The Life and Loves of Diana Spencer | The Life and Death of Princess Diana | Timeline

[Music] she was the most famous woman on earth from fairytale bride to estrange to royal wife and divorce mother diana captivated hearts and headlines but behind the public facade of royal duty was a hidden secret life of marital betrayal between Diana's spectacular wedding and her televised revelations of adultery lay a saga of turmoil and Court rivalry at the center of it all was one woman Camilla parker-bowles Charles found his young wife very different from the worldly women he had known before actress Susan George was one Zoe Salas was another there was Lady Tryon wife of a close friend she also claimed an affair with Charles divorcee Jane Ward was a girl he could date but not marry Diana seemed perfect but proved vengeful capable of performing her royal duties while plotting to undermine her husband the aristocratic Diana had grown into a beguiling teenager by her engagement in 1981 she linked her Spencer dynasty to the Royal House of Windsor but by the time of her father's death eleven years later her marriage had entered its terminal phase Charles's enduring love for Camilla and Diana's consequent Affairs tore apart the royal couple their misery was evident on this their last tour together in Korea in 1992 the last banquet the final shooters abroad for the couple who were once the great hope of the British monarchy they lived separate lives Diana took comfort from other men including a bodyguard just five years after her dream wedding she had a long affair with a cavalry officer the only adulterous relationship she ever admitted in public there was an intense closeness with an old friend a private phone call was secretly taped and became known as squidgy gate she was linked to a famous rugby player and blamed for the end of his marriage she fell in love with a married art dealer and played his home with hundreds of silent phone calls after her divorce she wanted to marry a heart surgeon and finally there was a summer romance with a playboy which ended with their tragic deaths despite her Affairs this is the Diana people prefer to remember the Princess of Wales a woman with inimitable style and charm she was the jewel in the crown one of the Royal Family's greatest assets after her marriage failed Diana looked for different directions in her life [Music] she became an international campaign or against landmines she visited countries on behalf of major charities she still had to attend official functions but is a semi-detached royal her life lacks definition diana decided to use her fame to help the world's disadvantaged and afflicted in december 1995 in new york she won the humanitarian of the Year Award for her charity work in the same month the Queen wrote to Diana recommending divorce in the united states diana found the warmth and acceptance she felt lacking in the royal court which sided with charles this was not the way she imagined her life would become when she and Charles faced the press on their engagement day [Music] dianna later said at the age of 19 you always think you're prepared for everything and you think you have knowledge of what's coming ahead she scarcely understood Charles's complex personality he was a Cambridge graduate she left school at 16 he'd had torrid romances some with married women she had no previous lovers Charles was 12 years her senior diana was almost a child this nearly mirrored the age gap between Diana's parents when they married her father was 30 a mother just 18 Diana's mother Frances seen here with baby Diana shocked society by leaving home and family for another man I think that Diana's mother could be described as a hot-headed and strong-willed indeed she proved that really by running off with the second husband Peter SH and kid at a time when this was very unusual behavior you might have mistresses lovers etc but you stuck with the family and stuck together a bitter divorce and a child custody battle left Diana her sisters and brother with their father a former aquarii to the Queen her sister Jane's marriage to the Queen's assistant private secretary kept them close to the Royal Court bridesmaid Diana had an idealized vision of her own future she was brought up she was very unsophisticated even for her age in those days and I mean that's just the ideal she lived with she said to lots of people you know I'm going to get married and have lots of children and we'll always be together Diana who failed her school exams became a kindergarten assistant in London she met Charles then dating her sister Sarah at the family's ancestral home all four plowed field - previously I wanted youth what did you think that was your instant impression Bertha here what I remember thinking what a very jolly and amusing and attractive sixteen year old she was and having great fun oh and and seeing full of life and everything and I don't know what you told me pretty amazing the press chased Diana during her brief courtship with Charles they were convinced that at last he had found his future bride very few previous girls had been serious contenders Divina Sheffield was presumed suitable but her romance with Charles ended when a past affair was revealed [Music] respectable Jane Wellesley a Duke's daughter was an early favorite with a Bachelor Prince after he left University he was very uptight he was very worried about getting caught with his trousers down and those days he was very dutiful about doing all the right things being the Prince of Wales not in besmirching the family reputation in any way and so he's highly nervous about even approaching girls so it had to be the other way around and any woman who could actually grab him by the scruff of the neck and drag him into the bedroom was gonna win every time Charles had a select circle of friends who also enjoyed his favorite sports hunting skiing and polo it was through polo that Charles met the woman who would dominate his life she was then dating one of his closest friends Camilla SH and was from the county set not noble enough to marry a prince in the early 70s but discreet enough to be a lover she had an earthiness he found irresistible the polo fields around Windsor were just filled with these girls who were absolutely desperate to get into bed with Prince Charles but the only people that he really looked at were the girls who are a bit unusual and certainly Camilla was one of those and she turned up wearing pair of jeans held up with a safety pin and a hair was all over the place and there was that magnetic attraction the duty intervened and Charles's naval career beckoned after a brief and heady affair he left Camilla for the high seas with Charles gone she resumed her longtime romance with Army officer Andrew Parker Bowles marrying him in 1973 he was a very attractive man regarded in high society as a good catch Andrew Parker Bowles was supposed to be the best lay in London and she had been trying to grab him for years and years in fact by the time that Prince Charles bumped into Camilla she'd been going out all off with Andrew Parker Bowles for six years she was six years of a seven-year campaign into trying to get Andrew Parker Bowles up the aisle she knew she could never marry Prince Charles because she wasn't a virgin she was not sufficiently aristocratic enough and she knew jolly well that the cautious who were looking for a wife for Prince Charles wanted somebody whose face could go on a postage stamp and hers was no photographic portrait knowing Charles had to marry Camilla champion the innocent Diana hoping she wouldn't threaten their relationship the engagement interview shows the difference in Charles and Diana's feelings I'm amazed that she's being brave enough to take me on Charles loved two women diana was besotted with him alone the Royal Roadshow began while they were engaged although nervous Diana soon established an easy rapport especially with children [Music] her first mistake was a choice of dress she wore a strapless low-cut gown to accompany Charles to a music recital at the Goldsmith's Hall London the dress was considered too daring and the wrong colour she said later I hadn't appreciated that I was now seen as royalty black to me was the smartest colour you could possibly have at the age of 19 it was a real grown-up dress camera angles made the dress too revealing it was fit for a film star but not a future Queen she should have been given advice beforehand because actually it's a well-known royal principle that you do not wear black except in morning so that's one she shouldn't have done a number two of course the frock was a disaster when you think that the photographer is all going to be tearing down her decolletage and that was something that was picked at the last moment I think Princess Grace of Monaco was a guest of honour she jokingly warned the nervous Diana don't worry dear it'll get a lot worse Diana would receive little help from her husband's family Princess Margaret liked a very much and did help her and did show her things like know where to put your handbag how to get up that's sort of practical thing but on the whole she was just expected to get on with it the months before the Royal Wedding were fraught with tension diana grew jealous of camilla and uncertain about her own role as the Princess of Wales this was one of Diana's problems that nobody rushed forward to help her nobody seemed to have really thought out a role for her beyond walking up the aisle at st. Paul's Cathedral the Spencer's were a proud and Noble dynasty more English and aristocratic than the Germanic House of Windsor [Music] Diana's mother had tried to warn her about marrying Charles's royal position rather than the man who could say that her family was certainly more English or British from winters and I think in a way the family would have looked themselves as more aristocratic and possibly I think this has been down the ages aristocratic view of the Windsors at their rather middle-class diana said if her wedding I had such hopes in my heart that just days beforehand she'd almost called it off because of her fears over Camilla [Music] [Applause] and walking down the aisle of sin Paul's Cathedral Diana had spotted her rival among the congregation Camilla would become the third person in the marriage swept along by the occasion diana hoped that camilla belonged to the past but as the royal couple left for their honeymoon there was another reminder of Charles's mistress leading the official escort group was Camilla's husband cavalry officer Andrew Parker Bowles a longtime friend of Charles's sister Princess Anne he remained part of the gilded circle at the royal court years later people would joke that Andrew laid down his wife for his country by ignoring her affair with Charles she knew that the best she could be was Prince Charles's mistress but she was determined when she got Charles into bed that she would remain Prince Charles's mistress she saw that she could do that and have Andrew at the same time get married to Andrew have Andrews children and still be the Prince of Wales is number one mistress on honeymoon aboard the Royal Yacht Britannia diana discovered the hold camilla had over her bridegroom charles had kept photographs of camilla and a gift of cufflinks engraved with their initials the newlyweds left britannia and went to Scotland Diana's hopes were dashed and she no longer trusted her husband Dinan was deeply suspicious about Charles and Camilla she couldn't always tell when they were together but she could sense it she had EXA sensory perception she was a remarkable woman in that way and I don't believe that she knew that the night before the royal wedding that Charles and Camilla were together in bed in Buckingham Palace after the ball but she could sense it she knew that they were still talking the evidence was there that Camilla knew what Diana's movements were and she I think could only live in the hope that once she actually got her husband away on honeymoon that everything would change she really believed that somehow the act of love going to bed together will somehow change Charles and allow him to forget about Camilla and concentrate only on his wife posing for the press at the Queen's estate Balmoral they successfully hid the truth Diana had already succumbed to an eating disorder bulimia which she blamed on the specter of Camilla Diana and Charles were already finding it difficult to relate to each other most of all she could not compete with the older and more experienced Camilla I think that it was very hard for her I don't think that sexual things were her main attraction I'm not sure that she was very very sexy really as often very beautiful women are they are not terrific on the sexual front and I think that that's the strength of Camilla that's the sort of aura she has a sort of sexual power and so from that point of view Donna didn't stand much of a chance the births of William and Harry did not create the happy family unit Diana had craved when they holidayed with the Spanish royal family in Majorca in 1986 diana was secretly ill with bulimia Charles left early and returned to Camilla diana wanted a little girl to complete her family but after harry's birth the marriage was effectively over I think she terribly wanted a daughter and there was no way it was going to happen I don't mean instead of Harry but she wanted a daughter after the sons and it was so bad by then it wasn't gonna happen for a while there was an uneasy truce Charles kept Camilla and Diana hid her affairs while putting on a show of support for her husband in 1990 Charles broke his arm while playing polo the arm did not heal and had to be reset playing the role of caring wife Diana collected him from hospital they left together but out of sight they went their separate ways well of course this sort of thing dates of when relationships happen was very difficult you're not han you're not behind the curtains you're not under the bed I think that by the time Prince Harry was born it was very difficult already the coolness between the couple was noticed the press counted their time apart faced with a barrage of speculation Charles and Diana were forced to appear together in public diana was suspected of leaking stories to the media I think she really started her manipulative behavior when she found her marriage going wrong and she felt that she had no voice she was determined to get a voice and the only way she could really get back on the Charles and Camilla situation was to promote herself which she was very good at in the early years the couple worked well together diana said we were a good team her radiant beauty captivated people around the world such as here in Australia their first Charles was proud of her and there are telling glimpses of his affection but the dividend Prince became jealous of his superstar wife Diana learned that the cameras picked up every nuance of her style and expression using that knowledge she signaled her displeasure with Charles in a skillfully timed missed kiss I think Diana became the wife from hell I think in fact when they got married they really loved each other and he said that quite often do you know there was a time when we were very much in love and that although brief that was so Camilla came back into Charles's life in the mid 80s when he claimed his marriage had irretrievably broken down their secret affair bolstered his fragile ego her role as his lover and confident was known only to trusted friends the great thing about Camilla was that nobody really knew anything about her the people who were immediately around Charles knew that he'd been seeing Camilla both when she was a single woman and also when she was a married woman the thing was that the press had no idea that for all those years he was having an adulterous relationship with a woman he was in love with Diana changed all that there were carefully placed stories in the press portraying her rival in a bad light the media was soon on the trail Camilla was hounded by the press on one occasion Charles was forced to make a quick exit from her home in the back of a car hiding under a blanket with photographers in pursuit the relationship was forced out into the open when a tape of a phone call between Charles and Camilla was made public known as Camilla Gate it was published in January 1993 a month after Charles and Diana's official separation it justified all Diana's suspicions in often embarrassing terms it revealed the depth the lovers intimacy I think Diana loved it she had the most wonderful time roaring reading out sections of the Camilla gate tapes over the breakfast table at Kensington Palace she had a field day because her husband had been so pompous so determined that she was in the wrong and that he was in the right and here was a moment when he was caught with his trousers down what a fool he looked and the things that he said made him look even more foolish Diana just was absolutely beside herself with laughter Dianna's beauty and charisma one sympathy for her as a wronged wife even Charles his father Prince Philip wrote to her saying I cannot imagine anyone in their right mind leaving you for Camilla happy to see Camilla pilloried Diana had secrets of her own while superficially supporting the Queen and the royal family Diana had indulged in a series of ill-judged affairs the first was in 1986 with her married bodyguard barry mannakee as her marriage collapsed she sought comfort from the man whose job kept him at her side he was dismissed for over-familiarity she told some people they were lovers but she denied the affair to others I spoke to dad about it I believed it when she said again everyone thought that I was having an affair with Malachy I wasn't I enjoyed a good relationship with him crucially what happened here Manik he probably did overstep the the red carpet line that in real sense should do bar you know that the belowstairs peasants from rising above their station and I think he actually sort of got himself into the drawing-room occasionally and was seen by the envious Butler you know the dresser the chambermaid and whoever asks for that and they put the knives out and still hang on this guy's getting a bit too close for a while the royal marriage survived at its official level charles and diana continued to represent Queen and country abroad such as here in Japan in 1989 it's hard to imagine a more beautiful and stylish ambassador an even harder to contemplate that diana was also enjoying a passionate affair at home with cavalry officer James Hewitt later from the proceeds of a book on Diana Hugh had bought a manor house but it was at his family home in Devon that Diana shared a normal domestic routine witnessed by her bodyguard Ken Worf I never lost sight of the person I was protecting there comes a point in the day when you have to go to bed at some point when the Sun comes up you get off and you eat and you begin the next day there's nothing odd about that for Diana the private life she shared with hewitt probably saved her from a total breakdown it did sort of draw her back from the brink she was very very unhappy very depressed and I think that she that Hewitt gave her a lot of confidence a sort of calm steady normal sort of young man and he was very good you know caring for her looking after her loving her and I think at that particular point it was important for her psychologically Diana confessed her affair with raffish Hewitt in an interview with the program panorama did your relationship go beyond a close friendship yes it did yes were you unfaithful yes I had told him yes I was in love with him she ditched him I think because she thought that they were going to be found out as she ditched him the twice the first time it was because he was ordered to Germany and she wanted to fix it so you didn't go and he is a regular soldier refused to have this said no no I'm going so she considered that that was at the trial to cut him the second time after the Gulf War because stories will be appearing in the newspapers about her relationship with him and she realizes was extremely dangerous to have Diana Princess of Wales as his conquest was a tremendous feather in his cap he used to absolutely sick of me I'm I'm any good at two things riding horses and riding women but I have to admit I think it's most likely an accurate answer he was a complete Rat Fink but he sort of comforted her when she was at our very lowest with the death of her father in March 1992 diana lost a vital prop in her life Charles felt obliged to play the caring husband for the sake of his public image but the growing distance between them was becoming evident I think from what one can gather Prince Charles was rarely rather relieved when she took up with James Hewitt so he could get on with his life with Camilla that she was probably taken care of happy that was fine by him I mean he no longer loved her in that sense our you know basically I suppose she was rather an incumbrance in her life and so if she was occupied and happy all the better the end of the Hewitt affair tipped the balance diana sought vengeance on her husband by cooperating with a sensational biography she pretended to have no connection with it and continued her duties on this hospice visit [Music] philosophy of tender loving care which is and always will be the hallmark of this office the Morton bulk shattered the fairy tale of Charles and Diana she had let daylight in on the magic of monarchy and nothing would ever be the same it was a mistake she was already regretting her adoring public sympathized with her the establishment with Charles soon her life came under Prairie and scrutiny when a tape of a call made to James Gilby an old friend was mysteriously released to the media the tape known as Diana gate or squidgy gate a reference to Gilbey's nickname for her laid bare her feelings diana believed it was released to harm her in a serious manner [Music] behind the ceremony of royal life lay deep personal unhappiness diana referred to her husband's staff as the enemy she blamed Charles's friends for putting around stories that she was mentally unstable some of them encouraged his affair with camilla providing safe houses for trysts they did nothing to help save the royal marriage I think perhaps they should have tried and thought that this marriage is important to the monarchy and important to the people of this country and it shouldn't been allowed to go wrong and I think that they did not help I think they're actually briefed against Diana as we know and again in this rather cruel way about her being psychologically disturbed I think that though they were good friends to him they did do quite a lot of harm Diana had some foolish liaisons including one with rugby player will Carling she was linked to his marriage breakdown I was told actually very very recently which surprised me that he'd spent and had been seen quite often with Diana up at a beach hut that the royal family owned up on the Norfolk coast quite near Sandringham and that they'd been together up there quite a lot to have your wife sleeping with the captain of the England rugby team it's just too disgusting for words if you are Prince Charles the awful thing about him was he could not see that what is sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander that if he is allowed to have extramarital sex so is she as her marriage fell apart Diana sent out subtle gestures to win sympathy famously she used the Taj Mahal for a posed statement of her solitude but her own search for love tarnished her reputation diana fell in love with handsome art dealer oliver [ __ ] after he decided to stay with his wife and children she made hundreds of silent phone calls to their home he had an immensely rich wife who completely controlled everything that Oliver Hall could do in life with the amount of money Oliver who was also a friend of Charles and Camilla part of their trusted circle in 1994 Charles cooperated with his biographer Jonathan Dimbleby in a television program in which he admitted adultery with Camilla on the night the programme was dianna upstaged him by wearing this stunning dress the war of the wells is continued diana dated men in pursuit of love and also to provoke charles but she genuinely wanted to marry pakistan born doctor has not can dan adored very clever people and hasn't it natty as she called him khan was a person who was a brilliant heart surgeon she would go down to the Brompton Hospital and watch him working would meet him at night but as a wife fanatic on absolutely not and i think the fact that he sort of kept her at a distance i think it absolutely infuriated her she could not believe that somebody could be so cool towards her and it made her more and more keen what she really wanted was companionship adulation to be seen on the arm of somebody who would irritate her husband and this really was at the root of much of her actions she was determined to pull her husband by the tail and so she did but i think that the choice of men says nothing about Diana apart from the fact that they were available none of them I would say would have been an ideal consult for her for the rest of her life I think that she was so unhappy and she was searching for a solution all the time and I think an awful lot of people do do that I certainly have been to a fortune teller at an unhappy period of my life and I think that's what she was doing looking for an answer looking for a way out looking for a solution and anything that made her feel better and kept her going really Charles and Camilla took holidays abroad such as this one in Turkey in 1989 photographs of the couple proved that Diana was not inventing their affair at a private party that summer she challenged Camilla over her relationship with Charles but nothing changed there were trips to Florence Charles and Camilla visited this house given to her great grandmother Alice Kapil by King Edward the there Camilla shared Charles's passion for painting but Camilla had a rival lady Tryon was also close to Charles he called her kanga a name she chose for her London boutique she died soon after Diana I think Charles was needed a sounding board he needed to talk to people who he could trust but weren't part of the royal entourage and so therefore I think that with those girls that he remained friendly with I think particularly of Lady Tryon that he would be able to go to her and say look I got a problem and you know can you help me or you know he would be able to ask advice and whether he listened to advice I think we know that he doesn't listen to advice but at least he would be able to ask it although she made mistakes Diana's sort out opinions and ideas from those around her not only from her private secretary but from ordinary staff like Ken Wharf her police bodyguard seen here with her relaxing at the British Embassy during a solo tour of Egypt she even said to him if anything happens to me you'll let people know what I was really like won't you die I was always asking a lot of people for advice I mean to her credit she sort of never sold it on you know based solely on what she thought that she should do I mean for my part it was almost constantly she'd say well you know what do you think of this can I mean I've got to do this what do you think always actually bouncing ideas off and and you know she was prepared to listen to those answers and I think that was the same of private secretaries it was the same of of anybody and she bounced these ideas off regularly to to the chef even you know to her dresser or to the chauffeur I mean she was quite happy to share the fun and try and air the knowledge of everybody and it would bodyguard Ken Worf accompanied Diana then officially separated from Charles on a visit to Nepal on behalf of the Red Cross and the leprosy mission in 1993 he was a tremendous asset because she had this amazing ability to speak to people across a huge social and political spectrum and and that wasn't something that she was taught because nobody actually told her anything Dinah picked all this up herself diana had a connection with the ill and suffering no other royal had this special gift in touching leprosy patients diana lifted taboos just as she had done earlier with AIDS sufferers this was one of her greatest achievements I think Diana felt a sense of Destiny in her that that's what her role was she had this grand mother Cynthia Spencer who was very like Diana in that way she's wonderful at charities very much loved and I think that Diana realized she had a gift for this from very early age Diana's magic was not enough to keep her in the royal family as heir to the throne Charles was the one who mattered on their tour of South Korea in November 1992 their expressions and body language revealed the strain between them the couple were nicknamed the gloms the announcement of their separation was weeks away it is announced from Buckingham Palace that with regret The Prince and Princess of Wales have decided to separate Diana briefly appeared at Sandringham for Christmas but her life as a semi detached royal soon proved untenable she tried to scale down her public life over the next few months I will be seeking a more suitable way of combining a meaningful public role with hopefully a more private life press intrusion had forced her decision sadly many charities lost their patron but Diana's soon returned to the public arena she also sought a life as a private citizen the paparazzi made her visits to the gym one of their main targets after she dismissed her police bodyguards there were no restraints on photographers behavior she was trailed while visiting her therapist Suzy or back the photographers the paparazzi were making a lot of money out of Diana that was the principal thing otherwise they probably would have left her alone but there we are on newspapers are paying them a great deal of money for significant photographs they're all for one of chasing her among the cars I think she'd been to see Suzy all back all these sort of ones her trying to hide her face and they really would provoke her in the latter days I remember hearing somebody say that they were quite ashamed although they were themselves a paparazzo you know once when she was in a taxi and she was sitting there with her head bowed trying to avoid their attention the Spanish photographer yelled at her why don't you behave like a [ __ ] princess do you know that's the way I mean treatment beyond what you'd expect she was never free from harassment here attempting to take a Caribbean holiday with a female friend Diana found they were surrounded by photographers watch her reactions opportunities to relax with friends were important to her she was separated from her husband and felt increasingly isolated from the royal court when her love affairs fell apart as they always did she could rely on a band of female confidants I think that when she was under intense pressure there were a lot of people who tried to help her specifically there's women friends the ones who were slightly older than her and her younger friends as well I think a lot of people really did try to help her but you see she was in a terrible situation her husband didn't love her the press were after her the whole time she couldn't get out without a photographer snapping her people would were selling information about her it's so frightful world to live in Camila's life also fell under media scrutiny tougher than Diana she showed a more robust approach to the press watch her reaction the year after Charles's admission of adultery Diana took part in the television program panorama do you think mrs. Parker Bowles was a factor in the breakdown of your marriage well there were three of us in this marriage so I was a bit crowded Diana also questioned Charles's suitability for kingship the Queen had to draw a line under the impossible situation between her son and his estranged wife in doing so she went against Diana's wishes I don't want to divorce but obviously we need clarity on a situation that has been of enormous discussion over the last three years in particular so all I say to that is that I await my husband's decision or which way we are all going to go the crowds love Diana the establishment supported Charles the Queen's intervention was not popular but the War of the Wales's had polarized the country I think the queen was quite right to insist on a divorce because the situation had become so appalling in terms of public relations for the monarchy and privately for the children that really only a break could help I think it was the only answer by then with the divorce Diana lost the title her royal highness along with many of the privileges of royalty without the palaces smooth machinery to make arrangements she had to rely on her friends a financial settlement of seventeen million pounds did not fully compensate for the loss of her royal status I think that the Queen in that sort of traditional way of hers thought that once the after the divorce diana was no longer a member of the royal family she shouldn't have the title HRH which absolutely signifies being a member of the royal family she was now a celebrity in her own right adored around the world her warmth and spontaneity ensured massive public support wherever she went cast aside by British high society diana searched other cultures for personal fulfillment she had visited Pakistan in 1991 and returned shortly before she died to raise money for a cancer hospital she admired much about the people she met she was attracted I think by the sort of solid family values that she saw in Muslim countries I think that was one the principle dianna cast off her old life symbolically by selling her dresses for charity among the lots was the dress she wore the night Charles admitted his affair with Camilla the auction of Christie's New York raised three and a half million pounds a new life and a new wardrobe for the new world diana reinvented her image with considerable skill although she was a woman alone she still had the allure of royalty added to that was her glamour and a delightfully flirtatious manner this was the Diana Americans loved a powerful woman with celebrity appeal I think Diana felt very much at home in America where women really perhaps not so much now but certainly used to be powerful as compared with how they are in Europe and they have much better life experience than European women they're not supposed to sit behind the curtains being a good mother so I think Diana would certainly identified with that and she had a lot of clothes important American friends ladies and gentlemen I'm immensely proud to be here in New York tonight with you all among the impressive figures Diana met in the USA was Henry Kissinger who called her a princess in her own right who aligned herself with the ill the suffering and the downtrodden winning the humanitarian of the Year Award was a huge achievement but it didn't prevent her divorce and it didn't gain for Diana the role of roving ambassador that she wanted I think she was a wonderful ambassador I can't think of anybody who would have been better because not only was she wonderfully photogenic but she was empathetic she had this terrific gift with people from high and low I mean Prime Minister's president's office cleaners would just melt in her company she had this terrific gift of being able to convey caring a human and personal warmth in January 1997 Diana visited Angola to raise awareness of landmines this didn't please the establishment in Britain their detractors called her a loose cannon Diana defended her actions highlight a problem that's going on all around the world Diana and Charles shared custody of their sons but family events were rare William's confirmation in May 1997 was the last time they were all seen together she faced a lonely summer in London her boys were with Charles the Hasnat Khan affair had ended she was ready for fresh adventures and a new romance the whole of August she was going to be on her own she got no arrangement she was facing an entire month sitting at Kensington Palace clicking our heels the loneliest woman in the world an invitation to the south of France to spend time at the sumptuous holiday home of tycoon Mohamed al-fayed was too good to refuse there she fell for Dodi Fayed the son of her Egyptian born Muslim host it would be a controversial affair and people had mixed feelings about Dodi it was a cocaine user he was he done a day's work in his life when he was very charming and women liked him and he was sympathetic and I don't think he pushed himself I don't think sex was high on his agenda and I think Donna rather liked that didn't want somebody pushing in too fast the couple cruised aboard the Fayed yacht Johnny Kao wherever they went photographers appeared even when they were out at sea in the Mediterranean somehow the press seemed to know their destination in advance rumours still abound that Diana herself tipped off favoured press men to send back signals to Charles and has not con the men who had let her down with the pictures came a twist in the story the couple had been to the Paris home of the late Duke and Duchess of Windsor now owned by the fired's after revisiting the Windsor Villa diana and dodi stayed at the Paris Ritz Hotel also owned by Dodie's father security cameras captured the couple's last hours trying to avoid the waiting paparazzi at the front of the Ritz they devised a plan on repol the Ritz head of security would drive them from the back exit driven at high speed their car crashed in a tunnel I absolutely believe that if she'd had proper security that night of all was the 31st impact that accident would never have happened because proper Scotland Yard protection would have never let on report get in that car and drive it and certainly not at that speed Dodi and on repol were killed outright Diana died in hospital from her injuries a royal plane brought back Diana's body to a unique funeral for a unique person a royal flag draped her coffin in the procession were William and Harry Charles Philip and Diana's brother Earl Spencer who paid tribute to his sister in a rousing speech it is a point to remember that of all the ironies about Diana perhaps the greatest was this a girl given the name of the ancient goddess of hunting was in the end the most hunted person of the modern age I think that people have become really involved with Diana in a personal way from the day of the wedding and I think that she had got was terrific pull with people who didn't know her and I think that they found it are just a sort of unbelievable tragedy which it was and ended in the way that I suppose an unbelievable tragedy should end perhaps if Shakespeare were alive today and wrote Diana's story it would make his finest tragedy [Music] [Music] you [Music]

Channel: Timeline - World History Documentaries

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Keywords: History, Full Documentary, Documentaries, Full length Documentaries, Documentary, TV Shows - Topic, Documentary Movies - Topic, 2017 documentary, Channel 4 documentary, history documentary, documentary history, princess diana, royal family, prince charles, united kingdom, prince william, kate middleton, british royal family, sarah ferguson, wives of windsor, meghan markle, prince andrew, prince andrew interview, prince andrew interview full, prince andrew interview bbc

Id: dTkcRtQicWY

Length: 50min 27sec (3027 seconds)

Published: Mon Dec 30 2019