Here are 10 entertaining facts about the enigmatic Lady Di.
- Prince Charles was initially dated by her sister
Before Diana, Prince Charles had a brief affair with her sister, Sarah Spencer. However, the overly chatty girl gave out information about the royal family to reporters; Charles felt cheated and betrayed and broke up with her. Luckily, he spotted Sarah’s sister in time!
- Diana was never an excellent student at school
She was home-schooled until the age of 9, from 9 to 12 she went to a boarding school, from 12 to 16 she went to an all-girls school and was considered a mediocre student, although her poor grades were partly covered by her sporting and ballet achievements. As you can see, that didn’t stop her from becoming who she is!
- She wanted to be a ballerina
Diana’s lifelong dream was to become a professional ballerina. However, she was too tall for a ballerina – 178 cm – and was not physically fit for ballet either. Already as a member of the royal family, she supported the art of ballet by attracting benefactors, attending ballet schools and performances.
- She ordered her engagement ring from a catalogue
This is one of the most recognisable rings in the world and there are many replicas of it. However, Diana didn’t custom order the ring – she simply chose it from the catalogue of the famous jewellery house Garrad, which has made many jewels for the royal family. In this ring, 14 diamonds surround a 12-carat sapphire. Evil tongues claim that Diana chose it because it was the largest.
- Diana’s wedding dress had the longest train in the history of the royal family
Her dress is considered the dress of the century – and it’s easy to see why: it’s covered in lace and embroidery and has 10,000 pearls stitched on it! At 7.6 metres long, it is the longest in royal history. The princess even had to take special lessons to walk with it. The dress was sewn for 5 months, and during this time it managed to become the most guarded dress in history.
- Diana did not raise her children in the traditional royal manner
Princes William and Harry are charismatic and polite young men; they owe much of this to their mother’s upbringing, which was not traditional. Diana tried to ensure that her boys grew up ‘normal’, and like normal children, they visited Disneyland and McDonald’s, but not only: their mother took them to homeless shelters, HIV clinics and other such places so that they would learn empathy and compassion as early as possible.
- she auctioned off 79 of her dresses
It was Prince William’s idea, and Diana couldn’t resist: he suggested that she sell her dresses and donate the proceeds to charity. Diana did so, selling 79 of her dresses, which she wore from 1981 to 1996, at a New York auction and donating the proceeds of $5.76 million to the fight against breast cancer and HIV.
- She is buried on the island
Diana’s death was one of the most shocking and tragic events in the royal family in the 20th century. The funeral ceremony for the nation was properly held at Westminster Abbey, She was supposed to be buried with the royal family, but at the last minute her brother Earl decided that she should lie in the grounds of Allthorpe Park, the ancestral estate of the Spencer family.
- Diana changed the words of her wedding vows
Before the wedding ceremony, Diana decided that she would not say the part of her wedding vows that referred to ‘obeying her husband’ and crossed those words out of her vows. In their place she promised to ‘love, support, honour and cherish’ him. Years later, the same trick was repeated by Kate Middleton.
- Diana had depression and bulimia
Diana struggled with a lot of personal issues, and they only worsened with her marriage. She recalled how just after her marriage, Charles put his hand on her waist and said:
‘Oh, we’re a bit chubby, aren’t we?’
and since then thoughts of fullness had not let her go. She also sought solace in food because of all the tensions of court life both inside and out. In 1990, it was revealed that she was bulimic – she recognised that the latter was a symptom of the depression and emptiness that Diana constantly felt.
Despite all her personal problems, Diana was able to help people – and that’s why she was forever everyone’s favourite Princess, Lady Di.
