Diana, Princess of Wales: 1961—1997

Lady Diana Spencer, the Princess of Wales, died in a car accident last week as she and her companion, Dodi al-Fayed, attempted to escape photographers in a high-speed chase through Paris.

Lady Diana, during a 17-year period in the public eye, evolved from "Shy Di", the girlishly sweet fiancée of the heir to the British throne to "Princess Di", the most photographed woman in the world. Finally she became the "Queen of Hearts", beloved by millions for her humanitarian concerns—and for the way she had of letting the world know that royalty is human too.

Diana was the youngest child of Earl Spencer and his first wife. Her parents' troubled marriage ended in divorce when Diana was still a child. She was educated at private schools in England and Switzerland before taking a part-time job at a London kindergarten. Her engagement to Charles, the Prince of Wales, a longtime family friend, was announced in February 1984, and both the media and the public immediately fell in love with her beauty, her graceful bearing and her charmingly shy mannerisms.

"Princess Di", with her changing hairstyles and increasingly expensive clothes, rapidly evolved into a symbol of fashion. Publishers paid huge sums for photographs of the princess, and aggressive photographers followed her everywhere and flooded the media with photos of her private life.

The princess was often criticized as a shallow publicity seeker, but she used her celebrity to focus public attention on numerous humanitarian causes. Her duty visits to hospitals, clinics and shelters were characterized by the warm concern Diana showed as she spent hours playing with sick children, holding AIDS patients' hands and listening to the sad stories of the needy. Accustomed to a formal and stuffy royal family, the British public was delighted.

In private, however, difficulties were growing. Diana's marriage to Charles was a troubled one, and the princess struggled with many personal problems, including depression and eating disorders. Diana was unaccustomed to being constantly in the public eye and there were growing conflicts with the royal family, who felt that her behavior was not entirely suitable for a princess. To their embarrassment the breakdown of the Wales's marriage became a major media event, in which both Charles and Diana hurled bitter and alarming accusations The couple formally separated in 1992 and divorced in 1996.

For her millions of fans around the globe, however, Diana's magic was undiminished by the messy separation and divorce. If anything, the tales of her unhappy marriage and many personal problems only served to bring her closer to her public.

No longer Her Royal Highness, but still the mother of a king-to-be, Diana continued her support of the causes she believed in despite widespread criticism. In January 1997, she took the British government by surprise when, on a trip to Angola, she announced that she had traveled to that country to support the Red Cross's worldwide campaign against landmines Her support was at odds with official British policy on this issue, and key members of the British government attacked the princess angrily in the press. But when one minister suggested Diana lacked the intelligence to understand the landmine issue, the media and the international public rushed to Diana's rescue, voicing overwhelming support for their "Queen of Hearts".

Diana's sudden death in a senseless auto accident shocked the world. The extraordinary outpouring of grief for the "People's Princess" led the royal family to break with tradition and arrange an internationally televised funeral, while the government made plans for a permanent memorial. Even her critics agreed that Diana would be remembered for her warm human spirit and her ability to bring a breath of fresh air into a stuffy monarchy and as one of the most beloved figures of the 20th century.