware of the spasm sweeping parts of the country,” it would be later clarified that this was done to ensure the well being of Diana’s then young boys, the 15-year-old William and 12-year-old Harry.

Queen Elizabeth thus made a point to include their turmoil in her address to the nation, saying, “This week at Balmoral, we have all been trying to help William and Harry come to terms with the devastating loss that they and the rest of us have suffered.”

However, the sincerity of her words was perhaps best reflected in a letter she wrote in private and which later became public knowledge.

“William and Harry have been so brave and I am very proud of them,” she confided in Lady Henriette Abel Smith, her lady in waiting and a close confidante.

Notably, the correspondence was discovered when it was auctioned off following Lady Henriette’s own death in 2005.

The funeral

As Princess Diana’s royal marriage had ended in divorce by the time she passed away, she was technically not part of the Crown any longer and was subsequently not entitled to a royal funeral.

However, per former Palace Secretary Dickie Arbiter, the decision for what kind of funeral Diana would receive was left up to her brother, Charles Spencer, 9th Earl Spencer.

“Though technically not a royal matter, he had decided that as the mother of a future king, and a globally popular public figure, his sister should have a royal funeral,” wrote Arbiter.

That is exactly what was arranged — a funeral fit for someone who was at one point poised to become Britain’s future queen.

Earl Spencer on his part did not stop at getting his late sister her due during her last rites, also taking sharp aims at the press and the royal family, both of whom he implied played some part in Diana’s death.

The press, he chose to describe with words like “hunting” and “hunted”, painting a picture of the deep distress his elder sister felt as a member of the public.

While the royal crew had to sit through Earl Spencer declaring that his sister “needed no royal title to generate her brand of magic”, evidently pointing towards the fact that Diana’s HRH title had been revoked once she was divorced from King Charles, then the Prince of Wales.

Meanwhile, her funeral was not only attended by several loyal mourners but also watched by millions around the world through a live televised broadcast.

Besides royalty, other famous names to pay their respects to a well revered global figure were stars from various fields like actors Tom Cruise, Nicole Kidman, and Tom Hanks, fashion maestros Anna Wintour, Karl Lagerfeld, Donatella Versace, as well as music icons like the opera singer Luciano Pavarotti and British singer-songwriters Elton John, and George Michael, to name a few.

Memorably, Elton had lent his musical services to the funeral with a heartfelt rendition of his ballad Candle in the Wind.

While George later admitted that he was a mess at the funeral of one of his closest friends, claiming that the whole thing felt “almost like I was reliving my mum’s funeral.”

Prince William and Prince Harry on the other hand, were counted on to keep their composure as they observed the hordes of crowd gathered to witness their mother’s final moments, while having to walk behind her funeral procession.

“I don’t think any child should be asked to do that, under any circumstances. I don’t think it would happen today,” the Duke of Sussex, Diana’s youngest, told Newsweek in 2017.

The legacy

In January 1997, Princess Diana travelled to Angola to raise awareness around the issue of active minefields claiming several lives while permanently leaving others injured in the Central African region.

While there, the Princess met many of those survivors and famously walked through a minefield decked out in protective gear.

It was also during this trip when she spoke to the press and laid down the essence of how she viewed her public role.

“I am not a political figure, I am a humanitarian figure, always was, always will be,” Diana declared.

Inarguably, her humanitarian efforts take the crown of her legacy’s throne — the light which reflects the brightest in not only how her own sons conducted their royal duties years after her demise but also the way the royal family came to open up their hearts to the public like never before.

She once said, “I want my boys to have an understanding of people’s emotions, their insecurities, people’s distress, and their hopes and dreams.”

Befittingly then, both William and Harry have carried on the torch by partnering with many of the charities and causes admired by their mother and in their dedication to the time spent in and with the public.

As they embarked on their own journey into parenthood, it was Diana’s touch which once again showed tangibly in the two brothers’ approach to raising children.

Royal historian Amanda Foreman described this quality as “pure Diana” and added, “The values they are instilling and discussing as families may be their best success. They are both very good role models as parents.”

A further tribute to Diana’s memory is entrenched in the names of both William and Harry’s daughters, Princess Charlotte and Princess Lilibet respectively, who carry their grandmother’s moniker as their middle name.

Diana’s timeless style also serves a testament to her storied legacy, with constant reminders to her sense of fashion spread across a wide array of cultural references and recreations.

While many other times, she has been a source of sartorial inspiration for her own daughters-in-law, Kate Middleton and Meghan Markle.

Having never met the Princess themselves naturally, they are not exempt from the list of people whose lives have been touched by her, directly or otherwise.

Princess Diana (1961-1997)