The Untold Truth Of Princess Diana

Even as a child, Princess Diana was no stranger to the House of Windsor royal family. Diana, born on July 1, 1961, was "the youngest daughter of the then Viscount and Viscountess Althorp, now the late Earl Spencer and the Hon Mrs Shand-Kydd," as noted by the BBC. She was born at Sandringham, which is one of the Queen's private estates, and spent much of her early childhood there as well. She also counted young princes Edward and Andrew among her childhood playmates, and even knew Queen Elizabeth as "Aunt Lilibet," according to a 1981 Daily Times article about her marriage to Prince Charles.

The same Daily Times article noted that her father had served as a royal equerry in the palace, first for King George and later for a young Queen Elizabeth, and her mother had been a lady-in-waiting for the Queen Mother. In fact, according to the BBC, when her parents married in 1954, the Queen was "the chief guest" — and the ceremony, which was held in Westminster Abbey, was considered to be "the social event of the year." 

In addition to her off-the-charts emotional intelligence and empathy, Princes Diana was also a talented diver and dancer. Her diving skills when she was growing up made her notorious for the "Spencer Special" — in which she'd "dive into the pool leaving barely a ripple," according to biographer Andrew Morton in Diana: Her True Story. While her swimming and diving skills were impressive, dance was where she truly found her passion. 

"She loved her ballet and tap-dancing sessions and longed to be a ballet dancer," wrote Morton, but at five feet 10 ½ inches, was considered too tall for such a role. Nonetheless, she loved dancing. "As she danced she could lose herself in the movement. Often she crept out of her bed in the dead of night and sneaked into the new school hall to practice," Morton wrote, adding that Diana told him, "It always released tremendous tension in my head."

Her passion for dance continued after she became a royal. In 1985, she and Wayne Sleep, a principal dancer with the Royal Ballet, orchestrated a duet that they rehearsed in secret and then performed together in a private show for friends of the Royal Ballet. According to Sleep in an interview with The Guardian, the surprise worked out perfectly. "The audience gasped when Diana appeared, as if they'd all taken one huge breath," he said. "The routine had a bit of everything: jazz, ballet, even a kickline... She loved the freedom dancing gave her."  

Perhaps not surprisingly, Princess Diana reportedly wasn't convinced that her marriage to Charles was a good idea. Her suspicions and feelings of unease were confirmed days before the wedding, according to Diana: Her True Story. Charles planned to give Camilla Parker Bowles, his longtime mistress, a gold chain bracelet engraved with the initials "F" and "G" entwined — the initials stood for Fred and Gladys, which were believed to be their nicknames for each other — and Diana discovered the gift. After confronting him about it, he remained insistent upon giving Camilla the bracelet. At that point, Diana told her sisters about her misgivings. 

"On the Monday before her wedding day, Diana gave serious consideration to calling to a halt the whole affair. At lunchtime she knew that Prince Charles had gone to present Camilla with her gift.... At the time he was seeing Camilla, Diana had lunch with her sisters and discussed her predicament with them. She was confused, upset, and bewildered by the train of events...they made light of her fears and premonitions of the disaster which lay ahead. 'Bad luck, Duch,' they said, using the family nickname for their younger sister, 'your face is on the tea-towels so you're too late to chicken out.'" 

(And with that, dear reader, a brief public service announcement: listen to your instincts. If you're uncomfortable with a person or set of circumstances, please know that those feelings are valid. Also, please don't marry anyone who hurts your feelings!) 

Diana was willing to speak openly and candidly about her mental health challenges, which was virtually unheard of at the time — especially in aristocratic and royal circles. By being honest about her private battles with bulimia, depression, and anxiety, Diana "inspired honesty in others through her compassion and willingness to communicate her own experiences," according to Healthline, speaking about what Diana said at Turning Point's June 1993 conference. 

According to Healthline, Princess Diana asked, "Isn't it normal not to be able to cope all the time? Isn't it normal for women as well as men to feel frustrated with life? Isn't it normal to feel angry and want to change a situation that is hurting? Perhaps we need to look more closely at the cause of the illness rather than attempt to suppress it. To accept that putting a lid on powerful feelings and emotions cannot be the healthy option."

Diana's candor and openness were "groundbreaking," as Vogue noted. "Simply put, no one talked about this kind of stuff in the '90s. They barely talk about it now. The fact that the Princess of Wales opened up about her mental health problems was game changing." As a result, more people have become willing to discuss their own experiences with mental health challenges, such as depression, anxiety, eating disorders, and feelings of inadequacy. 

By working with AIDS patients at a time when the disease was seen as taboo and a source of enormous shame and fear, Princess Diana helped shatter the stigma around people stricken by the disease. She became a patron of the UK's National AIDS Trust, and in 1987 when the public panic about AIDS was at its peak — and the stigma attached to, and shame associated with, the disease left many patients isolated from friends and loved ones — she helped open the UK's first HIV/AIDS unit at the London Middlesex Hospital, according to the BBC.

Perhaps the most groundbreaking act of her advocacy came when she shook hands with an AIDS patient, and did so without wearing gloves. This came at a time when people were scared that the virus could be transmitted from person to person by shaking hands. "Diana believed that not to be true," wrote National Geographic. "The people who loved her at that time loved her even more because here was a very public figure willing to show the world that these individuals need attention and care too." Even though some people felt that this was inappropriate behavior for a royal, she never wavered in her commitment to treating AIDS patients like human beings worthy of dignity and respect.

In 1995, Princess Diana sat down with the BBC's Martin Bashir for an interview. It remains one of the most shocking and noteworthy moments of her life. As E! News noted, it's where the infamous "there were three of us in this marriage" line came from, as well as accusations of intense press scrutiny that led to Diana being paranoid and afraid for her life. She also revealed how unhappy her then-husband was with all the coverage she got, explaining, "With the media attention came a lot of jealousy. A great deal of complicated situations arose because of that." 

Diana also discussed her issues with self harm, eating disorders, and postpartum depression. Although the interview was a watershed moment, its veracity is now being called into question. As BBC News reported, an internal investigation was launched in November 2020, following accusations from the late princess' brother that Bashir forged bank statements to coerce her into a tell-all. Prince William welcomed the move, with Kensington Palace confirming in a statement reviewed by E! News, it was "a step in the right direction" that he hoped would "establish the truth." 

As The New York Times noted in her obituary, Princess Diana had seemingly come into her own in the year before her death. "After recent years of loneliness, wounded vulnerability and feelings of rejection, Lady Diana struck friends this year as having acquired long-sought self-regard and hope for the future...In May Lord Attenborough, the actor and director, said: 'Once she was a shy young woman who was suddenly thrown into a bear pit. Now you see her confidence, self-assurance and outgoing nature.”'

The New York Times went on to remark that, in a 1995 interview, she said she wanted to "transform herself into the 'queen of people's hearts'...that seemed to be the thrust of her last year as she focused in on the charities she cared most about — organizations addressing AIDS, leprosy, homelessness, cancer research and the treatment of sick children, along with the English National Ballet."

While Diana's death will always be a loss, it's clear that those close to her, most notably Princes William and Harry, have worked hard to ensure that it's not also a waste. William and Harry have carried on her humanitarian work by championing the causes she loved, such as land mine eradication, AIDS advocacy, and the de-stigmatization of mental health care. Indeed, her memory lives on in the minds of millions — and, perhaps most importantly, in their hearts as well.