What Was It About Princess Diana? | The Fairytale Princess | Real Royalty

[Music] Dianna's future rested on her position as mother of the royal heir and spare her sons William and Harry her power base amid the uncertainties of her future a year before her death the title Her Royal Highness was taken away from her it was very interesting that her brother said that the funeral service she didn't need the royal title to go continue to go on producing her special sort of magic and I think from the outside world that was obviously the important thing I suspect it may have been very much more important to her than we on the outside realized [Music] in stripping dianna of the title Her Royal Highness royalty lost one of its star performers Diana's combination of regal dignity in Hollywood a lure ouch on the staid and formal House of Windsor this was the last occasion she would join the royal family at a state banquet [Music] her power to outshine a glittering array of thierryd entitled heads created under currents of rivalry and jealousy which Marg Diana's shoe trained as a queen in waiting [Music] dinah rebelled against her husband and his family which resulted in her eventual divorce deprived of the life she should have had diana rejected queen elizabeth ii style of monarchy and created for herself a symbolic role I'd like to be a queen of people's hearts in people's hearts but I don't see myself being queen this country how was it possible to compensate a princess for the loss of her identity [Music] Charles have made a generous divorce settlement worth then about 17 million pounds Diana had amassed so many sumptuous gowns as Princess of Wales that recently she decided to auction some for charity each breathtaking dress was valued for being worn by the woman who was once wife of the heir to the British throne Diana's wardrobe was vast when stored her dresses apparently spanned the width of 10 average terraced houses and she had a seven foot rack just for her blouses she kept the Aladdin's Cave of jewels that marked every public triumph from the private tragedy of her 16 years as Princess of Wales [Music] [Music] [Music] daughter of an English Earl diana was wealthy in her own right with her Spencer family trust fund and her private collection of jewels and memorabilia diana may have been worth 40 million pounds [Music] whether they cost two or ten thousand pounds her gowns were not chosen for their price but for their bewitch in effect [Music] Dianna's beauty and glamour was the constant reminder to Charles that the crowds were casting him aside in favor of his more attractive wife as time went on after they were married it was quite clearly the crowds wanting to see Diana and I think there are pieces of film where you see in a sense the crowd on the side of the road where Charles was actually disappointed because it wasn't Diana who was coming over to talk to them or shake their hands and it would have been difficult for anybody to cope with but particularly somebody like the Prince of Wales had been brought up to believe that in every way he was the preeminent figure as the heir to the throne and to be upstaged by somebody particularly somebody who had have seemed very much the junior partner I would have thought would have been very threatening dianna followed the pattern of other rich and under loved wives her response to her husband's treatment was to spend spend spend and he like other dissatisfied husbands grudgingly paid the price dianna joined the ladies who lunch frequenting smart restaurants in an effort to fill the lonely hours while Charles was busy elsewhere in fact Diane's favorite shopping area Kensington High Street became known locally as Kensington die Street I don't think that the money was on what it was the loss of prestige it was the awful humiliation of the thing going wrong because remember what a fairytale marriage it all was disillusioning for us and above all for her starting out with her fiancee in 1981 Lady Diana Spencer could never have guessed the treacherous road ahead a naivety matched her readiness to please hidden was the magic that would turn her from a shy teenager to a global enchantress she was a child ass Lone Ranger of 19 not terribly well educated I mean she always herself will admit that the best prize she had at school was for having the finest groomed guinea pig but she was very fragile I think then and she was 20 when she married the heir to the throne 21 when she produced you know first child it was an awful lot to to cope with [Music] they thought she was going to be a suitable creature wearing slightly from people acceptable clothes and smiling and bowing accepting flowers but really not doing anything else and bearing an heir and despair but instead of course she was this stunning success and it was very difficult Vince chose because the whole thing had got completely out of control and you know I think he regretted it terribly I mean had she stayed behind the scenes maybe they'd be married still today in looks Diana was like her mother Francis and kid who was divorced acrimoniously by Diana's father and then lived in virtual exile with her second husband the loss of her mother from the family home was one of the early causes of Diana's troubled personality Diana's destiny was shaped by a sense of abandonment mothering her younger brother Charles developed Diana's caring side her eating disorder bulimia began when Diana was a teenager in imitation of her older sister Sarah's problem with anorexia later as Prince Charles's fiance she succumbed secretly to her old eating habits when pressures began to mount facing the most intensive public scrutiny brother said at the funeral that part of the problem was her own deep sense of insecurity and her deep sense of lack of self-worth and of course to those people who saw her mostly in public can hardly believe that but I'm sure he was right I'm sure it was true and I suspect that all stemmed from their very difficult childhood which was obviously was very insecure and did both make them both feel very unhappy and rather lost times although undoubtedly her pressures which she felt in the marriage would have contributed at a later stage Chaz's lack of understanding of diana twelve years his junior sharpened the divisions between them she wanted a romantic marriage his needs were more pragmatic I suspect given his background and given his upbringing that he would have had a much more formal approach to the idea of marriage and the idea of a royal partnership than perhaps she did is a very romantic young girl who fell in love with somebody who she saw as her prince charming as well as the Prince of Wales at a very vulnerable and presumably very unformed age and I suspect she had different expectations perhaps than he did Diana quickly learned to pretend even on her honeymoon she covered up her doubts and private fears Diana was I'm still very young she married Charles with very very little experience and a come from a very shaky background where the main nurturers in her life had abandoned her one way or the other so she was enormously emotionally needy what used to happen was when she felt Charles was drifting away and not connecting you know when she was perhaps unhappy or she needed to talk to him about something instead of doing it and letting perhaps a little bit of breathing space to come between them she over demanded she demanded his attention she wanted him and wanted him and the more she grabbed his attention and the worse the stunts became the emotional stunts to get his attention became the further he went away he wasn't used to people answering him back he wasn't used in particularly the women telling him what they thought and he just turned his back on it and got out of the place he just moved on and I don't think he ever tried he was just perplexed he couldn't understand someone who having been told what to do didn't do it the volcanic private relationship between the Prince and Princess of Wales finally erupted in 1992 on their last joint tour they embarrassed their Korean hosts by their negative and hostile conduct with each other nicknamed the glum as they were never allowed to repeat this pantomime performance which prompted private Foreign Office apologies to Korea the couple separated but still Diana feared leaving the Royal House of Windsor to which she had given so much as she explained in a TV interview 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 were all going to go there are just so many things that contribute to the breakdown of a marriage you simply can't say it was one thing it was the jealousy and remember two people make a contribution to a marriage splitting and Diana made a lot of attempts to talk to Charles to try to make their relationship work even suggesting that they did things together at one point which is a lot of work to try to make the marriage look better than it was and it was Charles's feeling that it was hypocritical to appear in public or to do these little gestures that would make it seem alright his belief that he should remain true to him true to what was going on was actually also part of the reason it kind of gathered momentum and it may be again when we look at the intense media interest I mean any of us having a relationship difficulties if we read about it every day I think we'd all go galloping towards the courts a lot faster than if we were left you know to get on with how we might try to make a relationship better Dianna's shameful friend her bulimia was a constant presence during these years on an official visit to Canada she lived on a diet of chocolate bars who needed medical attention when she fainted during a visit to Expo 86 Charles failed to recognize his wife's condition forcing her to keep up royal appearances when she needed rest and recuperation and understanding during their gatherings that royal residences such as Sandringham family tensions made Diana's illness worse resulting in cries for help to have so much pain inside yourself that you try and hurt yourself on the outside because you want help but it's the wrong help you were asking for people see it as crying wolf or attention-seeking and they think because you're in the media all the time you've got enough attention inverted commas but I was actually crying out so I wanted to get better in order to go forward and continue my duty and my role as wife father Princess of Wales the vows she had made on her wedding day was sincere to Charles and his family she gave her youth but her husband's love for Camilla parker-bowles caused destructive jealousy if you read for example the biography of the Prince of Wales she was in a sense aware of the possibility of this other relationship even when they were engaged in 1986 the year of these posed holiday photos the royal marriage entered its terminal phase Diana asked astrologer penny Thornton for advice one morning out of the blue the telephone rang and this voice just said hello it's the Princess of Wales she just wanted to know if there was a light at the end of the tunnel so it was when I realized that she was in trouble that this wasn't just someone who was just wanted to have a look at their horoscope which a lot of people do is kind of self-indulgent trip I thought why she's in trouble well I'll drop everything an idea dropped everything and saw her a couple of days later when I've arrived at Clinton palace and I sat down and I started to talk about the charts and looked at Charles and everything when she finally told me that those dire straits they were in it was an extraordinary thing because at one time on one level she knew I predicted it at all and yet I was surprised to hear my own prediction you know it was it was the reality of it was was quite something and it was she was in a very severe state of distress at that particular time Diana turned to a series of male companions the art dealer Oliver hor offered guidance but became embroiled in a scandal involving unsolicited telephone calls to his home and England's rugby captain will Carling allowed his friendship with Diana to create a rift with his wife they later divorced Diana's most notorious affair was with guards officer James Hewitt who came to enjoy his reputation as Diana's lover for five years James made Diana's broken marriage bearable 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 when their personal life had failed Charles and Diana were obliged to play their part in royal pageantry their coldness now scarcely concealed resigned to the fact that his marriage to Diana had been a disaster Charles turned his back on his young wife the sad thing is that he was so indifferent to Diana that I don't think he would have minded if it had been a road sweeper because I think that well perhaps would have given him more ammunition to be critical of her I don't I don't think he cared and of course indifference is one of the worst things in a relationship for comfort and support Diana turned her attention to her charities who welcomed her with open arms hugging has no harmful side effects if we all play our part in making our children feel valued the result will be tremendous there are potential huggers in every household it was this tactile style that marked Diana out from the more reserved royal family she'd married into giving love was her trademark she always cared about the disabled abroad she turned her attention to people afflicted by leprosy these people were all part of her constituency of the rejected as her brother said so movingly at her funeral Diana's philosophy mirrored that of Mother Teresa and her nuns who worked tirelessly for the sick homeless and underprivileged [Music] sadly Mother Teresa died within days of Diana she liked millions all over the world had been touched by Diana's warm and caring personality diana was using her charity work to compensate for her loveless marriage it was at the time of Prince Andrew's wedding in 1986 that Charles and Diana's marriage had in Charles his own words irretrievably broken down [Applause] [Music] [Applause] although Fergie's wedding days seemed perfect the new duchess of york an old friend of Diana's was unsuited to royal life and would make many mistakes oblivious to the shortcomings of her new sister-in-law diana maneuvered her friend into the royal life as her ally and to divert attention away from herself there was a close relationship between Sara and Donna they were chums and they really were close they had each other but then that relationship soured as Sara seemed to be getting on better and the Queen was much more affectionate towards Sara then I think that caused a certain split between the two with the publication of the Duchess of York salive story the relationship with Fergie came under considerable strain they had had some estrangement which was about the various aspects of Sara's publicity publicity about the Balkans on what she's said in her book it wouldn't surprise me i'm diana was fiercely concerned about people's loyalty to her and i think again that might reflect her own insecurity at a basic level she was one of those people for whom you were either with her or against her it was very difficult I think for many people to tread a middle path or perhaps to be loyal to two people who she saw as one of them being her enemies I've known several instances of people who were good friends of hers who did feel very loyal and concerned about her but but with whom she was very angry because she saw some action of theirs as being disloyal Dianna's truculence an unwillingness to pose or smile on occasions that did not suit her led to unseemly clashes trying to live two conflicting lives diana strove to attain maximum publicity for her limited public role and virtual obscurity for her private life but even on holidays the cameras followed her dianna felt her victim persecuted and harassed but her use of the media was always an area of both confusion and controversy in her life at times her apparent awareness of photographers in the press was then blighted by her naivety at the eventual outcome she knew what she was doing when she rang individual colonists and told them her side of the story she knew what she was doing when she posed her very beautiful photographs or sexy photographs in different locations where even though the newspaper photographers might not be immediately apparent she knew they were at the other end of a long lens but on the other hand I think she didn't really she wasn't really in control because she was very upset when they then said well you know you've even a sense opened the door to this why are you so incredibly miserable when we chase you around to your health club or your tennis game or with the boys or whatever it may be and she didn't really understand how she couldn't play both games Diana's determination to give paparazzi photographers a hard time could lead to farcical situations suddenly all seemed to get silly when Diana got hold of this tennis racket and put it up in front of her face I was walking backwards and at one point I was trying to focus the tennis racket had prints Extender written across the front of it and I thought this was a really funny picture so I was trying to focus on the prints babe and I didn't realize that I'd stopped to focus and this prints extender was getting closer and closer and closer and suddenly my lens just went black when she just bumped into me and I said something like oh sorry which seemed really silly you know considering the situation we was in so I carried on walking backwards and I was aware that there was a door behind me I suddenly realized it was a lift that we were going into a lip I'll get back with you a lift and this hand has grabbed my shoulder and I knew it was Diana and she just pulled me out of the lift and I immediately jumped in after her and then this be a official just said out out o UT out now tell u TL have a nice trick mouth while Dianna resented such intrusions into her private holidays she was acutely aware that her role on official occasions like a visit to India required a more regal image although they had a marriage in name only as Princess of Wales she accompanied her husband on official visits at home and abroad she was the essence of royalty on another visit to India she posed alone in front of the Taj Mahal her solitude sending out a message of her frustration at her husband's absence and his private disregard for her [Music] even alone she treated her foreign visits with a solemn purpose remembering the importance of representing Britain abroad she often did this against a background of sniping criticism from faceless enemies at home who feared that her glamour style raised her profile higher than her husband's [Music] [Music] dianna would be courteous and respectful of other cultures yet she always allowed her own mesmerizing qualities to come through because of this she was received with genuine warmth in places where other members of her husband's family might not have been as Princess of Wales she showed skills and diplomacy many politicians would envy building bridges and cementing International friendships along the way she had traveled far from her first tentative public speech to the people of Wales in 1981 when she was expecting her first child Prince William I look forward to returning many times the future and also I'd like to just add how proud I am to be Princess of such a wonderful place in 1973 at the age of 12 Diana followed her two sisters to West Heath school in Kent where the order and routine provided a sense of stability established in 1865 its small country house environment has always encouraged the development of individual talents had ties with West Heath school remained strong in 1987 she returned to give a speech and open the new Sports Hall it was an appropriate task for someone who had excelled as an athlete and accomplished swimmer despite a naturally quick wit diana was not good at exams and she didn't stay on for the final year my years at West Heath was certainly very happy once indeed I made many friends who I often see and in spite of what Miss Raj and my other teachers may have thought time I did actually learn something though he would never have known by my own level results years later with great maternal pride Diana took William to Wales on sent David's day presenting him as the future care [Music] [Music] Williams role provided Diana with her greatest expectations and he may be the best hope for the future of the British monarchy Prince William and his brother Harry gave Diana the emotional support to carry her through the worst years they were the real source of her strength she strove to bring them up differently from the formal manner of earlier royal generations by providing a series of adventurous thrills Diana tried to give them exposure to people in situations far removed from Charles's own upbringing at her funeral Diana's brother pledged that his family will do all they can to continue the imaginative way in which she was steering her two exceptional sons so that their souls are not simply immersed by duty and tradition but can sing openly as she planned [Music] Dianna's obsession with press intrusion affected william finding the paparazzi's coverage of their private ski trips overwhelming william later refused to return to the scenes of his mother's battles with photographers [Music] [Applause] could I ask you to respect my children's space because I brought the children out here for a holiday we've had 15 cameras following us today as a parent I want to protect children by giving her sons lavish holidays in exotic locations Donna could have been accused of sometimes spoiling her children perhaps she was just overcompensating her sons for the distress of their parents bitter separation and divorce [Music] I think the Prince William has understood it for a great number of years too long in a way because he was very disturbed and unhappy at the time of the breakup and the divorce and became very protective of her enjoying a holiday in the Sun with her family Diana tried to avoid her mother's own pitfall of a second failed marriage which could have been disastrous for her and devastating for her sons unlike her mother Diana was not destined for a life in the shadows Diana's enemies long forecast that she would copy her mother Francis nicknamed the bolter when she left Diana's father for another man despite virtual isolation in her remote Scottish home Frances kept in regular contact with her children and grandchildren in her final years Diana understood her mother better this must have been the most awful blow to her because she's obviously had a very difficult life herself and I imagine she must feel at some level that some of the problems that have occurred go right back to the stage at which her marriage to Diana's father broke up I imagine that she would want to be close to them but whether that's possible given that she lives geographically so far away in Scotland I don't know Diana's father was a vital prop in the difficult times when her marriage was disintegrating sadly he died in March 1992 his funeral was a harrowing occasion for all his family Prince Charles arrived just in time by helicopter preoccupied with other duties Earl Spencer had lived on borrowed time after a brain hemorrhage and seeing Prince William growing up was precious to him as he record in a television interview William was five yesterday I thought of that I might not have been them and I was their neighbor ring him up and talk to him on his fifth birthday which was a great fun great day for him pretty of him you cinema they were lovely present maybe I was a happy day and hope to hear all about it from him later on Diana's family history had been marred by feuds she her sisters and brother disliked rain their stepmother although later she became one of Diana's strong circle of women friends Charles didn't add his name to Diana's touching floral tribute his message was attached to a wreath sent by the Queen and Prince Philip [Music] Charles attended our Spencer's memorial service with his wife and sons the show of togetherness was deceptive Charles had felt obliged to join Diana for appearance's sake at other Spencer family gatherings in the past on his father's death Diana's brother became the new well Spencer the Princess of Wales continued with her royal commitment but not for long Diana's decision in December 1993 to withdraw at least temporarily from public life climaxed with a dramatic speech which she had planned to make it a charity function her friend Lord archers role was to steer her through this traumatic event we got her on stage at the end of the minute and I introduced her and I simply said her Royal Highness mr. Wales would like to make a statement and she was trembling and she was in she was very very babe the whole thing was her Royal Highness the Princess of Wales would like to make a short statement your royal highness [Applause] ladies and gentlemen it is a great pleasure to be here with you sharing in your successes of the past year when I started my public life twelve years ago I understood the media might be interested in what I did I realized then their attention would inevitably focus on both our private and public lives but I was not aware of how overwhelming that attention would become nor the extent to which it would affect both my public duties and my personal life in a manner that's been hard to bear at the end of this year when I've completed my diary of official engagements I will be reducing the extent of the public life I've led so far obviously I attach great importance to my charity work and I intend to focus on a smaller range of areas in the future 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 my first priority will continue to be our children William and Harry who deserve as much love and care and attention as I am able to give as well as an appreciation of the tradition into which they were born I would like to add that this decision has been reached with a full understanding of the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh who have always shown me kindness and support I hope you can find it in your hearts to understand and to give me the time and space that has been lacking in recent years I couldn't stand here today and make this sort of statement without acknowledging the heartfelt support I'd be given by the public in general your kindness and affection has carried me through some of the most difficult periods and always your love and care has eased that journey and for that I thank you from the bottom of my heart I mean this was pin dropping stuff because they hadn't in expecting that they'd come to celebrate a charity function they haven't expected a constitutional announcement and they burst into thunderous applause and I could see her trembling [Applause] your royal highness I know I speak for all of us when I say we sympathize with the decision you have taken whatever course your life now takes be assured there are many charities and individuals all over the world who will remain grateful for the dedicated service and care you have brought to everything you do on behalf of those people who cannot be with us today thank you ladies and gentlemen a Royal Highness the Princess of Wales follow me mom walk down into the audience and she has followed and they remain standing and cheered up all out of the room [Applause] Dianna's retirement was brief unable to return to an ordinary life she began to create her own role against a backdrop of charity work and good causes through her association with the Red Cross for instance she successfully raised their profile over many important campaigns here she was making a visit to Nepal in the Himalayas as an ambassador for Britain she was unequaled she was an extraordinary ambassador for us to the third world what we used to call the third world to people in countries with who were suffering from one thing or another which she identified with at home but which she picked up very strongly when she was abroad whether again it was AIDS in Africa or the plight of children which she visited with Mother Teresa there in India or the whole land mines issue where she was so important and identifying and drawing attention to something which governments have been talking about for a long time but no one in general was had remote interesting by visiting the killing fields of angola diana was able to draw the world's attention to the millions of unexploded landmines still taking their toll on the young and innocent in a country trying to pick itself up from a long and bloody civil war her efforts were criticised she was called a loose cannon a leer after her divorce diana was full of hope for a happy future she took her boys on a holiday to the french riviera with the businessman Mohamed al-fayed and his family including his son by his first marriage the handsome bachelor Dodi the happy group cruised on his luxurious yacht the Jonica diana ignored Odie's reputation as a playboy and was impressed by his gentle considerate nature they spent further time together and their friendship rapidly developed into love he gave her the attention and tenderness she craved Diana's brothers said she had found joy in her life and days before her death she told a friend that her time was Dodie was pure bliss she certainly looked very radiant and very happy even in the smudgy long-distance photographs we saw of her on holiday I think the fact that she was prepared it's likely later to be photographed with Dodi al-fayed in a way what she certainly hadn't been with some of the other supposed male friends in her life did indicate that she felt confident about the relationship and therefore presumably felt very happy but whether it was the kind of relationship would have would have developed I don't know we hear all the rumors in the press that they were going to be engaged but I think that's just in the realms of speculation death came suddenly and terribly after a crash in Paris Charles brought his ex-wife home to a country in mourning half the world watched by television and millions lined the streets of London for a funeral unlike any other the public grief for the death of the people's princess dictated the nature of a unique funeral for a unique person and asked the monarchy to reconsider its position I think it would be impossible at this stage to gauge what will happen over the long term but I think what has been fascinating is to watch the way in which perhaps the country felt differently about something than the Queen and those who immediately surrounded her not so probably so much in personal feelings but in terms of the way of expressing those personal feelings and she responded she responded to what she must have heard either through the media through her advisers through the Prime Minister whoever it may have been who advised her that she was out of step with the country's feelings on this and she of course responded magnificently and did a wonderful broadcast and I think most people felt that that in a sense restored the position [Music] [Applause] [Music] Diana Princess of Wales died when she had at last found the happiness that had eluded her for most of her 36 years she had spent her summer of love with Dodi Fayed a handsome and affectionate man who gave her the attention and tenderness she craved just as their future looked bright and promising death came suddenly and tragically [Music] now the world will remember Diana the irreplaceable princess who became as she had wished a queen in people's hearts [Music]

Channel: Real Royalty

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Keywords: breathtaking royal stories, influential families, monarchies worldwide, monarchy tales, princess of wales, queen elizabeth ii, royal affairs, royal bloodline, royal controversies, royal documentaries, royal events coverage, royal fashion, royal influence, royal lineage, royal revelations, royal scandals exposed, royalty exploration series., royalty in history, the lives of royals revealed, the truth behind royalty

Id: nJGGUpHZXqc

Length: 45min 23sec (2723 seconds)

Published: Sun May 31 2020