In the collective memory of the people, Diana, Princess of Wales was everything a royal should
be.
She was beautiful, composed, and full of compassion for those in need.
And when she died in 1997, it was a horrific tragedy that shook the world.
She had been robbed of a future that was looking incredibly bright, and her sons would forever
be without a mother.
But the dark secrets of Diana’s life prove “all that glitters is not gold.”
Some people believe that her death was no accident, and that it was actually an elaborate
conspiracy designed by the royal family to silence her.
Early Life Diana was born on July 1, 1961, to John and
Frances Spencer.
It had been tradition for members of the nobility to marry one another for centuries, and her
parents were no exception.
Together with her two older sisters and two brothers, they lived in a mansion called Park
House in Norfolk, England.
As you can imagine, Diana grew up with the best things that money could buy, and she
went on playdates with children in the royal family.
But all of the money in the world can’t buy happiness.
John and Frances had a toxic marriage..
All her life, Diana’s parents never said “I love you” to one another, or their
children.
They pushed off most of the parental duties on nannies and governesses.
Her parents would eventually get a divorce when she was 6.
At age 9, her father sent her to boarding school.
Her mother remarried a man named Peter Shand Kydd, who was the heir to a successful wallpaper
company.
Her father married a woman named Raine McCorquodale, who was the daughter of a famous romance novelist.
The children were not present at their father’s second marriage, and they had to find out
about it through in the newspaper.
Diana and her siblings deeply resented Raine as an “evil stepmother”, and blamed her
for tearing their happy family apart.
Diana was a shy girl, and she struggled in school.
She was labeled as “the thick one” by her family, and this was enough for her to
end up crying in school every time she got a bad grade.
Deep down, all she really wanted was to be loved and accepted for who she was, and dreamed
of a prince taking her away to live happily ever after.
Becoming a Princess When she was just 16 years old, Diana met
Charles, Prince of Wales, for the first time.
He was 29 and dating her older sister, Sarah.
The relationship between Sarah and Charles never went anywhere, so they went their separate
ways.
However, Charles said that Diana made a big impression on him, because he thought she
was very cheerful and beautiful.
When she came of age, Diana could have chosen to party like a socialite or travel the world
with her family’s wealth.
But when she was 18, she chose the very normal life of working as a kindergarten teacher.
She used her own paychecks to share an apartment with a few friends.
Diana loved taking care of children, and it made her very happy to give them the love
and encouragement that she never got as a little girl.
At that time, Diana was filled with a lot of hope about her future.
She said that she felt this deep sense of destiny, and that one day, she would grow
up to do great things.
Prince Charles had been dating several women over the years, including Camilla Rosemary
Shand.
Camilla was not wife material in the eyes of the Queen, so she abruptly married a multi-millionaire
named Andrew Parker-Bowles, instead.
But Charles and Camilla had never actually broken off their relationship, and they continued
having a secret affair the entire time she was married.
Charles was now in his 30’s, and under a lot of pressure from his mother to settle
down and produce an heir.
He needed a wife that was a member of the aristocracy, and Diana had all of the qualifications
of a perfectly acceptable bride.
After going on only 13 dates, Charles proposed to Diana when she was a barely-legal 18 year
old.
Even though they hardly knew one another, Diana felt as though becoming the princess
was that sense of destiny that she had been feeling all along.
A couple weeks after their engagement, the couple was interviewed by the press.
Towards the very end, the reporter said that they were both very much in love.
Diana replied, “Of course!”
Charles laughed, saying, “Whatever ‘in love means’.”
Watching the tape, you can clearly see that Diana was heartbroken.
In later interviews, Diana defines that instant as the moment she knew that marrying him would
be a huge mistake.
However, the entire world had their eyes on her, and she knew it was her duty to go through
with the marriage.
Even to this day, Diana and Charles still go down in history for having one of the most
expensive weddings.
Experts estimate that today, their wedding would cost anywhere from $70 to $100 million.
From the perspective of the people watching the wedding on TV, it seemed like a dream
come true.
Diana later said, “It was the worst day of my life.”
Their honeymoon was on the Royal Yacht Britannia, where Diana reportedly spent most of the time
sleeping.
In 1982, Charles and Diana had been married for less than a year, and she had already
discovered Charles’ secret relationship with Camilla Parker-Bowles.
He started to gaslight her, saying that she was paranoid.
This made her so devastated, that she threatened to kill herself.
Charles ignored her, and started to leave to go on a horseback riding trip.
Diana threw herself down the stairs.
The Queen rushed to her aid, screaming for a doctor.
While all of the attendants surrounded the princess, Charles kept walking.
To the outside world, the marriage between Diana and Charles seemed like a fairytale
had come to life.
For the first time, people all around the world were fascinated and invested in the
royal couple.
No matter what was going on behind closed doors, she had to smile, wave, and pretend
that everything was fine.
The Secret Affairs Diana was still just a teenager when she was
put under the pressure to be a perfect princess in the media.
Combined with her unhealthy marriage, it was enough to make her spiral into a deep depression,
and she became bulimic.
She had so much empathy for other people, that a particularly difficult meeting visiting
the poor, sick, and wounded made her mental health a lot worse.
Instead of recognizing that she needed help, Diana was treated like she a child throwing
a tantrum, and the royal family continued to ignore her issues.
William was born when Diana was 20 years old.
Just barely out of her teenage years, she was supposed to raise a future king.
Little William brought a lot of joy and purpose to her life.
During interviews, the press would mostly ignore her while they spoke with Charles,
and only ask Diana how the baby was doing.
Even though this was actually very demeaning to her, Diana’s face would light up, and
she would gush about how much fun she was having with him.
Even after giving birth to the heir, her relationship with her husband remained cold and distant.
She eventually decided that if she was going to be stuck in an unfaithful marriage, she
would have an affair, too.
When she was 23, Diana fell in love with a cavalry officer named James Hewitt.
They were together about a year before her second son, Harry, was born.
In pictures showing the two of them side-by-side, it is easy to see why many people believe
that James Hewitt may be Prince Harry’s biological father.
This is such a popular theory, that it was even turned into a stage play that was performed
on the West End.
Diana pushed Charles to be more involved in raising the boys, instead of relying totally
on nannies.
She also wanted William and Harry to go to school with other children.
When the boys were old enough to go out, she made sure they had normal experiences like
water parks, McDonald’s, and shopping.
She also brought them to homeless shelters to pass out hot tea and food.
Prince Charles scoffed at these ideas, asking why it was really necessary.
When she was 25, Diana fell in love with her bodyguard, Barry Mannakee.
They became best friends, and she felt very safe around him.
He brought a lot of joy to her life, but Diana claimed that they never actually crossed the
line.
However, most people still consider this to be an emotional affair at the very least.
Once their friendship was revealed, Prince Charles fired Mannakee.
Not long after leaving his job at the royal palace, Barry Mannakee was killed in a motorcycle
accident.
Charles told Diana were on their way to the Cannes Film Festival in France when he told
her the news.
Charles mentioned Mannakee’s death so casually, it was as if he was talking about the weather.
Diana wanted to cry, but she knew that within just a few moments, she would have to step
out of the car and be photographed by hundreds of people.
So, she had to put on a smile yet again, and pretend like nothing was wrong.
She later said, “I think he was bumped off….But we’ll never know.”
Diana felt that if she did not escape the marriage, she really just might take her own
life.
She knew that her only hope at getting a divorce would be to get the public on her side.
So, she spoke with a journalist named Andrew Morton about the truth of the dysfunctional
household.
Morton eventually publisher her biography called Diana: Her True Story--In Her Own Words.
For the first time in history, the public got a glimpse into the life of a royal marriage,
and it wasn’t pretty.
Charles responded by being interviewed for a documentary in 1994 called Charles, The
Private Man, The Public Role, where he admitted to his affair with Camilla Parker-Bowles.
Diana responded by doing an interview on BBC Panorama in 1995.
During this interview, she said that she believed Charles was not a good person, and he wasn’t
even fit to become the next King of the United Kingdom.
She believed that her son, William, would do a much better job serving the people.
Diana said of herself, “She won’t go quietly.
That’s the problem.
I’ll fight to the end.”
Life After Divorce Diana and Charles were seperated for years,
and were seeing other people.
After the bickering back and forth in the media, the Queen herself demanded that they
needed to officially get a divorce.
In 1995, Diana began dating an Egyptian millionaire named Dodi Fayed.
His father was the owner of the successful Harrods Department Store, and has the net
worth of $1.6 billion- (Which, for the record, is far richer than the Queen herself.) Charles
and Diana were officially divorced in 1996.
Charles would eventually go on to marry his long-time girlfriend Camilla Parker-Bowles.
Even after leaving her position as Princess of Wales, Diana wanted to continue her destiny
by making a difference in the world.
She was just terrible at public speaking, which was necessary during charity events
and public appearances.
She started to receive vocal lessons from a former actor named Peter Settelen.
During their lessons, Settelen set up a camera to record her progress, and he also asked
her questions about her personal life.
These became like much-needed therapy sessions for her.
She revealed secrets about her marriage, and the royal family.
Through these lessons with Settelen, she was able to find her own voice, and learned to
thrive as a public speaker.
After her death, those tapes were confiscated by the royal family, and the public was not
able to see them until years later.
Diana became a traditional celebrity.
Without the benefit of royal security, the paparazzi continued to follow her and write
about her in the tabloids.
Instead of allowing the press to only write about her hair and fashion choices, she decided
to make the best of being in the spotlight by getting involved in causes that mattered
to her.
She raised awareness about the AIDS epidemic, and traveled to several African countries
to fight for the end of landmines in public spaces.
One of the most famous photographs of her was with a young amputee who had her leg blown
off.
Almost immediately after getting the attention of the press, the laws about landmines were
changed.
However, this was making a lot of politicians unhappy.
They said that she was getting involved in issues she didn’t fully understand.
Her response was that she truly didn’t care.
She was going to fight for the people, and not the politicians.
Instead of wilting into quiet obscurity, Diana was thriving.
She was no longer bulimic or depressed.
She was glad to trade her title for a life of freedom.
She auctioned off all of her designer gowns and gave millions to charities she cared about.
All of this only made the public love her more, and she was still a princess in the
hearts of the people.
The Mysterious Deaths After her divorce was finalized, Diana was
dating an Egyptian man named Dodi Fayed.
He was a multi-millionaire who lived a glamorous life.
Paparazzi took photos of them on vacations around the world.
The British press called him a “playboy”, and wrote negative connotations about the
fact that he was muslim.
He was actually a successful movie producer who was best known for the Oscar-winning movie
Hook, starring Robin Williams.
He was also the heir to the multi-billion dollar Harrods Department Store fortune.
The two were very much in love, and they planned on getting married.
Some believe that Diana may have even been pregnant with his child.
If this was true, it would have caused a lot of issues for the royal family.
The idea that William and Harry could have a muslim half-sibling was unacceptable.
And she constantly threatened to reveal more and more secrets to the press.
Her charity work often interfered with money-making schemes among the nobility, as well.
She received death threats on a regular basis.
Not long before her death, Diana wrote a letter to her butler saying that she believed her
ex-husband Charles was trying to have her killed in a car accident.
She also called Dodi’s father, Mohamed Al Fayed, and told him the same thing.
On August 31, 1997, Dodi Fayed and Diana were being driven through Paris by a man named
Henri Paul.
Just as they entered the Alma Tunnel, they were apparently running from the paparazzi,
and ended up in an accident.
For whatever reason, every single one of the security cameras inside of the tunnel just
so happened to not be working that day, so there is no recording showing exactly what
happened.
According to witnesses, the car went into a pole at 65 mph, and no one was wearing a
seat belt.
On September the 6th, 1997, the streets of London were lined with people mourning Princess
Diana’s death.
Millions tuned in to watch the funeral procession on TV.
The Royal Court held a trial, and found that the crash was simply an accident.
However, everyone present at that trial was obligated to side with the royal family, and
their findings were totally biased.
In 1999, the French government investigated the car crash, and came to the same conclusion
that it was simply an accident.
However, in 2008, an new independent investigation found that the driver, Henri Paul, had been
heavily drinking that day, and the original trial had failed to mention that.
They also concluded paparazzi vehicles were, in fact, tailgating the car.
The jury concluded that both Henri Paul was responsible for the deaths, and that if he
was still alive, he would be convicted of manslaughter.
For some, this investigation was still not enough for Dodi’s father, Mohamed Al Fayed.
He spent years of his life struggling with the racism while running his business, and
he was disgusted by how the media was portraying Dodi, even though he was a victim, too.
Mohamed Al Fayed claimed that he had evidence for 175 separate conspiracy theories, and
paid for a documentary called Unlawful Killing to cover them all.
Obviously, we can’t go too deep into all of the conspiracy theories in this video,
but it was enough for the British government to ban the documentary from being seen in
the United Kingdom.
According to these conspiracy theories, Henri Paul was actually sober that day, because
the receipts from the hotel showed that he only had two drinks at dinner, and he had
gone through a medical exam by security beforehand.
He had actually outrun the paparazzi, and a mysterious white Fiat Uno followed them
into the tunnel with a group of motorcycles.
Some believe that these were MI6 agents who were being paid by the government to kill
her.
After inspecting the car, they discovered that the seatbelts in Henri Paul’s car had
been tampered with, which is why no one was wearing them.
It took over an hour and a half for the ambulance to get to the hospital, even though they were
nearby.
Doctors believe that if Diana was wearing her seatbelt and had gotten medical attention
sooner, she would have survived.
Unfortunately, without video tape of the crash, we may never know the whole truth of the circumstances
surrounding her death.
Today, Princess Diana is not truly gone, because she lives on in Prince William and Harry’s
legacy.
Because of her, they both do charitable work, and they married for love, instead of finding
a mate inside of the royal family.
If she could see them, she would surely be proud.