princess Diana

English princess, former wife of Charles, Prince of Wales. Born July 1, 1961, in Norfolk, England. Her father, Lord Althorp, became the eighth Earl Spencer in 1975; he had served as a personal equerry to both King George VI and Queen Elizabeth II. Lady Diana Spencer grew up on her family mansion near the British royal family’s estate in Sandringham, England. When she was only six years old, her mother, Frances, left her father for Peter Shand …

…flowers to Buckingham Palace, Kensington Palace, St. James Palace (where her body lay in state), and the Spencer family estate at Althorp. Donations totaling nearly $150 million flooded the newly established Diana, Princess of Wales Fund; many were designated specifically for her favorite charities. On September 6, 1997, more than a million people lined up along the three-mile funeral route to Westminster Abbey to pay their last respects to the princess they had all taken to their hearts.