Diana, Princess of Wales

The record

Compiled by the MrScandal desk from the documents below · Desk editor Kristaps Siliņš · Nov 9, 2026

Diana, Princess of Wales, was born at Park House, near Sandringham in Norfolk, on July 1, 1961, and took the style Lady Diana Spencer when her father inherited the Spencer earldom in 1975. After moving to London in 1979 she worked as a kindergarten teacher in Pimlico. Her engagement to the Prince of Wales was announced on February 24, 1981, and they married at St Paul's Cathedral that July. Her sons, Prince William and Prince Harry, were born in 1982 and 1984.

Beyond the Panorama interview, her official record runs through the Royal Household and Parliament. Prime Minister John Major told the House of Commons on December 9, 1992, that the couple had decided to separate, had no plans to divorce, and kept their constitutional positions. The divorce was finalized on August 28, 1996. She was then known as Diana, Princess of Wales, without the style Her Royal Highness, and kept four charity patronages and the presidency of two hospitals.

In 1997 she campaigned for a ban on landmines, with visits to Angola in January and to Bosnia in August that were her last public engagements. She died in Paris on August 31, 1997, after a car accident in the Place de l'Alma underpass, and her funeral was held at Westminster Abbey on September 6. Later memorials include a fountain the Queen opened in July 2004 and a 2007 concert her sons hosted at Wembley Stadium.

Roles and honours on the record

• 1979 Moved to London and worked as a kindergarten teacher at the Young England School in Pimlico source
• 1981-1996 Princess of Wales by marriage; president or patron of more than 100 charities during the marriage source
• 1996-1997 Patron of Centrepoint, English National Ballet, the Leprosy Mission and the National AIDS Trust; president of Great Ormond Street Hospital for Sick Children and the Royal Marsden Hospital source