Princess Diana was born Diana Frances Spencer in 1961 to an aristocratic English family in Norfolk, England. Her parents had wanted a male heir to their bloodline, and having Diana (and subsequently losing her younger brother as an infant) put a strain on their marriage. After her mother had an affair, Diana’s parents divorced and she moved in with her mother and stepfather, Peter Shand Kydd.
Diana attended boarding school, and was regarded as a poor student, struggling with her O-level exams tremendously; however, her teachers recognized in her a musical talent and awarded her for her skill on the piano. In 1977, Diana left boarding school for finishing school, where she met Prince Charles of Wales, heir apparent to the throne of England. Charles at the time was courting Diana’s sister Sarah.
Charles first took a romantic interest in Diana during a weekend in the country in 1980 when she watched him play a game of polo. No longer attached to the Lady Sarah, Charles took Diana to several other family gatherings and soon introduced her to Queen Elizabeth. The meeting went well, and Diana and Charles soon began seeing each other regularly in London; at the time, Diana lived in a small flat in the suburbs, but following their engagement in 1981, she moved into Buckingham Palace. The two were married in July of 1981, when Diana was 20; she was now Princess of Wales.
After her marriage, Diana became involved with a great many humanitarian causes, most notably the International Campaign to Ban Landmines. Her personal life remained under much scrutiny by international media, particularly when it was rumored (and later confirmed) that she and Charles were divorcing. The couple split in August 1996, almost exactly one year before Diana was killed in a car crash in Paris. In the wake of her death, she became even more famous (and her life further scrutinized); known as “the People’s Princess,” her legacy lives on in contemporary art and music, such as Elton John’s “Candle in the Wind.” Her death has also become the subject of many conspiracy theories, some of which implicate the British intelligence group MI6.
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