Princess Diana's Biography

Diana was the youngest daughter of Viscount Althorp who became 8th Earl of Spencer and the Hon Mrs Shand-Kydd. Diana had two elder sisters, Jane and Sarah, and a younger brother, Charles.

Princess Diana was only six when her parents separated: her mother, Frances left to join Peter Shand Kydd, a wealthy businessman. Diana and her brother, Charles, spent much of their childhood moving to and fro from one parent to the other.

When Princess Diana was 12 she attended West Heath School in Kent. She left at 16 and spent a few years at a finishing school in Switzerland.

In 1979 Diana worked as a nanny and as an assistant at the Young England kindergarten in Knightsbridge. She tended to work at the kindergarten three days a week and for two days she looked after a boy call Patrick Robertson. Patrick's mother, Mary told Time Magazine:

"She came to us just as Diana Spencer. She did not tell me she was seeing Charles. When she returned from vacation in September 1980 she talked with me one morning ... there were a lot of photographers outside our house ... it was because she had been to Balmoral. She said she had been to see Charles. But she specified he had not invited her up there - his mother had. Then she added a cute line: 'Gee, he's 32. I'm only 19. I never thought he'd ever look twice at me.' That was in early September, and then the baby sitting got a little spotty."

When Prince Charles and Lady Diana announced their engagement, they were asked if they were in love. Both replied "yes" - but Charles added "whatever love means".

On July 29, 1981, an estimated 600,000 people filled the streets of London on Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer's wedding day. They married at St Paul's Cathedral before an estimated global TV audience of 750 million.

They both muddled up the vows slightly. Princess Diana mixed up the Prince's names - calling him Philip Charles Arthur George, rather than Charles Philip.

Charles also made a slip, referring to "thy goods" rather than "my worldly goods".

In less than a year Charles and Diana had their first child, William, on 21 June 1982. A second son, Prince Harry, was born on 15 September 1984.

On the outside Princess Diana appeared a glowing and glamorous Princess who won the hearts of the nation, as well as international acclaim. However all was not well with her relationship with her husband and his family, partly because of Prince Charles's long-running relationship with Camilla Parker-Bowles, whom he was to marry many years after Diana's death.

Princess Diana did a great deal of charitable work and, in 1989, she opened the Landmark AIDS Centre.

Amidst all the marital tension, Princess Diana developed bulimia. The couple split up in 1992 and divorced in August 1996.

In November 1995, Princess Diana was interviewed by Martin Bashir for a Panorama Special. She referred to her problems, such as post-natal depression, as well as her and her husband's affairs, in particular, to James Hewitt and Camilla Parker Bowles, respectively. Princess Diana also mentioned her desire to be the queen of "people's hearts".

Princess Diana continued her work for charitable causes and became a campaigner against landmines, making trips to Angola and Bosnia.

Diana was killed in a car crash on 31 August 1997. Her suitor, Dodi Al Fayed and the vehicle's driver, Henri Paul, were also killed in the collision in a tunnel under the Place de l'Alma in Paris after the group were being chased by paparazzi.

On the 6th September 1997, hundreds of millions watched Princess Diana's funeral.

The Smoking Gun has some interesting official documents relating to Princess Diana's death.

In December 2006, an official UK police inquiry conducted by Lord Stevens into the Paris car crash which killed Princess Diana and Dodi Al Fayed concluded the crash was a "tragic accident".

In April 2008, the inquest jury in the UK, with a majority verdict, decided that Princess Diana and Dodi Al Fayed were unlawfully killed due to the gross negligence of driver Henri Paul and of the paparazzi.