Diana Princess Of Wales
Biography

On July 1, 1961 in Norfolk, the Honorable Diana Frances Spencer was born. When her father, the former Viscount Althorp, became the 8th Earl Spencer upon his own father's death in 1975, and Diana's title became Lady Diana Spencer. Her mother was the Honorable Mrs. Shand-Kydd, daughter of the 4th Baron Fermoy.

Diana had two elder sisters Sarah (born 1955), Jane (born 1957) and a younger brother Charles (born 1964). Her parents, who had married in 1954, separated in 1967 and the marriage was dissolved in 1969. Earl Spencer later married Raine, Countess of Dartmouth in 1976. It is thought that the failure of her parent's marriage made Diana determined that when she married, it would be forever. After the break-up of their parents, Diana and her siblings continued to live with their father at Park House, Sandringham, until 1975 when the family moved to the Spencer family seat at Althorp (a stately house dating from 1508) in Northamptonshire, in the English Midlands.

Lady Diana's education began at a preparatory school, Riddlesworth Hall in Norfolk, and then in 1974 went as a boarder to West Heath, near Sevenoaks, Kent. Although she never excelled academically, Diana showed a particular talent for domestic science, music and received an award for her service to her school and classmates. Upon leaving West Heath in 1977, Diana went to the finishing school Institut Alpin Videmanette in Rougemont, Switzerland. The following year she moved to a flat in Coleherne Court, London where she worked for a short time as a nanny, governess, and kindergarten teacher.

The romance with Charles began in 1980, although the couple had been neighbors at Sandringham for many years and their families knew each other well. On February 6, 1981, Prince Charles proposed to Diana Spencer and the engagement was officially announced on February 24.

The entire country waited in anticipation for the big day. Diana and Charles exchanged vows at St Paul's Cathedral in London on July 29, 1981. The ceremony drew a global television and radio audience estimated at around 1,000 million people, and hundreds of thousands of people packed London streets to catch a glimpse of the happy couple.

Diana wore a silk taffeta dress with a 25-foot train designed by the Emanuels, her veil was held in place by the Spencer family diamond tiara, and she carried a bouquet of gardenias, lilies-of-the-valley, white freesia, golden roses, white orchids, and stephanotis.

During their honeymoon, the Prince and Princess of Wales first went to the Mountbatten family home at Broadlands, Hampshire, before flying to Gibraltar to join the Royal Yacht HMS BRITANNIA for a cruise through the Mediterranean to Egypt. The newly weds made their principal home at Highgrove House in Gloucestershire, and shared an apartment in Kensington Palace.

The royal couple soon wanted to have children and on 21st June 1982, Prince William Arthur Philip Louis was born and Prince Henry (Harry) Charles Albert David on 15th September 1984, both at St Mary's Hospital, Paddington, in London.

Ten years after the birth of their first son, it was announced that The Prince and Princess of Wales had agreed to separate and take joint responsibility for the upbringing of their children. The Princess continued to live in Kensington Palace, while the Prince was based at St James's Palace and continued to live at Highgrove. In 1995, Princess Diana gave an extraordinary BBC television interview in which she admitted her bulimia, adultery and suggested that the Royal Family were uncaring. The couple divorced the following year and it was agreed that the Princess was to be known as Diana, Princess of Wales, without the style of 'Her Royal Highness'.

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