Vasile Alecsandri National College Bacu LADY DI, THE PRINCESS OF HEARTS

Coordinators: Candidate:

Covaci Ramona Elena Srbu Sigrid-ChristineJugariu Oana Class XII B

2015Table of Contents

Argument...3Introduction...4I. CHILDHOOD5I.1. Early years.6I.2. Her parents divorce.7I.3. Education...8II. FAMILY AND MARRIAGE..9 II.1.Diana and Charles.10 II.2. The wedding11 III.4.Charity work12 II.5. Divorce13 II.6. Death14FINAL CONSIDERATIONS.... 15Bibliography...16

Argument

I have decided to write about Princess Diana of Wales because I consider her one of the most influential persons who ever lived in this world.One of the most important things I admire at her is that she was always kind to everyone and she did many charities, being best known for this. She dedicated a lot of time to the homeless, the disabled, people with AIDS, and she took a great interest in the charities concerning children. One of the reasons that Princess Dianas charity work is so special is because she truly believed in it, in helping, not only by giving money but also offering emotional and spiritual support. The Princess fought for so many different causes that one can really tell how much she cared for humanity in general and how she sincerely wanted to end suffering wherever it occurred. Princess Diana even said I understand peoples suffering, peoples pain, more than you will ever know yourself.Another reason for which I admire her is that she cared for all children, no matter age, religion or nationality and she was like a universal mother. Her love for children was evident in her social work and also in her own family life, Diana placing much value on the family unit.Along with her motherly qualities and charitable inclinations, Diana retained and perfected her feminine charm and eloquence. Princess Diana further used her fashion sense and femininity to once again help the people. She auctioned off her most famous dresses to the public to help raise money for the charities she worked for, and my personal point of view is that this is a wonderful demonstration of using ones femininity for the public good.

Introduction

Diana, Princess of Waleswas the first wife ofCharles, Prince of Wales, the eldest son andheir apparentofQueen Elizabeth II. She was well known for her fund-raising work for international charities and as an eminent celebrity of the late 20th century. Herwedding to the Prince of Waleson 29 July 1981 was held atSt Paul's Cathedraland seen by a global television audience of over 750 million. While married she bore the titlesPrincess of Wales,Duchess of Cornwall,Duchess of Rothesay,Countess of ChesterandBaroness of Renfrew. The marriage produced two sons, the princesWilliamandHarry, who becamesecond and third in lineto the British throne.She became a public figure with the announcement of her engagement. She also received recognition for her charity work and for her support of theInternational Campaign to Ban Landmines.From 1989, she was the president of theGreat Ormond Street Hospitalfor children, in addition to dozens of other charities. Diana remained the object of worldwide media scrutiny during and after her marriage, which ended in divorce on 28 August 1996. Media attention andpublic mourningwere considerable followingher death in a car crash in Parison 31 August 1997.

ChildhoodI.1. Early yearsDiana Frances Spencer was born as the youngest daughter of Edward Spencer, Viscount Althorp, and his first wife, Frances Spencer, Viscountess Althorp on July 1, 1961 at Park House on the Sandringham estate; she was born into an aristocratic family with Royal blood in the ancestry.

I.2. Her parents divorce

During her parents acrimonious divorce over Lady Althorps adultery with Peter Shand Kydd, Dianas mother sued for custody of her children, but Lord Althorps rank, aided by Lady Althorps mothers testimony against her daughter during the trial, meant custody of Diana and her brother was awarded to their father.

On the death of her paternal grandfather, Albert Spencer, 7th Earl Spencer, in 1975, Dianas father became the 8th Earl Spencer, and she acquired the courtesy title of The Lady Diana Spencer and moved from her childhood home at Park House to her familys sixteenth-century ancestral home of Althorp. A year later, Lord Spencer married Raine, Countess of Dartmouth, the only daughter of the romance novelist Barbara Cartland, after being named as the other party in the Earl and Countess of Dartmouths divorce.

I.3. Education

Diana was educated at Riddlesworth Hall in Norfolk and at West Heath Girls School in Sevenoaks, Kent, where she was regarded as an academically below-average student, having failed all of her O-level examinations.

In 1977, aged 16, she left West Heath and briefly attended Institut Alpin Videmanette, a finishing school in Rougemont, Switzerland.Diana was a talented amateur pianist, excelled in sports and reportedly longed to be a ballerina.

Family and Marriage

Dianas family, the Spencers, had been close to the British Royal Family for decades. Her maternal grandmother, Ruth, Lady Fermoy, was a longtime friend of, and a lady-in-waiting to Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother.II.1. Diana and Charles

The Prince of Wales had known Lady Diana for several years, but he first took a serious interest in her as a potential bride during the summer of 1980, when they were guests at a country weekend, where she watched him playpolo. The relationship developed as he invited her for a sailing weekend toCowesaboard the royal yachtBritannia, followed by an invitation toBalmoralto meet his family. Lady Diana was well received bythe Queen,the Duke of Edinburgh, andQueen Elizabeth The Queen Mother. The couple subsequently courted in London. The prince proposed on 6 February 1981, and Lady Diana accepted, but their engagement was kept secret for the next few weeks.Their engagement became official on 24 February 1981, after Lady Diana selected a large 30,000 ring (94,800 in today's terms) consisting of 14 solitaire diamonds elegantly surrounding a 12-carat oval blue Ceylon sapphire set in 18-karat white gold, similar to her mother's engagement ring.

II.2. The wedding

The wedding took place at St Pauls Cathedral in London on Wednesday 29 July 1981 before 3,500 invited guests and an estimated 1 billion television viewers around the world. Diana was the first English woman to marry an heir to the throne since 1659, when Lady Anne Hyde married the Duke of York and Albany, the future King James II.

Upon her marriage, Diana became Her Royal Highness The Princess of Wales and was ranked as the most senior royal woman in the United Kingdom after the Queen and the Queen Mother.

II.4. Charity work

Starting in the mid-to-late 1980s, the Princess of Wales became well known for her support of charity projects, and is credited with considerable influence for her campaigns against the use of landmines and helping the victims of AIDS.

AIDSIn April 1987, the Princess of Wales was the first high-profile celebrity to be photographed knowingly touching a person infected with the HIV virus.

Her contribution to changing the public opinion of AIDS sufferers was summarised in December 2001 by Bill Clinton at the Diana, Princess of Wales Lecture on AIDS, when he stated: In 1987, when so many still believed that AIDS could be contracted through casual contact, Princess Diana sat on the sickbed of a man with AIDS and held his hand. She showed the world that people with AIDS deserve no isolation, but compassion and kindness. It helped change world opinion, and gave hope to people with AIDS with an outcome of saved lives of people at risk.

LandminesThrough her work with the Red Cross, Diana became involved with the International Campaign to Ban Landmines. ICBL was little known until Princess Diana made it her favourite charity this year, traveling toBosniaandAngolaon its behalf, said an article in Newsweek. Because of Dianas international influence, the movement might now spread to protect people around the world from being maimed by mines. Her visit toAngola, in fact, was turned into a television documentary that increased the land mine causes profile.Perhaps her most widely publicised charity appearance was her visit toAngolain January 1997, when, serving as an International Red Cross VIP volunteer she visited landmine survivors in hospitals, toured de-mining projects run by the HALO Trust, and attended mine awareness education classes about the dangers of mines immediately surrounding homes and villages. The pictures of Diana touring a minefield, in a ballistic helmet and flak jacket, were seen worldwide. (In fact, mine-clearance experts had already cleared the pre-planned walk that Diana took wearing the protective equipment.) In August that year, she visitedBosniawith the Landmine Survivors Network. Her interest in landmines was focused on the injuries they create, often to children, long after the conflict has finished.

II.5. Divorce

From the very beginning Diana and Charles' marriage was not blessed with good fortune, as, during the engagement period, Diana had the feeling that Camilla played a great role in Charles' life.Still during their marriage, Charleswas having his long term affair with Camilla andDianawas finding it impossible to live a loveless life. By the late 1990s, their separate lives had become public knowledge. In December 1992, Prime Minister John Major announced that the couple had agreed to separate.Their divorce was decreed on 28th August 1996.After this, the Princess continued to live at Kensington Palace and carry out public work.II.6. DeathOn August 31, 1997 Diana was involved in a car accident in the Pont de lAlma road tunnel in Paris, along with her friend and lover Dodi Fayed, and their driver Henri Paul.The sudden and unexpected death of an extraordinarily popular royal figure brought statements from senior figures worldwide and many tributes by members of the public. People left public offerings of flowers, candles, cards and personal messages outsideKensington Palacefor many months. Her coffin, draped with royal flag, was brought to London from Paris by Prince Charles and her two sisters on 31 August 1997.After being taken to a private mortuary it was put at the Chapel Royal, St. James's Palace.Diana's funeral took place inWestminster Abbeyon 6 September. The previous dayQueen Elizabeth IIhad paid tribute to her in a live television broadcast.Her sons walked in the funeral procession behind her coffin, along with the Prince of Wales and the Duke of Edinburgh, and with Diana's brother,Charles Spencer, 9th Earl Spencer. Lord Spencer said of his sister, "She proved in the last year that she needed no royal title to continue to generate her particular brand of magic.Elton John's performance ofCandle in the Wind, done as a tribute to Diana, became globally famous.Immediately after her death, many sites around the world became brieflyad hoc memorials to Diana, where the public left flowers and other tributes. The largest was outside the gates ofKensington Palace, where people continue to leave flowers and tributes to Diana.

Final Considerations

Taking everything into consideration, I strongly believe that Diana deserved the title The Princess of Hearts, because from the time of her engagement with the Prince of Wales in 1981, until her death due to a car accident in 1997, she was arguably the most famous woman in the world, the pre-eminent female celebrity of her generation: a fashion icon, an image of feminine beauty, admired and emulated foe her high-profile involvement in AIDS issues and the international campaign against landmines.An iconic presence on the world-stage, Diana, Princess of Wales was noted for her admirable charity work. Yet her generous efforts were overshadowed by her scandal-plagued marriage to Prince Charles. Her bitter accusations via friends and biographers of adultery, mental cruelty and emotional distress visited upon her riveted the world for much of the 1990s, filling magazine articles and television movies.During her lifetime, she was often referred to as the most photographed person in the world, and to her admirers, The Princess of Wales was a role model-after her death, there were even calls for her to be nominated for sainthood-while her detractors saw her life as a cautionary tale of how an obsession with publicity can ultimately destroy an individual.Diana will be remembered not for just one of her accomplishments, but for many other things, from giving birth to the future King of England to showing kindness to the sick, to touring an Angolan minefield, to being identified as the Peoples Princess. Her personality was caring and giving, but did not come without struggles from within herself. Out ofthe sadness in her life, Diana developed into a highly respected woman and was noted for her sense of style, charisma, humour and high-profile charity work. She developed into not only notable leader, but an inspiration for many people throughout the world. Upon her death, the world was greatly saddened by the loss.

Bibliography

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diana,_Princess_of_Wales https://www.google.ro/search?hl=ro&gs_rn=14&gs_ri=psy-ab&tok=ejaZNuG6kjdBM_db6Ig9Fg&cp=13&gs_id=1f&xhr=t&q=diana+princess+of+wales&bav=on.2,or.r_cp.r_qf.&bvm=bv.46751780,d.Yms&biw=1400&bih=815&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbm=isch&source=og&sa=N&tab=wi&ei=-maWUfDaIsqstAaG5IDwCA http://princessdaina.wordpress.com/ Tanya Lee Stone,1999, Diana: Princess Of The People(Gateway Biographies), Millbrook Press Sherry Beck Paprocki,2009,Diana, Princess ofWales: Humanitarian (Women of Achievment),Chelsea House Publications Martin Gitlin,2008,Diana,Princess ofWales: A Biography (GreenwoodBiographies),GreenwoodPress

1