profile picture

102570550

I am here for Friends

About Me


Photo Collage by Dundoo - MySpace Editor ..
Myspace Layout Generator by TheMyspaceLayout.com
I got this picture from the Princess Diana tribute page.Born 1 July 1961 Sandringham, Norfolk, England Died 31 August 1997 Paris, France "Diana Spencer" . For other uses, see Diana Spencer (disambiguation). The Lady Diana Frances Spencer (Diana Frances Mountbatten-Windsor, née Spencer) (July 1, 1961–August 31, 1997) was the first wife of Charles, Prince of Wales. Her two sons, Prince William of Wales and Prince Henry of Wales (called Prince Harry), are, respectively, second and third in line to the British throne.From her marriage in 1981 to her divorce in 1996, she was styled Her Royal Highness The Princess of Wales. After her divorce from the Prince of Wales in 1996, Diana ceased to be The Princess of Wales and lost the resulting Royal Highness style.[1] As the former wife of the heir to the throne she received a title based on the format used for the ex-wives of peers, namely her personal name, followed by her title. Under Letters Patent issued by Queen Elizabeth II she was known after her divorce as Diana, Princess of Wales. Posthumously she is most popularly referred to as Princess Diana, a title she never held. She is also sometimes known by her former titles above.[2]An iconic presence on the world stage, Diana was noted for her high-profile charity work. Yet her philanthropic endeavours were overshadowed by her scandal-plagued marriage to Prince Charles. Her bitter claims, via friends and biographers, of adultery, mental cruelty, and emotional distress visited upon her by her husband and the royal family in general, and her own admissions of adultery and numerous love affairs riveted the world for much of the 1990s, spawning books, tabloid newspaper and magazine articles, and television movies. During her lifetime, Diana appeared on the cover of People more times than any other individual.From the time of her engagement to the Prince of Wales in 1981 until her death in a car accident in 1997, the Princess 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 for her involvement in AIDS issues, and the international campaign against landmines. During her lifetime, she was often described as the most photographed person in the world. 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 considered her to have been mentally ill (possibly with Borderline Personality Disorder, e.g. Bedell Smith, 1999) long before her marriage and regarded her life as a cautionary tale of how untreated psychiatric problems and an obsession with publicity can ultimately destroy human beings.As of 2006, the inquiry into her death by British police continues. A report is expected to be issued in 2007.Early years Diana Frances Spencer was born as the youngest daughter of Edward Spencer, Viscount Althorp, and his first wife, Frances Spencer, Viscountess Althorp (formerly the Honourable Frances Burke Roche) at Park House on the Sandringham estate. She was baptised at St. Mary Magdalene Church in Sandringham, by Rt. Rev. Percy Herbert (rector of the church and former Bishop of Norwich and Blackburn); her godparents included John Floyd (the chairman of Christie's) and Mary Colman (a niece of the Queen Mother). Partially American in ancestry — a great-grandmother was the American heiress Frances Work - she was also a descendant of King Charles I. According to several family trees, Diana had Armenian ancestry from her great-great-great-great-grandmother, Eliza Kevork, an Armenian concubine of a British soldier stationed in India, and may have also had Jewish ancestry through a direct maternal relation to the daughter of Jacob Frank, the creator of the "Frankist" religion.[1]During her parents' acrimonious divorce over Lady Althorp's adultery with wallpaper heir Peter Shand Kydd, Diana's mother sued for custody of her children, but Lord Althorp's rank, aided by Lady Althorp's mother's 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, Diana's 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 family's 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 Dartmouth's divorce.Diana was educated at Riddlesworth Hall in Norfolk and at West Heath Girls' School (later reorganized as the New School at West Heath, a special school for boys and girls) 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's future husband was also dating her sister, Lady Sarah at that time). Diana was a talented amateur singer, excelled in sports and reportedly longed to be a ballerina.Family and marriage The Prince and Princess of Wales return from their wedding at St Paul's CathedralDiana's family, the Spencers, had been close to the British Royal Family for decades. Her maternal grandmother, Ruth, Lady Fermoy, was a longtime friend and a lady-in-waiting to Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother.The Prince's love life had always been the subject of press speculation, and he was linked to numerous women. Nearing his mid-thirties, he was under increasing pressure to marry. Legally, the only requirement was that he could not marry a Roman Catholic, but a member of the Church of England was preferred. His great-uncle Lord Mountbatten of Burma, who was assassinated in 1979, had advised him to marry a virginal young woman who would look up to him. In order to gain the approval of his family and their advisors, any potential bride was expected to have a royal or aristocratic background[citation needed], as well as be Protestant and, preferably, a virgin. Diana seemed to meet all of these qualifications.Reportedly (though this has never been confirmed), the Prince's former girlfriend (and, eventually, his second wife) Camilla Parker Bowles helped him select the 19-year-old Lady Diana Spencer as a potential bride, when Diana was working as a part-time assistant at the "Young England Kindergarten," a day care center and nursery school in Pimlico. Contrary to claims, she was not a "kindergarten teacher," since she had no educational qualifications to teach, and "Young England" was not a kindergarten, despite its name. It was at this school that the famous iconic snap of a 19-year-old Lady Diana Spencer was taken by John Minihan with the morning sun to her back, her legs in silhouette through her skirt.Buckingham Palace announced the engagement on 24 February 1981, and the wedding took place in St Paul's Cathedral in London on Wednesday, 29 July 1981, before 3,500 invited guests and an estimated 1 billion television viewers around the world. (Comment: Similarly large viewing audiences have been reported for television audiences of the Academy Awards and the NFL Super Bowl, but such numbers are not substantiated.) Among other performers, the acclaimed New Zealand soprano Kiri Te Kanawa sang Handel's "Let the Bright Seraphim" during the wedding ceremony, at the request of Prince Charles.Diana was the first Englishwoman to marry the heir to the throne since 1659, when Lady Anne Hyde married the Duke of York and Albany, the future King James II (although, unlike Charles, James was heir presumptive and not heir apparent). Upon her marriage, Diana became Her Royal Highness The Princess of Wales and was ranked as the third most senior royal woman in the United Kingdom after the Queen and the Queen Mother.The Prince and Princess of Wales had two children within three years of their marriage, Prince William of Wales on 21 June 1982 and Prince Henry of Wales (commonly called Prince Harry) on 15 September 1984.After the birth of Prince William, the Princess of Wales apparently suffered from post-natal depression.[citation needed] She had previously (before her marriage) suffered from bulimia nervosa, which recurred, and even before the birth of Prince William, she made some half-hearted suicide attempts. In one interview, years later, she claimed that, while pregnant with Prince William, she had thrown herself down a set of stairs and was discovered by her mother-in-law (that is, Queen Elizabeth II). It has been suggested she did not, in fact, intend to end her life (and, by some, that the suicide attempts never took place), and that she was merely making a 'cry for help'. In the same interview in which she told of the suicide attempt while pregnant with Prince William, she said her husband had accused her of crying wolf when she threatened to kill herself. Diana dancing with John Travolta at a White House dinner on November 9, 1985In the mid 1980s, the marriage of Diana and Charles fell apart, an event at first suppressed, but then sensationalised, by the world media. Both the Prince and Princess of Wales allegedly spoke to the press through friends, each blaming the other for the marriage's demise.[3] Charles resumed his old, pre-marital relationship with Camilla Parker Bowles, while Diana became involved with her riding instructor James Hewitt and perhaps later with James Gilbey, her telephone partner in the so-called Squidgygate affair. She later confirmed (in a television interview with Martin Bashir) that she had had an affair with Hewitt. This affair constituted high treason, and subject to capital punishment for both parties. Another supposed lover was a bodyguard assigned to the Princess's security detail, although the Princess adamantly denied a sexual relationship with him. After her separation from Prince Charles, Diana was, in some way, involved with married art dealer Oliver Hoare, to whom it was discovered that she had made a series of anonymous telephone calls, and with rugby player Will Carling. She also publicly dated respected heart surgeon Hasnat Khan before her brief involvement with Dodi Fayed.The Prince and Princess of Wales were separated on 9 December 1992; their divorce was finalized on 28 August 1996. The Princess lost the style Her Royal Highness and instead was styled as Diana, Princess of Wales. However, since the divorce, Buckingham Palace has maintained that Diana was officially a member of the Royal Family, since she was the mother of the second and third in line to the throne.In 2004, seven years after her death, the American TV network NBC broadcast videotapes of Diana discussing her marriage to the Prince of Wales, including her description of her suicide attempts.[4] The tapes were in the possession of the Princess during her lifetime; however, after her death, her butler took possession, and after numerous legal wranglings, they were given to the Princess's voice coach, who had originally filmed them. These tapes have not been broadcast in the United Kingdom.Charity work Starting in the mid-to-late 1980s, the Princess of Wales became well known for her support of charity projects. This stemmed naturally from her role as Princess of Wales and also as an interested supporter of various health causes newly arisen in the UK. Diana, Princess of Wales is remembered for and credited with considerable influence in campaigns against the use of landmines and helping the victims of AIDS.AIDS In April 1987, the Princess of Wales was the first high-profile celebrity to be photographed knowingly touching a person infected with HIV. 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 said: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. Diana also made clandestine visits to show kindness to terminally ill AIDS patients. According to nurses, she would turn up unannounced, for example, at the Mildmay Hospice in London, with specific instructions that these visits were to be concealed from the media.Landmines Perhaps her most well-publicised charity appearance was her visit to Angola in January 1997, when, serving as an International Red Cross VIP volunteer [2], 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 reality, mine experts had already cleared and prepared the pre-planned walk that Diana took wearing the protective equipment.) In August that year, she visited Bosnia with the Landmine Survivors Network. Her interest in landmines was focused on the injuries they create, often to children, long after a conflict is over.She is believed[3] to have influenced (though after and perhaps as a result of her death) the signing, by the governments of the UK and other nations in December, 1997, of the Ottawa Treaty, which created an international ban on the use of anti-personnel landmines. Introducing the Second Reading of the Landmines Bill 1998 to the British House of Commons, the Foreign Secretary, Robin Cook, paid tribute to Diana's work on landmines:All Honourable Members will be aware from their postbags of the immense contribution made by Diana, Princess of Wales to bringing home to many of our constituents the human costs of landmines. The best way in which to record our appreciation of her work, and the work of NGOs that have campaigned against landmines, is to pass the Bill, and to pave the way towards a global ban on landmines. [4] As of January 2005, however, Diana's activities regarding landmines had borne little fruit. The United Nations appealed to the nations which produced and stockpiled the largest numbers of landmines (China, India, North Korea, Pakistan, Russia and the United States) to sign the Ottawa Treaty forbidding their production and use, for which Diana had campaigned. Carol Bellamy, Executive Director of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), said that landmines remained "a deadly attraction for children, whose innate curiosity and need for play often lure them directly into harm's way". [5]Legacy Princess Diana's interest in supporting and helping young people led to the establishment of the Diana Memorial Award, awarded to youths who have demonstrated the unselfish devotion and commitment to causes advocated by the Princess.It is also confirmed that Diana's favourite rock band was popular 80's British rockers Dire Straits.Death Main article: Death of Diana, Princess of Wales The Flame of Liberty, which sits above the entrance to the Paris tunnel in which Diana died. The public fly-posted the base with commemorative material for several years. This material has since been removed by the French authorities.On 31 August 1997 Diana was involved in a car accident in the Pont de l'Alma road tunnel in Paris, along with her new lover Dodi Al-Fayed, and their driver Henri Paul. Their Mercedes crashed on the thirteenth pillar of the tunnel. Fayed's bodyguard Trevor Rees-Jones was the only survivor of the crash (and the only occupant of the car who was wearing a seatbelt). Henri Paul and Dodi Fayed were killed instantly. Diana, in the back seat, was fatally injured and died in the hospital, where lengthy resuscitation attempts failed.Such was the reach of Diana's iconic impact worldwide that news of her death became a milestone in personal history, comparable to such as the death of President John F. Kennedy.Controversy By contrast, her death has never been accepted as an accident by some, notably Mohamed Al-Fayed, and a range of theories have formed as to the manner of her death, drawing on the apparent tainting or destruction of evidence, and claimed lack of consistency in certain statements.A 2004-06 coroner's inquiry by Lord Stevens, a former chief of the Metropolitan Police, has announced the finding of "new forensic evidence" and witnesses Telegraph, May 2006, and commented that the case was "far more complex than any of us thought" and that some questions asked by al-Fayed were "right to be raised". [6] The inquiry is expected to report its findings in 2007.On 13th July 2006 an Italian magazine "Chi" published photographs showing Diana in her "last moments" despite an unofficial blackout on such photographs being published. The photographs were taken minutes after the accident and show the Princess slumped in the back seat while a paramedic attempts to fit an oxygen mask over her face. The photographs [7] were also published in other Italian and Spanish magazines and newspapers.The editor of Chi defended his decision by saying he published the photographs for the "simple reason that they haven't been seen before" and that he felt the images do not disrespect the memory of the Princess. The British media have refused to publish these images.Final resting place Princess Diana's final resting place is said to be in the grounds of Althorp Park, her family home. [8] The original plan was for her to be buried in the family vault at the local church in nearby Great Brington, but her brother, Earl Spencer, said he was concerned about public safety and security and wanted his sister to be buried where her grave could be looked after properly and visited in privacy by her sons.Lord Spencer said he had decided she would be buried on an island in an ornamental lake known as The Oval within Althorp Park's Pleasure Garden. A path with 36 oak trees, marking each year of her life, leads to the Oval. Four black swans swim in the lake, symbolizing sentinels guarding the island. Charles Spencer saw this vision in a dream. In the water there are several water lilies. White roses and lilies were Diana's favorite flowers.[9] On the southern verge of the Round Oval sits the Summerhouse, previously in the gardens of Admiralty House, London, and now serving as a memorial to Princess Diana. [10] An ancient arboretum stands nearby, which contains trees planted by Prince William and Prince Harry, other members of her family and the princess herself.styles The Honourable Diana Frances Spencer (1 July 1961–9 June 1975) The Lady Diana Frances Spencer (9 June 1975–29 July 1981) Her Royal Highness The Princess of Wales (29 July 1981–28 August 1996) Diana, Princess of Wales (28 August 1996–31 August 1997) The style "Princess Diana" was always incorrect, though often used by the public and the media. With rare exceptions, as in the case of Princess Alice, Duchess of Gloucester, only women born to the title (such as Princess Anne) may use it before their given names. After her divorce in 1996, Diana was officially styled "Diana, Princess of Wales", based on a provision in the divorce settlement signed by the Queen, although she could not be called "Her Royal Highness." Even the style "Princess of Wales" would have lapsed had Diana remarried.During her marriage to Charles, her full title was Her Royal Highness The Princess Charles, Princess of Wales and Countess of Chester, Duchess of Cornwall, Duchess of Rothesay, Countess of Carrick, Baroness of Renfrew, Lady of the Isles, Princess of Scotland.Lineage Prior to her marriage, much research was done into Diana's lineage by genealogists. It was much publicized that her ancestry included links to individuals such as Hollywood screen legend Humphrey Bogart (who was her 7th cousin), and poet Edmund Spenser, the author of The Faerie Queen [11]. Actor Oliver Platt is more closely related; both he and Diana, Princess of Wales are descendants of Frances Work, a late 19th-century American heiress who was briefly the wife of the Hon. James Burke Roche, later 3rd Baron Fermoy.Footnotes ^ Some continued, erroneously, to call Diana a "HRH" even after she had lost the style and title in her divorce. ^ Someone can only be referred to as Princess .. under either of two conditions. Firstly, they are the daughter of the the sovereign, as in Princess Anne, daughter of Queen Elizabeth II, Princess Mary, daughter of King George V or Princess Margaret, daughter of King George VI. Alternatively the title can be awarded to them. Neither applied in Diana's case. Marriage to a prince does not make someone a princess in her own right, it merely extends to them the female form of their husband's title. In the case of Diana, as the wife of the Prince of Wales, she was Princess of Wales. Diana was in fact the first Princess of Wales not to be a princess in her own right. Her predecessors, such as Alexandra of Denmark (later Queen Alexandra) and Mary of Teck (later Queen Mary, consort of George V), were themselves royal princesses by birth, and so legally Princess Alexandra and Princess Mary. The widely used name Princess Diana in reality did not exist in law and was merely a popular and media invention. ^ The suggestion that Charles authorised his story of the split to be communicated is disputed by his friends, who claim that he told his friends not to speak, a prohibition some of them breached under anonymity. ^ Curry, Ann ([2004-11-30]). Tapes reveal more from Princess Diana. NBC News. Retrieved on 2006-06-02. [edit]*Camilla does not use the Princess of Wales title, but instead uses her subsidiary title, Duchess of Cornwall...CONCERT FOR DIANA, Lily Allen
..
Add to My Profile | More VideosI got the Diana queen of hearts picture from the princess diana tribute page. I am crediting her on my page for the picture because I read her post about stealing her pictures. I really loved her picture so I decided to put it on my page. Another picture from the Princess Diana tribute page. I really loved that picture so I decided to put it on my page.I got this photo from Princess Diana tribute page.

My Interests

I'd like to meet:

anyone who admires and respects Princess Diana. I think of her as the queen of hearts.Enjoy Candle In the Wind 1997 version from Princess Diana's funeral.The Panorama Interview This is a transcript of the BBC1 Panorama interview with the Princess of Wales, broadcast in November 1995 MARTIN BASHIR: Your Royal Highness, how prepared were you for the pressures that came with marrying into the Royal Family? DIANA: At the age of 19, you always think you're prepared for everything, and you think you have the knowledge of what's coming ahead. But although I was daunted at the prospect at the time, I felt I had the support of my husband-to-be.BASHIR: What were the expectations that you had for married life?DIANA: I think like any marriage, specially when you've had divorced parents like myself, you'd want to try even harder to make it work and you don't want to fall back into a pattern that you've seen happen in your own family."I want to reassure all those people who have loved me and supported me throughout the last 15 years that I'd never let them down." I desperately wanted it to work, I desperately loved my husband and I wanted to share everything together, and I thought that we were a very good team.BASHIR: How aware were you of the significance of what had happened to you? After all, you'd become Princess of Wales, ultimately with a view to becoming Queen.DIANA: I wasn't daunted, and am not daunted by the responsibilities that that role creates. It was a challenge, it is a challenge.As for becoming Queen, it's, it was never at the forefront of my mind when I married my husband: it was a long way off that thought.The most daunting aspect was the media attention, because my husband and I, we were told when we got engaged that the media would go quietly, and it didn't; and then when we were married they said it would go quietly and it didn't; and then it started to focus very much on me, and I seemed to be on the front of a newspaper every single day, which is an isolating experience, and the higher the media put you, place you, is the bigger the drop.And I was very aware of that.BASHIR: How did you handle the transition from being Lady Diana Spencer to the most photographed, the most talked-about, woman in the world?DIANA: Well, it took a long time to understand why people were so interested in me, but I assumed it was because my husband had done a lot of wonderful work leading up to our marriage and our relationship.But then I, during the years you see yourself as a good product that sits on a shelf and sells well, and people make a lot of money out of you.BASHIR: It's been suggested in some newspapers that you were left largely to cope with your new status on your own. Do you feel that was your experience?DIANA: Yes I do, on reflection. But then here was a situation which hadn't ever happened before in history, in the sense that the media were everywhere, and here was a fairy story that everybody wanted to work.And so it was, it was isolating, but it was also a situation where you couldn't indulge in feeling sorry for yourself: you had to either sink or swim. And you had to learn that very fast.BASHIR: And what did you do?DIANA: I swam. We went to Alice Springs, to Australia, and we went and did a walkabout, and I said to my husband: ..What do I do now?'And he said, ..Go over to the other side and speak to them.' I said, ..I can't, I just can't.'He said, ..Well, you've got to do it.' And he went off and did his bit, and I went off and did my bit. It practically finished me off there and then, and I suddenly realised - I went back to our hotel room and realised the impact that, you know, I had to sort myself out.We had a six-week tour - four weeks in Australia and two weeks in New Zealand - and by the end, when we flew back from New Zealand, I was a different person. I realised the sense of duty, the level of intensity of interest, and the demanding role I now found myself in.BASHIR: Were you overwhelmed by the pressure from people initially?DIANA: Yes, I was very daunted because as far as I was concerned I was a fat, chubby, 20-year-old, 21-year-old, and I couldn't understand the level of interest.BASHIR: At this early stage, would you say that you were happily married?DIANA: Very much so. But, the pressure on us both as a couple with the media was phenomenal, and misunderstood by a great many people.We'd be going round Australia, for instance, and all you could hear was, oh, she's on the other side. Now, if you're a man, like my husband a proud man, you mind about that if you hear it every day for four weeks. And you feel low about it, instead of feeling happy and sharing it.BASHIR: When you say ..she's on the other side', what do you mean?DIANA: Well, they weren't on the right side to wave at me or to touch me.BASHIR: So they were expressing a preference even then for you rather than your husband?DIANA: Yes - which I felt very uncomfortable with, and I felt it was unfair, because I wanted to share.BASHIR: But were you flattered by the media attention particularly?DIANA: No, not particularly, because with the media attention came a lot of jealousy, a great deal of complicated situations arose because of that.BASHIR: At this early stage in your marriage, what role did you see for yourself as Princess of Wales? Did you have an idea of the role that you might like to fulfil?DIANA: No, I was very confused by which area I should go into. Then I found myself being more and more involved with people who were rejected by society - with, I'd say, drug addicts, alcoholism, battered this, battered that - and I found an affinity there.And I respected very much the honesty I found on that level with people I met, because in hospices, for instance, when people are dying they're much more open and more vulnerable, and much more real than other people. And I appreciated that.BASHIR: Had the Palace given any thought to the role that you might have as Princess of Wales?DIANA: No, no one sat me down with a piece of paper and said: ..This is what is expected of you.' But there again, I'm lucky enough in the fact that I have found my role, and I'm very conscious of it, and I love being with people.BASHIR: So you very much created the role that you would pursue for yourself really? That was what you did?DIANA: I think so. I remember when I used to sit on hospital beds and hold people's hands, people used to be sort of shocked because they said they'd never seen this before, and to me it was quite a normal thing to do.And when I saw the reassurance that an action like that gave, I did it everywhere, and will always do that.BASHIR: It wasn't long after the wedding before you became pregnant. What was your reaction when you learnt that the child was a boy?DIANA: Enormous relief. I felt the whole country was in labour with me. Enormous relief.But I had actually known William was going to be a boy, because the scan had shown it, so it caused no surprise.BASHIR: Had you always wanted to have a family?DIANA: Yes, I came from a family where there were four of us, so we had enormous fun there.And then William and Harry arrived - fortunately two boys, it would have been a little tricky if it had been two girls - but that in itself brings the responsibilities of bringing them up, William's future being as it is, and Harry like a form of a back-up in that aspect.BASHIR: How did the rest of the Royal Family react when they learnt that the child that you were to have was going to be a boy?DIANA: Well, everybody was thrilled to bits. It had been quite a difficult pregnancy - I hadn't been very well throughout it - so by the time William arrived it was a great relief because it was all peaceful again, and I was well for a time.Then I was unwell with post-natal depression, which no one ever discusses, post-natal depression, you have to read about it afterwards, and that in itself was a bit of a difficult time. You'd wake up in the morning feeling you didn't want to get out of bed, you felt misunderstood, and just very, very low in yourself.BASHIR: Was this completely out of character for you?DIANA: Yes, very much so. I never had had a depression in my life.But then when I analysed it I could see that the changes I'd made in the last year had all caught up with me, and my body had said: ..We want a rest.'BASHIR: So what treatment did you actually receive?DIANA: I received a great deal of treatment, but I knew in myself that actually what I needed was space and time to adapt to all the different roles that had come my way. I knew I could do it, but I needed people to be patient and give me the space to do it.BASHIR: When you say all of the different roles that had come your way, what do you mean?DIANA: Well, it was a very short space of time: in the space of a year my whole life had changed, turned upside down, and it had its wonderful moments, but it also had challenging moments. And I could see where the rough edges needed to be smoothed.BASHIR: What was the family's reaction to your post-natal depression?DIANA: Well maybe I was the first person ever to be in this family who ever had a depression or was ever openly tearful. And obviously that was daunting, because if you've never seen it before how do you support it?BASHIR: What effect did the depression have on your marriage?DIANA: Well, it gave everybody a wonderful new label - Diana's unstable and Diana's mentally unbalanced. And unfortunately that seems to have stuck on and off over the years.BASHIR: Are you saying that that label stuck within your marriage?DIANA: I think people used it and it stuck, yes.BASHIR: According to press reports, it was suggested that it was around this time things became so difficult that you actually tried to injure yourself.DIANA: Mmm. When no one listens to you, or you feel no one's listening to you, all sorts of things start to happen.For instance you 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're 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 because I wanted to get better in order to go forward and continue my duty and my role as wife, mother, Princess of Wales.So yes, I did inflict upon myself. I didn't like myself, I was ashamed because I couldn't cope with the pressures.BASHIR: What did you actually do?DIANA: Well, I just hurt my arms and my legs; and I work in environments now where I see women doing similar things and I'm able to understand completely where they're coming from.BASHIR: What was your husband's reaction to this, when you began to injure yourself in this way?DIANA: Well, I didn't actually always do it in front of him. But obviously anyone who loves someone would be very concerned about it.BASHIR: Did he understand what was behind the physical act of hurting yourself, do you think?DIANA: No, but then not many people would have taken the time to see that.BASHIR: Were you able to admit that you were in fact unwell, or did you feel compelled simply to carry on performing as the Princess of Wales?DIANA: I felt compelled to perform. Well, when I say perform, I was compelled to go out and do my engagements and not let people down and support them and love them.And in a way by being out in public they supported me, although they weren't aware just how much healing they were giving me, and it carried me through.BASHIR: But did you feel that you had to maintain the public image of a successful Princess of Wales?DIANA: Yes I did, yes I did.BASHIR: The depression was resolved, as you say, but it was subsequently reported that you suffered bulimia. Is that true?DIANA: Yes, I did. I had bulimia for a number of years. And that's like a secret disease.You inflict it upon yourself because your self-esteem is at a low ebb, and you don't think you're worthy or valuable. You fill your stomach up four or five times a day - some do it more - and it gives you a feeling of comfort.It's like having a pair of arms around you, but it's temporarily, temporary. Then you're disgusted at the bloatedness of your stomach, and then you bring it all up again.And it's a repetitive pattern which is very destructive to yourself.BASHIR: How often would you do that on a daily basis?DIANA: Depends on the pressures going on. If I'd been on what I call an awayday, or I'd been up part of the country all day, I'd come home feeling pretty empty, because my engagements at that time would be to do with people dying, people very sick, people's marriage problems, and I'd come home and it would be very difficult to know how to comfort myself having been comforting lots of other people, so it would be a regular pattern to jump into the fridge.It was a symptom of what was going on in my marriage.I was crying out for help, but giving the wrong signals, and people were using my bulimia as a coat on a hanger: they decided that was the problem - Diana was unstable.BASHIR: Instead of looking behind the symptom at the cause.DIANA: Uh,uh.BASHIR: What was the cause?DIANA: The cause was the situation where my husband and I had to keep everything together because we didn't want to disappoint the public, and yet obviously there was a lot of anxiety going on within our four walls.BASHIR: Do you mean between the two of you?DIANA: Uh,uh.BASHIR: And so you subjected yourself to this phase of bingeing and vomiting?DIANA: You could say the word subjected, but it was my escape mechanism, and it worked, for me, at that time.BASHIR: Did you seek help from any other members of the Royal Family?DIANA: No. You, you have to know that when you have bulimia you're very ashamed of yourself and you hate yourself, so - and people think you're wasting food - so you don't discuss it with people.And the thing about bulimia is your weight always stays the same, whereas with anorexia you visibly shrink. So you can pretend the whole way through. There's no proof.BASHIR: When you say people would think you were wasting food, did anybody suggest that to you?DIANA: Oh yes, a number of times.BASHIR: What was said?DIANA: Well, it was just, ..I suppose you're going to waste that food later on?' And that was pressure in itself. And of course I would, because it was my release valve.BASHIR: How long did this bulimia go on for?DIANA: A long time, a long time. But I'm free of it now.BASHIR: Two years, three years?DIANA: Mmm. A little bit more than that.BASHIR: According to reports in the national press, it was at around this time that you began to experience difficulties in your marriage, in your relationship to the Prince of Wales. Is that true?DIANA: Well, we were a newly-married couple, so obviously we had those pressures too, and we had the media, who were completely fascinated by everything we did.And it was difficult to share that load, because I was the one who was always pitched out front, whether it was my clothes, what I said, what my hair was doing, everything - which was a pretty dull subject, actually, and it's been exhausted over the years - when actually what we wanted to be, what we wanted supported was our work, and as a team.BASHIR: What effect did the press interest in you have on your marriage?DIANA: It made it very difficult, because for a situation where it was a couple working in the same job - we got out the same car, we shook the same hand, my husband did the speeches, I did the handshaking - so basically we were a married couple doing the same job, which is very difficult for anyone, and more so if you ve got all the attention on you.We struggled a bit with it, it was very difficult; and then my husband decided that we do separate engagements, which was a bit sad for me, because I quite liked the company.But, there again, I didn't have the choice.BASHIR: So it wasn't at your request that you did that on your own?DIANA: Not at all, no.BASHIR: The biography of the Prince of Wales written by Jonathan Dimbleby, which as you know was published last year, suggested that you and your husband had very different outlooks, very different interests. Would you agree with that?DIANA: No. I think we had a great deal of interest - we both liked people, both liked country life, both loved children, work in the cancer field, work in hospices.But I was portrayed in the media at that time, if I remember rightly, as someone, because I hadn't passed any O-levels and taken any A-levels, I was stupid.And I made the grave mistake once of saying to a child I was thick as a plank, in order to ease the child's nervousness, which it did. But that headline went all round the world, and I rather regret saying it.BASHIR: The Prince of Wales, in the biography, is described as a great thinker, a man with a tremendous range of interests. What did he think of your interests?DIANA: Well, I don't think I was allowed to have any. I think that I've always been the 18-year-old girl he got engaged to, so I don't think I've been given any credit for growth. And, my goodness, I've had to grow.BASHIR: Explain what you mean when you say that.DIANA: Well, er...BASHIR: When you say, when you say you were never given any credit, what do you mean?DIANA: Well anything good I ever did nobody ever said a thing, never said, ..well done', or ..was it OK?' But if I tripped up, which invariably I did, because I was new at the game, a ton of bricks came down on me.BASHIR: How did you cope with that?DIANA: Well obviously there were lots of tears, and one could dive into the bulimia, into escape.BASHIR: Some people would find that difficult to believe, that you were left so much to cope on your own, and that the description you give suggests that your relationship with your husband was not very good even at that early stage.DIANA: Well, we had unique pressures put upon us, and we both tried our hardest to cover them up, but obviously it wasn't to be.BASHIR: Around 1986, again according to the biography written by Jonathan Dimbleby about your husband, he says that your husband renewed his relationship with Mrs Camilla Parker-Bowles. Were you aware of that?DIANA: Yes I was, but I wasn't in a position to do anything about it.BASHIR: What evidence did you have that their relationship was continuing even though you were married?DIANA: Oh, a woman's instinct is a very good one.BASHIR: Is that all?DIANA: Well, I had, obviously I had knowledge of it.BASHIR: From staff?DIANA: Well, from people who minded and cared about our marriage, yes.BASHIR: What effect did that have on you?DIANA: Pretty devastating. Rampant bulimia, if you can have rampant bulimia, and just a feeling of being no good at anything and being useless and hopeless and failed in every direction.BASHIR: And with a husband who was having a relationship with somebody else?DIANA: With a husband who loved someone else, yes.BASHIR: You really thought that?DIANA: Uh,uh. I didn't think that, I knew it.BASHIR: How did you know it?DIANA: By the change of behavioural pattern in my husband; for all sorts of reasons that a woman's instinct produces; you just know.It was already difficult, but it became increasingly difficult.BASHIR: In the practical sense, how did it become difficult?DIANA: Well, people were - when I say people I mean friends, on my husband's side - were indicating that I was again unstable, sick, and should be put in a home of some sort in order to get better. I was almost an embarrassment.BASHIR: Do you think he really thought that?DIANA: Well, there's no better way to dismantle a personality than to isolate it.BASHIR: So you were isolated?DIANA: Uh,uh, very much so.BASHIR: Do you think Mrs Parker-Bowles was a factor in the breakdown of your marriage?DIANA: Well, there were three of us in this marriage, so it was a bit crowded.BASHIR: You're effectively living separate lives, yet in public there's this appearance of this happily married royal couple. How was this regarded by the Royal Family?DIANA: I think everybody was very anxious because they could see there were complications but didn't want to interfere, but were there, made it known that they were there if required.BASHIR: Do you think it was accepted that one could live effectively two lives - one in private and one in public?DIANA: No, because again the media was very interested about our set-up, inverted commas; when we went abroad we had separate apartments, albeit we were on the same floor, so of course that was leaked, and that caused complications.But Charles and I had our duty to perform, and that was paramount.BASHIR: So in a sense you coped with this, these two lives, because of your duty?DIANA: Uh,uh. And we were a very good team in public; albeit what was going on in private, we were a good team.BASHIR: Some people would find that difficult to reconcile.DIANA: Well, that's their problem. I know what it felt like.BASHIR: The Queen described 1992 as her ..annus horribilis', and it was in that year that Andrew Morton's book about you was published. Did you ever meet Andrew Morton or personally help him with the book?DIANA: I never met him, no.BASHIR: Did you ever personally assist him with the writing of his book?DIANA: A lot of people saw the distress that my life was in, and they felt it was a supportive thing to help in the way that they did.BASHIR: Did you allow your friends, your close friends, to speak to Andrew Morton?DIANA: Yes, I did. Yes, I did.BASHIR: Why?DIANA: I was at the end of my tether. I was desperate.I think I was so fed up with being seen as someone who was a basket-case, because I am a very strong person and I know that causes complications in the system that I live in.BASHIR: How would a book change that?DIANA: I don't know. Maybe people have a better understanding, maybe there's a lot of women out there who suffer on the same level but in a different environment, who are unable to stand up for themselves because their self-esteem is cut into two. I don't know.BASHIR: What effect do you think the book had on your husband and the Royal Family?DIANA: I think they were shocked and horrified and very disappointed.BASHIR: Can you understand why?DIANA: I think Mr Dimbleby's book was a shock to a lot of people and disappointment as well.BASHIR: What effect did Andrew Morton's book have on your relationship with the Prince of Wales?DIANA: Well, what had been hidden - or rather what we thought had been hidden - then became out in the open and was spoken about on a daily basis, and the pressure was for us to sort ourselves out in some way.Were we going to stay together or were we going to separate? And the word separation and divorce kept coming up in the media on a daily basis.BASHIR: What happened after the book was published?DIANA: Well, we struggled along. We did our engagements together. And in our private life it was obviously turbulent.BASHIR: Did things come to a head?DIANA: Yes, slowly, yes. My husband and I, we discussed it very calmly.We could see what the public were requiring. They wanted clarity of a situation that was obviously becoming intolerable.BASHIR: So what happened?DIANA: So we got the lawyers together, we discussed separation - obviously there were a lot of people to discuss it with: the Prime Minister, Her Majesty - and then it moved itself, so to speak.BASHIR: By the December of that year, as you say, you'd agreed to a legal separation. What were your feelings at the time?DIANA: Deep, deep, profound sadness. Because we had struggled to keep it going, but obviously we'd both run out of steam.And in a way I suppose it could have been a relief for us both that we'd finally made our minds up. But my husband asked for the separation and I supported it.BASHIR: It was not your idea?DIANA: No. Not at all. I come from a divorced background, and I didn't want to go into that one again.BASHIR: What happened next?DIANA: We, I asked my husband if we could put the announcement out before the children came back from school for Christmas holidays because they were protected in the school they were at.And he did that, and it came out on December 9th. I was on an engagement up north.I heard it on the radio, and it was just very, very sad. Really sad. The fairy tale had come to an end, and most importantly our marriage had taken a turn, different turn.BASHIR: Did you tell your children that you were going to separate?DIANA: Yes. I went down a week beforehand, and explained to them what was happening.And they took it as children do - lots of questions - and I hoped I was able to reassure them. But, who knows?BASHIR: What effect do you think the announcement had on them?DIANA: I think the announcement had a huge effect on me and Charles, really, and the children were very much out of it, in the sense that they were tucked away at school.BASHIR: Once the separation had occurred, moving to 1993, what happened during that period?DIANA: People's agendas changed overnight. I was now separated wife of the Prince of Wales, I was a problem, I was a liability (seen as), and how are we going to deal with her? This hasn't happened before.BASHIR: Who was asking those questions?DIANA: People around me, people in this environment, and ...BASHIR: The royal household?DIANA: People in my environment, yes, yes.BASHIR: And they began to see you as a problem?DIANA: Yes, very much so, uh,uh.BASHIR: How did that show itself?DIANA: By visits abroad being blocked, by things that had come naturally my way being stopped, letters going, that got lost, and various things.BASHIR: So despite the fact that your interest was always to continue with your duties, you found that your duties were being held from you?DIANA: Yes. Everything changed after we separated, and life became very difficult then for me.BASHIR: Who was behind that change?DIANA: Well, my husband's side were very busy stopping me.BASHIR: What was your reaction when news broke of allegedly a telephone conversation between you and Mr James Gilbey having been recorded?DIANA: I felt very protective about James because he'd been a very good friend to me and was a very good friend to me, and I couldn't bear that his life was going to be messed up because he had the connection with me.And that worried me. I'm very protective about my friends.BASHIR: Did you have the alleged telephone conversation?DIANA: Yes we did, absolutely we did. Yup, we did.BASHIR: On that tape, Mr Gilbey expresses his affection for you. Was that transcript accurate?DIANA: Yes. I mean he is a very affectionate person.But the implications of that conversation were that we'd had an adulterous relationship, which was not true.BASHIR: Have you any idea how that conversation came to be published in the national press?DIANA: No, but it was done to harm me in a serious manner, and that was the first time I'd experienced what it was like to be outside the net, so to speak, and not be in the family.BASHIR: What do you think the purpose was behind it?DIANA: It was to make the public change their attitude towards me.It was, you know, if we are going to divorce, my husband would hold more cards than I would - it was very much a poker game, chess game.BASHIR: There were also a series of telephone calls which allegedly were made by you to a Mr Oliver Hoare. Did you make what were described as nuisance phone calls?DIANA: I was reputed to have made 300 telephone calls in a very short space of time which, bearing in mind my lifestyle at that time, made me a very busy lady.No, I didn't, I didn't.But that again was a huge move to discredit me, and very nearly did me in, the injustice of it, because I did my own homework on that subject, and consequently found out that a young boy had done most of them.But I read that I'd done them all. Mr Hoare told me that his lines were being tapped by the local police station. He said, you know, don't ring. So I didn't, but somebody clearly did.BASHIR: Had you made any of those calls at all?DIANA: I used to, yes, I had rung up, yes.BASHIR: Once, twice, three times?DIANA: I don't know. Over a period of six to nine months, a few times, but certainly not in an obsessive manner, no.BASHIR: Do you really believe that a campaign was being waged against you?DIANA: Yes I did, absolutely, yeah.BASHIR: Why?DIANA: I was the separated wife of the Prince of Wales, I was a problem, fullstop. Never happened before, what do we do with her?BASHIR: Can't we pack her off to somewhere quietly rather than campaign against her?DIANA: She won't go quietly, that's the problem. I'll fight to the end, because I believe that I have a role to fulfil, and I've got two children to bring up.BASHIR: By the end of 1993 you had suffered persistent difficulties with the press - these phone conversations were made public - and you decided to withdraw from public life. Why did you do that?DIANA: The pressure was intolerable then, and my job, my work was being affected.I wanted to give 110% to my work, and I could only give 50. I was constantly tired, exhausted, because the pressure was just, it was so cruel.So I thought the only way to do it was to stand up and make a speech and extract myself before I started disappointing and not carrying out my work.It was my decision to make that speech because I owed it to the public to say that, you know, ..thank you. I'm disappearing for a bit, but I'll come back.'BASHIR: It wasn't very long before you did come back, of course.DIANA: Well, I don't know. I mean, I did a lot of work, well, underground, without any media attention, so I never really stopped doing it.I just didn't do every day out and about, I just couldn't do it.You know, the campaign at that point was being successful, but it did surprise the people who were causing the grief - it did surprise them when I took myself out of the game.They hadn't expected that. And I'm a great believer that you should always confuse the enemy.BASHIR: Who was the enemy?DIANA: Well, the enemy was my husband's department, because I always got more publicity, my work was more, was discussed much more than him.And, you know, from that point of view I understand it. But I was doing good things, and I wanted to good things. I was never going to hurt anyone, I was never going to let anyone down.BASHIR: But you really believe that it was out of jealousy that they wanted to undermine you?DIANA: I think it was out of fear, because here was a strong woman doing her bit, and where was she getting her strength from to continue?BASHIR: What was your reaction to your husband's disclosure to Jonathan Dimbleby that he had in fact committed adultery?DIANA: Well, I was totally unaware of the content of the book, and actually saw it on the news that night that it had come out, and my first concern was to the children, because they were able to understand what was coming out, and I wanted to protect them.But I was pretty devastated myself. But then I admired the honesty, because it takes a lot to do that.BASHIR: In what sense?DIANA: Well, to be honest about a relationship with someone else, in his position - that's quite something.BASHIR: How did you handle this with the children?DIANA: I went to the school and put it to William, particularly, that if you find someone you love in life you must hang on to it and look after it, and if you were lucky enough to find someone who loved you then one must protect it.William asked me what had been going on, and could I answer his questions, which I did.He said, was that the reason why our marriage had broken up?And I said, well, there were three of us in this marriage, and the pressure of the media was another factor, so the two together were very difficult.But although I still loved Papa I couldn't live under the same roof as him, and likewise with him.BASHIR: What effect do you think it had on Prince William?DIANA: Well, he's a child that's a deep thinker, and we don't know for a few years how it's gone in. But I put it in gently, without resentment or any anger.BASHIR: Looking back now, do you feel at all responsible for the difficulties in your marriage?DIANA: Mmm. I take full responsibility, I take some responsibility that our marriage went the way it did. I'll take half of it, but I won't take any more than that, because it takes two to get in this situation.BASHIR: But you do bear some of the responsibility?DIANA: Absolutely, we both made mistakes.BASHIR: Another book that was published recently concerned a Mr James Hewitt, in which he claimed to have had a very close relationship with you, from about 1989 I think. What was the nature of your relationship?DIANA: He was a great friend of mine at a very difficult, yet another difficult time, and he was always there to support me, and I was absolutely devastated when this book appeared, because I trusted him, and because, again, I worried about the reaction on my children.And, yes, there was factual evidence in the book, but a lot of it was, comes from another world, didn't equate to what happened.BASHIR: What do you mean?DIANA: Well, there was a lot of fantasy in that book, and it was very distressing for me that a friend of mine, who I had trusted, made money out of me. I really minded about that.And he'd rung me up 10 days before it arrived in the bookshops to tell me that there was nothing to worry about, and I believed him, stupidly.And then when it did arrive the first thing I did was rush down to talk to my children. And William produced a box of chocolates and said, ..Mummy, I think you've been hurt. These are to make you smile again.' So...BASHIR: Did your relationship go beyond a close friendship?DIANA: Yes it did, yes.BASHIR: Were you unfaithful?DIANA: Yes, I adored him. Yes, I was in love with him. But I was very let down.BASHIR: How would you describe your life now? You do live very much on your own, don't you?DIANA: Yes, I don't mind that actually. You know, people think that at the end of the day a man is the only answer. Actually, a fulfilling job is better for me. (LAUGHTER)BASHIR: What do you mean by that?DIANA: Well, I mean any gentleman that's been past my door, we've instantly been put together in the media and all hell's broken loose, so that's been very tough on the male friends I've had, and obviously from my point of view.BASHIR: Does that mean that you feel that for the rest of your life you'll have to be on your own?DIANA: No, I'm not really on my own. I've got wonderful friends, I've got my boys, I've got my work.It's just by living at Kensington Palace obviously it is a little bit isolating, but, you know, maybe we all feel like that.BASHIR: How do you feel about the way the press behaves towards you now?DIANA: I still to this day find the interest daunting and phenomenal, because I actually don't like being the centre of attention.When I have my public duties, I understand that when I get out the car I'm being photographed, but actually it's now when I go out of my door, my front door, I'm being photographed.I never know where a lens is going to be.A normal day would be followed by four cars; a normal day would come back to my car and find six freelance photographers jumping around me.Some people would say, Well, if you had a policeman it would make it easier. It doesn't at all.They've decided that I'm still a product, after 15, 16 years, that sells well, and they all shout at me, telling me that: ..Oh, come on, Di, look up. If you give us a picture I can get my children to a better school.'And, you know, you can laugh it off. But you get that the whole time. It's quite difficult.BASHIR: Some people would say that in the early years of your marriage you were partly responsible for encouraging the press interest - you danced with people like Wayne Sleep, you seemed to enjoy it, you had a very good and warm relationship.Do you feel any responsibility for the way the press have behaved towards you?DIANA: I've never encouraged the media. There was a relationship which worked before, but now I can't tolerate it because it's become abusive and it's harassment.But I don't want to be seen to be indulging in self-pity. I'm not.I understand they have a job to do. You could equate it to a soap opera really. It goes on and on and on, and the story never changes.And each time one enjoys oneself - albeit it's in a different situation - you have to pay for it, because people criticise, which comes with the patch, as I said previously.But I am a free spirit - unfortunately for some.BASHIR: But here at Kensington Palace, are you isolated?DIANA: Well I am by the nature of my situation, yes, but I don't feel sorry for myself in any way.I've got my work that I choose to do, and I've got my boys, and I've got lots of opportunities coming up in the next year - visits abroad: I'm about to go to Argentina, which I'm very happy with, and hope very much to continue the good relationship that's now been adopted between the two countries. I hope I can be of help there.BASHIR: What role do you see for yourself in the future?DIANA: I'd like to be an ambassador for this country. I'd like to represent this country abroad.As I have all this media interest, let's not just sit in this country and be battered by it. Let's take them, these people, out to represent this country and the good qualities of it abroad.When I go abroad we've got 60 to 90 photographers, just from this country, coming with me, so let's use it in a productive way, to help this country.BASHIR: You say you feel that your future is as some form of ambassador. At whose behest is that? On what grounds do you feel that you have the right to think of yourself as an ambassador.DIANA: I've been in a privileged position for 15 years. I've got tremendous knowledge about people and how to communicate. I've learnt that, I've got it, and I want to use it.And when I look at people in public life, I'm not a political animal but I think the biggest disease this world suffers from in this day and age is the disease of people feeling unloved, and I know that I can give love for a minute, for half an hour, for a day, for a month, but I can give - I'm very happy to do that and I want to do that.BASHIR: Do you think that the British people are happy with you in your role?DIANA: I think the British people need someone in public life to give affection, to make them feel important, to support them, to give them light in their dark tunnels.I see it as a possibly unique role, and yes, I've had difficulties, as everybody has witnessed over the years, but let's now use the knowledge I've gathered to help other people in distress.BASHIR: Do you think you can?DIANA: I know I can, I know I can, yes.BASHIR: Up until you came into this family, the monarchy seemed to enjoy an unquestioned position at the heart of British life. Do you feel that you're at all to blame for the fact that survival of the monarchy is now a question that people are asking?DIANA: No, I don't feel blame. I mean, once or twice I've heard people say to me that, you know, ..Diana's out to destroy the monarchy', which has bewildered me, because why would I want to destroy something that is my children's future.I will fight for my children on any level in order for them to be happy and have peace of mind and carry out their duties.But I think what concerns me most of all about how people discuss the monarchy is they become indifferent, and I think that is a problem, and I think that should be sorted out, yes.BASHIR: When you say indifferent, what do you mean?DIANA: They don't care. People don't care any more. They've been so force-fed with marital problems, whatever, whatever, whatever, that they're fed up.I'm fed up of reading about it. I'm in it, so God knows what people out there must think.BASHIR: Do you think the monarchy needs to adapt and to change in order to survive?DIANA: I understand that change is frightening for people, especially if there's nothing to go to. It's best to stay where you are. I understand that.But I do think that there are a few things that could change, that would alleviate this doubt, and sometimes complicated relationship between monarchy and public. I think they could walk hand in hand, as opposed to be so distant.BASHIR: What are you doing to try and effect some kind of change?DIANA: Well, with William and Harry, for instance, I take them round homelessness projects, I ve taken William and Harry to people dying of Aids - albeit I told them it was cancer - I ve taken the children to all sorts of areas where I'm not sure anyone of that age in this family has been before.And they have a knowledge - they may never use it, but the seed is there, and I hope it will grow because knowledge is power.BASHIR: What are you hoping that that experience for your children - what impact that experience will have on your children?DIANA: I want them to have an understanding of people's emotions, people's insecurities, people's distress, and people's hopes and dreams.BASHIR: What kind of monarchy do you anticipate?DIANA: I would like a monarchy that has more contact with its people - and I don't mean by riding round bicycles and things like that, but just having a more in-depth understanding.And I don't say that as a criticism to the present monarchy: I just say that as what I see and hear and feel on a daily basis in the role I have chosen for myself.BASHIR: There's a lot of discussion at the moment about how matters between yourself and the Prince of Wales will be resolved. There's even the suggestion of a divorce between you. What are your thoughts about that?DIANA: I don't want a 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 of which way we are all going to go.BASHIR: If he wished a divorce to go through, would you accept that?DIANA: I would obviously discuss it with him, but up to date neither of us has discussed this subject, though the rest of the world seems to have.BASHIR: Would it be your wish to divorce?DIANA: No, it's not my wish.BASHIR: Why? Wouldn't that resolve matters?DIANA: Why would it resolve matters?BASHIR: It would provide the clarity that you talk about, it would resolve matters as far as the public are concerned perhaps.DIANA: Yes, but what about the children? Our boys - that's what matters, isn't it?BASHIR: Do you think you will ever be Queen?DIANA: No, I don't, no.BASHIR: Why do you think that?DIANA: I'd like to be a queen of people's hearts, in people's hearts, but I don't see myself being Queen of this country. I don't think many people will want me to be Queen.Actually, when I say many people I mean the establishment that I married into, because they have decided that I'm a non-starter.BASHIR: Why do you think they've decided that?DIANA: Because I do things differently, because I don't go by a rule book, because I lead from the heart, not the head, and albeit that's got me into trouble in my work, I understand that. But someone's got to go out there and love people and show it.BASHIR: Do you think that because of the way you behave that's precluded you effectively from becoming Queen?DIANA: Yes, well not precluded me. I wouldn't say that. I just don't think I have as many supporters in that environment as I did.BASHIR: You mean within the Royal Household?DIANA: Uh,uh. They see me as a threat of some kind, and I'm here to do good: I'm not a destructive person.BASHIR: Why do they see you as a threat?DIANA: I think every strong woman in history has had to walk down a similar path, and I think it's the strength that causes the confusion and the fear.Why is she strong? Where does she get it from? Where is she taking it?Where is she going to use it? Why do the public still support her? When I say public, you go and do an engagement and there's a great many people there.BASHIR: Do you think the Prince of Wales will ever be King?DIANA: I don't think any of us know the answer to that. And obviously it's a question that's in everybody's head. But who knows, who knows what fate will produce, who knows what circumstances will provoke?BASHIR: But you would know him better than most people. Do you think he would wish to be King?DIANA: There was always conflict on that subject with him when we discussed it, and I understood that conflict, because it's a very demanding role, being Prince of Wales, but it's an equally more demanding role being King.And being Prince of Wales produces more freedom now, and being King would be a little bit more suffocating. And because I know the character I would think that the top job, as I call it, would bring enormous limitations to him, and I don't know whether he could adapt to that.BASHIR: Do you think it would make more sense in the light of the marital difficulties that you and the Prince of Wales have had if the position of monarch passed directly to your son Prince William?DIANA: Well, then you have to see that William's very young at the moment, so do you want a burden like that to be put on his shoulders at such an age? So I can't answer that question.BASHIR: Would it be your wish that when Prince William comes of age that he were to succeed the Queen rather than the current Prince of Wales?DIANA: My wish is that my husband finds peace of mind, and from that follows others things, yes.BASHIR: Why have you decided to give this interview now? Why have you decided to speak at this time?DIANA: Because we will have been separated three years this December, and the perception that has been given of me for the last three years has been very confusing, turbulent, and in some areas I'm sure many, many people doubt me.And I want to reassure all those people who have loved me and supported me throughout the last 15 years that I'd never let them down. That is a priority to me, along with my children.BASHIR: And so you feel that by speaking out in this way you'll be able to reassure the people?DIANA: Uh,uh. The people that matter to me - the man on the street, yup, because that's what matters more than anything else.BASHIR: Some people might think - some people might interpret this as you simply taking the opportunity to get your own back on your husband.DIANA: I don't sit here with resentment: I sit here with sadness because a marriage hasn't worked.I sit here with hope because there's a future ahead, a future for my husband, a future for myself and a future for the monarchy.BASHIR: Your Royal Highness, thank you.Matt Lauer: Your mom used to say that one of her main concerns for you two was that you live as normal lives as possible. Prince William: Um-hm. Prince Harry: Um-hm Matt Lauer: So ten years later do you think she would be happy or saddened by the state of normalcy? Prince Harry: I think she'd be happy in the way that we're going about it but slightly unhappy about the way the other people were going about it as in saying, "Look: you're not normal, so stop trying to be normal," which is very much what we get a lot. You know it's like stop trying to be normal. You've got certain responsibilities. Which obviously we do and we know we have certain responsibilities. But within our private lives and within certain other parts of our life we want to be as normal as possible. And yes it's hard because to a certain respect we never will be normal. Prince William: You may be abnormal. I'm pretty normal.For them, "normal" will always be a relative term. Prince William, 24, heir to the British throne, the future king of England. Harry, his kid brother, 22, also known as Harry, Prince of the United Kingdom.They are the grandsons of Queen Elizabeth, sons of Prince Charles and, of course, the late Princess Diana. The world has watched them grow from babes in their mother's arms, to proper English schoolboys, to grief stricken young men walking with their father behind Diana's casket. But they've never done an interview together for an American, never sat down and answered unscripted questions -- until now. Meet two brothers, down to earth, at ease, and constantly ribbing each other.Matt Lauer: Let me talk a little bit about your image in terms of in the United States separately. Prince William: We have an image? That's news to me. Prince Harry: It can't be good. Matt Lauer: All right, William, you're seen probably as studious, thoughtful, dutiful, proper. Prince Harry: Was that "dutiful" or "beautiful"? Prince William: Proper. Matt Lauer: Dutiful. Prince William: And beautiful. Matt Lauer: Dutiful and beautiful. Prince William: Just, just… Matt Lauer: So Harry, how close is that in describing your brother? Prince William: Now, be honest. Don't just come out and go "It's all rubbish." Prince Harry: Well, I think it’s, you can't really ask me because I'm his brother, so I see a different side of him. But, you know… Matt Lauer: So how would you describe him? Prince Harry: No, you don't want to know that. No, I'm sure that's fantastic that the American people think that of William. I think there's, I mean, as long, as long as we want to be fools, we can… Matt Lauer: Well, what is the thing that -- that people should know about William that they don't know? Prince William: Just a legend. Prince Harry: No, I don't know. He enjoys himself more than people think. You know, he works very hard. He's definitely the more intelligent one of the two of us. Prince Harry: As I'm sure that's the next point that's going to come up. Matt Lauer: I wasn't going to say that at all. Prince Harry: What do you mean "don't put myself down"? You're knocking me down the whole time! Matt Lauer: So are you telling me, William, that Harry is not a little more volatile, carefree, a bit of a wild thing? Prince William: Oh, he's a wild thing, all right. Yeah.More princely content Slideshow: The lives of princes Q&A with Matt Lauer: Behind the scenes Blog: One producer changes his mind about the princes Slideshow: The life of Queen ElizabethWilliam and Harry met with Matt in April, at Clarence House, their official residence in London. They discussed their life in the media fishbowl, their friendships and their love lives. But for them, the most important thing to discuss, the reason they agreed to talk, is the memory of their mother, Diana, and their plans to commemorate the 10th anniversary of her death.Matt Lauer: As I was leaving the States telling people I coming to talk to you, as you're about to mark the tenth anniversary of your mom's death I can't tell you how many people said, "Wow, has it been ten years?" That it seems like two years or it seems like three years. How has the time gone by for you two? Prince Harry: Personally really, really slowly actually. It's weird because I think when she passed away there was never that time, there was never that sort of lull. There was never that sort of peace and quiet for any of us due to the fact that her face was always splattered on the paper the whole time. Over the last ten years I personally feel as though she has been, she’s always there. She's always been a constant reminder to both of us and everybody else. And therefore I think when you're being reminded about it does take a lot longer and it's a lot slower. Matt Lauer: Does it feel the same way for you? Prince William: Yeah. I mean, again just for my personal opinion when you knew somebody or someone that important to you, you always think about you know. I mean, straight after it happened we were always thinking about it. Not a day goes by when I don't think about it once in the day. And so for us it’s been very slow and it's a lot, it has been a long time.A long time that began for William and Harry on the last night of August 1997. In Paris, Diana was riding in a hired car, being chased by paparazzi. Her chauffeur, who was drunk, drove much too fast. The car smashed into a concrete pillar. Princess Diana, beautiful, glamorous -- their mom -- was dead at 36.Since then, William and Harry have lived through a decade of obsessive media coverage, of endless conspiracy theories, of official and unofficial inquiries that continue to this day.Prince Harry: You know when people think about it they think about her death. They think about you know how wrong it was. They think whatever happened. I don't know, for me personally what happened you know that night, whatever happened in that tunnel -- no one will ever know. And I'm sure people will always think about it the whole time. Matt Lauer: Have you stopped wondering? Prince Harry: I'll never stop wondering about that. Matt Lauer: So then in some ways you probably understand the public fascination with this inquiry. Prince William: Yeah, but at the same time there's a lot of people feeding it, and unnecessarily, I might add. You know -- to the whole sort of conspiracy side of things. And there's always rumors and stuff that were brought up the whole time. Matt Lauer: Do you see a time in your own imagination when this cycle of fascination ends? Prince Harry: I can't really see it ever ending. I think that maybe certain sort of times when there's going to be peace and quiet when there's actually nothing to write about or when they're working towards something new. But I think people will always have a fascination about her. Matt Lauer: As we come to the tenth anniversary, obviously the people will still write things. But people will also stop at ten years and re-examine her life and probably her death. So in some ways is this your attempt this summer to take charge of that, to kind of get it under your own control? Prince William: Yeah, basically; we always wanted to do something for her. Prince Harry: You know, it still upsets me now, the fact that we didn't have as much of a chance as other children to spend time with her. Matt Lauer: It occurred to me in looking back that your mom lived three separate lives all at the same time. She was a mom. She was a princess, arguably the most famous woman in the entire world. And she was also a ... What do you remember most in terms of her work for other and helping other people? Prince William: She didn't want praise for it. She did it because she cared. And it was a massive quality of hers which was why she became so big. She wanted to give so much love and give so much care to people who really needed it.Princess Diana was a champion of many causes, like relief for victims of landmines and shelter for the homeless. She was one of the first prominent people to reach out to AIDS patients, literally.Matt Lauer: Was there a time in your lives when you were younger that your folks sat you down and talked about the responsibility of helping others? Did you have that kind of a talk? Prince William: Not as formal as you put it, but you know it was always a topic. You get onto a certain subject and its then like, well you know, there are certain things that you have to do that are really difficult. And no one wants to do but you've got to do them. Or that there's all these sort of life lessons. You know you've got to take responsibility for self and for other people. All the sorts of things you talk about as families. Matt Lauer: As young guys though, I mean, what about sports, what about girls and all this stuff. How did that come, how did that responsibility feel to you? Prince Harry: Well, I think it all came as the same package. I mean without sounding cheesy it was just sort of when we're around our mother. It would just come out in conversation about you know what she'd been doing that day or how she felt, how we were feeling at school and stuff like this. Matt Lauer: So it wasn't as much what she said. It's just the way she lived. Prince William: It's the way… Matt Lauer: You learned by osmosis. Prince Harry: It's the way she was the whole time. She was doing so much more behind the scenes. They say their mom didn't only stick up for causes she valued; she stuck up for the people she valued.Prince William: I learned about how she'd always keep an eye on people who worked for her or people she knew who were friends; she always used to keep a little eye on what their lives, the ups and downs. She'd always be there on the downs for her friends. She was massively strong like that and gave us both reservoirs of strength. In the royal family, child-rearing is often left to nannies and tutors. But Diana was a hands-on mother, showering the boys with love and protecting them from the cameras that seemed to follow her everywhere.Matt Lauer: As a mom -- what are your greatest memories? Prince Harry: You've got to understand we were so young. I mean, I was twelve. He was fourteen. Prince William: Fourteen, yeah. Prince Harry: Fourteen. Matt Lauer: Yeah. Prince Harry: Fifteen and you know, it still upsets me now, the fact that we didn't have much of a chance as… Matt Lauer: Right. Prince Harry: …as children to sort of spend time with her. But the time we did spend with her was amazing and as a mother, as anybody would say about their mother, just amazing.Some of their memories, anyone can relate to. Like the time their mom took them to Disney world.Prince William: Everywhere we went, everyone was really sweet to us. But you know one of the things that we kept sort of joking about was about how many times we were told to watch our heads and mind our step. Prince Harry: In many ways. Prince William: She said, "Watch your step." Prince Harry: Have a nice day. Prince William: "Have a nice day," all this sort of stuff. And it was classic, we had a really good fun time.We also asked about something else we'd read -- Diana’s nickname for William, the future king of England.Matt Lauer: She used to call you "Wombat." Which is cute… Prince William: Yeah. Matt Lauer: …when you're seven. Prince William: Yeah. Matt Lauer: I guess you don't want your mates in the pub going, "Hey Wombat, how are you?" Prince William: It kind of stuck with me. I can't get rid of it now. Matt Lauer: Well where did that come from? Prince William: It began when I was two. I've been rightfully told because I can't remember back that far. But when we went to Australia with our parents, and the wombat, you know, that's the local animal. So I just basically got called that. Not because I look like a wombat. Or maybe I do. Matt Lauer: Does it make you cringe now? Prince Harry: You know what it was. He was still crawling at six. Matt Lauer: He was? Prince Harry: He still couldn't walk. He was still, lazy. Matt Lauer: So all right just get him back. What's his nickname? Prince William: Oh, Ginger. Whatever. You can call him whatever you want. Most of them I can't call in front of here. You know, a bit rude. He's got plenty. Matt Lauer: Ginger? Prince Harry: I know exactly. You're so surprised as I am. I don't think I'm Gin... Prince William: Apart from the fact you are. Prince Harry: Shall we not? Let's not.Cute kids nicknamed Wombat and Ginger who've grown up into polo-playing princes who, as young adults, understand better than ever the constant pressure their mother faced from the ever present cameras.Prince Harry: She wasn't always herself in the camera. She was much more natural behind the scenes when there was no one else there. Prince William: Yeah. Prince Harry: And she could be herself. It was... Matt Lauer: Did you notice that when by the way you would see coverage and you'd see her on camera and say, "That's not quite mom?" Prince Harry: Well, she was; I don't know whether it's the right thing to say. But she was quite good at acting. If you know what I mean. She wasn't acting as though trying to be somebody that she wasn't. But very much trying to be as normal as she could in front of the cameras which she hated so much.Diana in her wedding dress, I got this picture from the Princess Diana tribute page.<a href="http://www.msplinks.com/MDFodHRwOi8vcGhvdG

My Blog

The item has been deleted


Posted by on