in the netflix hit the crown there are a
few facts that are left out of princess
diana's story and some of them are too
strange to not be talked about
here are some of the strangest facts
about princess diana
as the crown alluded to in season four
princess diana's older sister
sarah spencer did actually date prince
charles several years before diana
caught his attention
according to sarah bradford author of
diana finally the complete story
the couple seemed like a good match at
the time prince charles
enjoyed sarah's sparkiness and
irreverent wit
and they made each other laugh the
relationship is said to have fizzled out
after sarah gave a rather shocking
interview
in which she claimed she wouldn't marry
the royal however it was thanks to this
relationship that diana and charles
first crossed paths
according to the daily times diana first
met the prince in a plowed field in 1977
when she was just 16.
princess diana's marriage to prince
charles wasn't her family's first brush
with the royal family
in fact diana's maternal grandmother
lady ruth firmoy
worked as a lady in waiting to the queen
mother charles's grandmother
according to radio times lady firmoy
began working for the royal family in
1956
and over the years became a close friend
of the queen mother
in his famous biography of diana diana
her true story
in her own words andrew morton revealed
that lady firmoy's experience with the
royals led her to caution her
granddaughter about joining the family
telling her you must understand that
their sense of humor and
lifestyle are very different and i don't
think it will suit you
i hope i don't need to tell you how
fortunate you are to have been invited
here
how unique an opportunity this is
once the marriage began to crumble lady
firmoy reportedly took charles's side
as robert runcie told the times in 1996
she was totally and wholly a child's
person because
she's seen him grow up loved him like
all the women at court do
and regarded diana as an actress a
schemer
it must have been difficult for diana to
feel that even her own grandmother
wasn't an ally
before she became princess diana she was
simply diana spencer a relatively normal
albeit privileged british school girl
in fact she even won a pretty funny
award as a kid diana is said to have won
an at school award for taking good care
of her guinea pig
as w reported the princess-to-be was
pretty obsessed with guinea pigs as a
kid
she participated in several pet shows at
sandringham her childhood home in 1972
she reportedly won both first
and second prize her guinea pig peanuts
also came with her to boarding school
she was even named head of pet's corner
where the students pets lived
while diana's guinea pig obsession may
seem a little strange it was actually an
early sign of her famously caring
empathetic nature
before diana married into the royal
family she had a surprisingly normal job
you may be surprised to learn that the
princess
actually worked at a nursery school in
london as a part-time kindergarten
teacher
she worked at the school until her
engagement to prince charles and
it was during this period that she began
to be hounded by the press
to make about that
in the 2017 documentary the diana story
photographer arthur edwards
explained how he searched a few
different nurseries trying to find diana
when he found the correct school
she came out for a quick photo with a
few children he recalled
she posed and halfway through taking the
photographs the sun came out
while most fans of princess diana
probably know that she and prince
charles
ended up being seriously mismatched they
may not realize
just how significant their age gap was
when they became engaged he was 32
while she was only 19. looking back it's
clear that the couple's age difference
meant they came from
vastly different worlds as an old
employee of the royal household told the
sun
they didn't know each other and at 19
you don't know your mind they had
nothing in common and as time went by
that really showed however royal
correspondent stephen bates told
time that the age gap was rarely
questioned at the time of their
engagement
but as readers digest reported people
eventually accepted that the age gap was
one of the main reasons that the
marriage
ultimately failed and i suppose in love
whatever it is
infamous moments in princess diana's
history didn't make it into the crown
one of these moments was her spur of the
moment dance with john travolta in 1985
during the royal couple's trip to the
united states they were invited to a
gala dinner at the white house
amongst the other guests were some of
hollywood's biggest stars
including travolta as paul burrell
diana's butler at the time
wrote in the way we were remembering
diana the princess hadn't actually been
planning on dancing with travolta
in fact she'd been hoping to be
partnered with mikhail barishnikov the
famous belay dancer however
barrel wrote that nancy and reagan set
up the press to take a picture of her
dancing with john travolta
as travolta reportedly recalled later
diana had actually tried to lead the
dance
well that's not going to happen i've got
to go back to my school days of learning
ballroom dancing
and show that i can lead her apparently
travolta and diana remained close
friends after the chance encounter
it turns out dancing wasn't so foreign
to the princess she had dreamed of
becoming a ballerina herself
as pop sugar reported she'd fallen in
love with ballet as a child
and had hoped to dance professionally as
a career however she eventually reached
a height of 5 foot 10 which was
considered
too tall nevertheless the princess
continued to take dance lessons
even after marrying into the royal
family her ballet teacher ann
allen said over time as we went through
our dance class i realised just how much
dance meant to her she had dance in her
soul
one seriously surprising fact about
princess diana
may come as a shock the royal never
officially graduated from high school
in fact most of her school life was
pretty unusual
according to the washington post diana
was initially homeschooled by a
governess
before attending west heath school in
kent as yahoo news reported the princess
made the decision to leave school at 16
after failing her o levels twice
instead opting to attend a finishing
school in switzerland
while diana may not have been
academically gifted she did show
particular talent in the arts she even
won an award for being an extremely
helpful student for her school and
classmates according
to her official biography even though
diana didn't finish school
she made an effort when it came to her
children's education in fact
she ensured that unlike previous royals
her sons were educated in the school
system
it turns out princess diana had a bit of
a wild side
in one of her bolder moments diana
reportedly sneaked into a gay bar with
her friend freddie mercury the lead
singer of queen
as actress cleo rocko's revealed in her
memoir
she mercury and diana had been close
friends in the 80s
one evening the trio had been hanging
out when diana found out the other two
were going out to the famous royal
vauxhall tavern
she asked if she could join them
apparently rockos and mercury were a
little nervous about taking diana to the
well-known gay bar with rocko's writing
we pleaded what would be the headline if
you were caught in a gay bar brawl
however diana was determined and dressed
up in an army jacket
aviators and a cap apparently passing
for a gay
male model as rocko's tells it the three
friends managed to spend an evening at
the gay bar without being spotted
princess diana's gay bar venture wasn't
the only time she sneaked out of the
palace to have a little fun
apparently she also ducked out to a bar
with her friend and soon-to-be
sister-in-law
sarah ferguson sarah who married prince
andrew reportedly joined diana in trying
to crash andrew's stag party
as diana's biographer andrew morton
wrote in diana her true story the pair
dressed up as policewomen
in an attempt to sneak into the party
when that failed
morton said the two friends drank
champagne and orange juice at
annabelle's nightclub before returning
to buckingham palace where they stopped
andrew's car at the entrance as he
returned home
at the time the two women were mistaken
for kissigram girls at the nightclub
thanks to their bizarre costumes
luis louis the manager of the nightclub
told the associated press they were
perfectly disguised and certainly had us
fooled
apparently they even got thrown in a
police van at one point during the
evening
until someone recognized diana it turns
out princess diana didn't mind throwing
convention out the window
according to marie claire diana was a
true royal
trailblazer when it came to the birth of
her sons the royals of the past had
given birth by having the baby pulled
out with forceps while the mother was
under anaesthetic
diana however was apparently not so keen
on this tradition
in fact she not only gave birth fully
awake she also
gave birth standing up as child birth
expert sheila kitzinger explained
it was the first active royal birth a
complete contrast to the queen's
apparently prince charles was even
present at the birth and helped to
support his wife diana also chose to
give birth at saint mary's hospital
rather than at home
this started a brand new royal tradition
with meghan markle and
kate middleton following in her
footsteps in the crown
princess diana was shown surprising
prince charles with a dance to billy
joel's uptown girl with dancer wayne
sleep
it turns out this unusual performance
really did happen
apparently the performance was supposed
to be a present but charles wasn't too
keen on the performance as sleep
recalled the entire audience was
astonished to see her up on stage
he recalled that at the time she refused
to bow to the royal box before the dance
saying i'm not bowing to him he's my
hubby even though diana's infamous
performance wasn't a hit with her
husband it's gone down
in legend and by all accounts the dance
was pretty spectacular despite
even sleeps doubts princess diana wants
to talk to you on the phone so i
said hello she said well i'm wednesday i
want to dance with you and i thought my
god car
she's too tall as sleep recalled to the
guardian the routine had a bit of
everything
jazz ballet even a kick line at one
point i pirouetted and she pushed me
down then i carried her across the stage
long into her adulthood diana is said to
have kept stuffed animals in her bedroom
according to the abc documentary the
story of diana her stuffed animals had
been with her for a long time when diana
was just six her mother left the family
and her father became
inattentive as vogue put it her family
was her 20 stuffed animals
it seemed that everyone who came across
diana's slightly bizarre collection of
toys couldn't help but notice it
james hewitt who had an affair with
diana during her marriage once said
she had 30 childhood cuddly toys lining
the end of her bed
even though princess diana was largely a
target of gossip and tabloid speculation
during her time as part of the royal
family she made some significant
contributions to the charities and
organizations
she supported one of her main causes was
supporting the minds advisory group
in their bid to create a global ban on
landmines
throughout 1997 diana was closely
involved with the organization
she even acted as a keynote speaker at
one of their events
lou mcgrath one of the group's founders
told the bbc
it was tremendously important to have
her on board it was a turning point
just a few months after diana's tragic
death the group's campaign was shown to
be successful
as 122 governments pledged to stop using
landmines the group
even won a nobel prize that year as
mcgrath explained
diana's help had been controversial but
without it the group
wouldn't have been nearly as effective
aside from everything else this nobel
prize winning campaign
is quite the legacy for the princess
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