Princess diana childhood and family background facts
Diana, Princess of Wales
Member of the British royal family (–)
Several terms redirect here. For other uses, see Diana Spencer (disambiguation), Lady Di (disambiguation), People's Princess (disambiguation), and Princess Diana (disambiguation).
| Diana | |
|---|---|
Diana in | |
| Born | Diana Frances Spencer ()1 July Park House, Sandringham, England |
| Died | 31 August () (aged&#;36) Paris, France |
| Cause&#;of death | Car crash |
| Burial | 6 September Althorp, Northamptonshire, England |
| Spouse | |
| Issue | |
| Noble/royal house | |
| Father | John Spencer, 8th Earl Spencer |
| Mother | Frances Roche |
| Education | |
Diana, Princess of Wales (born Diana Frances Spencer; 1&#;July &#;– 31&#;August ), was a member of the British royal family.
She was the first wife of Charles&#;III (then Prince of Wales) and mother of Princes William and Harry. Her activism and glamour, which made her an international icon, earned her enduring popularity.
Princess diana biography childhoods end youtube The Royal Marsden. The Princess was buried in sanctified ground on an island in the centre of an ornamental lake. Pull-out supplement. She was the youngest daughter of the then Viscount and Viscountess Althorp, now the late 8th Earl Spencer and the late Hon.Diana was born into the British nobility and grew up close to the royal family, living at Park House on their Sandringham estate. In , while working as a nursery teacher's assistant, she became engaged to Charles, the eldest son of Elizabeth&#;II. Their wedding took place at St&#;Paul's Cathedral in July and made her Princess of Wales, a role in which she was enthusiastically received by the public.
The couple had two sons, William and Harry, who were then respectively second and third in the line of succession to the British throne. Diana's marriage to Charles suffered due to their incompatibility and extramarital affairs. They separated in , soon after the breakdown of their relationship became public knowledge.
Their marital difficulties were widely publicised, and the couple divorced in
As Princess of Wales, Diana undertook royal duties on behalf of the Queen and represented her at functions across the Commonwealth realms. She was celebrated in the media for her beauty, style, charm, and later, her unconventional approach to charity work.
Her patronages were initially centred on children and the elderly, but she later became known for her involvement in two particular campaigns: one involved the social attitudes towards and the acceptance of AIDS patients, and the other for the removal of landmines, promoted through the International Red Cross. She also raised awareness and advocated for ways to help people affected by cancer and mental illness.
Diana was initially noted for her shyness, but her charisma and friendliness endeared her to the public and helped her reputation survive the public collapse of her marriage. Considered photogenic, she is regarded as a fashion icon of the s and s.
In August , Diana died in a car crash in Paris; the incident led to extensive public mourning and global media attention.
Princess diana biography childhoods end movie Diana had a busy year in as she and Charles toured Japan, Spain, and Canada. Her sons walked in the funeral procession behind her coffin, along with the Prince of Wales, the Duke of Edinburgh, Diana's brother Lord Spencer, and representatives of some of her charities. Catherine Middleton Meghan Markle. Royal Highness.An inquest returned a verdict of unlawful killing following Operation Paget, an investigation by the Metropolitan Police. Her legacy has had a significant effect on the royal family and British society.[1]
Early life
Diana Frances Spencer was born on 1 July , the fourth of five children of John Spencer, Viscount Althorp (–), and Frances Spencer, Viscountess Althorp (née Roche; –).
She was delivered at Park House, Sandringham, Norfolk. The Spencer family had been closely allied with the British royal family for several generations; her grandmothers, Cynthia Spencer, Countess Spencer, and Ruth Roche, Baroness Fermoy, had served as ladies-in-waiting to Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother.
Her parents were hoping for a boy to carry on the family line, and no name was chosen for a week until they settled on Diana Frances after her mother and Lady Diana Spencer, a many-times-great-aunt who was also a prospective Princess of Wales as a potential bride for Frederick, Prince of Wales. Within the family, she was also known informally as "Duch", a reference to her duchess-like attitude in childhood.[7]
On 30 August ,[8] Diana was baptised at St.
Mary Magdalene Church, Sandringham. She grew up with three siblings: Sarah, Jane, and Charles. Her infant brother, John, died shortly after his birth one year before Diana was born. The desire for an heir added strain to her parents' marriage, and Lady Althorp was sent to Harley Street clinics in London to determine the cause of the "problem".
The experience was described as "humiliating" by Diana's younger brother, Charles: "It was a dreadful time for my parents and probably the root of their divorce because I don't think they ever got over it". Diana grew up in Park House, situated on the Sandringham estate. The family leased the house from its owner, Queen Elizabeth II, whom Diana called "Aunt Lilibet" since childhood.[12] The royal family frequently holidayed at the neighbouring Sandringham House, and Diana played with Princes Andrew and Edward.
Diana was seven years old when her parents divorced.
Her mother later began a relationship with Peter Shand Kydd and married him in Diana lived with her mother in London during her parents' separation in , but during that year's Christmas holidays, Lord Althorp refused to let his daughter return to London with Lady Althorp.
Princess diana biography childhoods end Archived from the original on 2 May London: Century. The driver was found to be responsible for driving at a fast speed and being under the influence of drugs or alcohol and antidepressant medicines, according to a report published in following an investigation into Diana's deadly vehicle accident. Diana died on August 31, , from injuries she sustained in a car crash in Paris.Shortly afterwards, he won custody of Diana with support from his former mother-in-law, Lady Fermoy. In , Lord Althorp married Raine, Countess of Dartmouth. Diana's relationship with her stepmother was particularly bad.[18] She resented Raine, whom she called a "bully". On one occasion Diana pushed her down the stairs.[18] She later described her childhood as "very unhappy" and "very unstable, the whole thing".[19] She became known as Lady Diana after her father later inherited the title of Earl Spencer in , at which point her father moved the entire family from Park House to Althorp, the Spencer seat in Northamptonshire.
Education and career
Diana was initially home-schooled under the supervision of her governess, Gertrude Allen.[21] She began her formal education at Silfield Private School in King's Lynn, Norfolk, and moved to Riddlesworth Hall School, an all-girls boarding school near Thetford, when she was nine.
She joined her sisters at West Heath Girls' School in Sevenoaks, Kent, in She did not perform well academically, failing her O-levels twice.[24][25] Her outstanding community spirit was recognised with an award from West Heath.[26] She left West Heath when she was sixteen.
Her brother Charles recalls her as being quite shy up until that time.
She demonstrated musical ability as a skilled pianist.[26] She also excelled in swimming and diving, and studied ballet and tap dance.
In Diana worked for three months as a nanny for Philippa and Jeremy Whitaker in Hampshire.[30] After attending Institut Alpin Videmanette (a finishing school in Rougemont, Switzerland) for one term, and leaving after the Easter term of , Diana returned to London, where she shared her mother's flat with two school friends.
In London, she took an advanced cooking course and worked at a series of low-paying jobs; she worked as a dance instructor for youth until a skiing accident caused her to miss three months of work. She then found employment as a playgroup pre-school assistant, did some cleaning work for her sister Sarah and several of her friends, and acted as a hostess at parties.
She spent time working as a nanny for the Robertsons, an American family living in London,[35] and worked as a nursery teacher's assistant at the Young England School in Pimlico. In July , her mother bought her a flat at Coleherne Court in Earl's Court as an 18th birthday present. She lived there with three flatmates until 25 February
Personal life
Diana first met Charles, Prince of Wales, the Queen's eldest son and heir apparent, when she was 16 in November He was then 29 and dating her older sister, Sarah.[40] Charles and Diana were guests at a country weekend during the summer of and he took a serious interest in her as a potential bride.[41] The relationship progressed when he invited her aboard the royal yacht Britannia for a sailing weekend to Cowes.
This was followed by an invitation to Balmoral Castle (the royal family's Scottish residence) to meet his family.[42] She was well received by the Queen, the Queen Mother and the Duke of Edinburgh. Charles subsequently courted Diana in London.
He proposed on 6 February at Windsor Castle, and she accepted, but their engagement was kept secret for two and a half weeks.
Engagement and wedding
Further information: Wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer and Wedding dress of Lady Diana Spencer
Their engagement became official on 24 February [21] Diana selected her own engagement ring.[21] Following the engagement, she left her occupation as a nursery teacher's assistant and temporarily lived at the Queen Mother's residence, Clarence House.[44] She subsequently resided at Buckingham Palace until the wedding,[44] where, according to the biographer Ingrid Seward, her life was "incredibly lonely".[45] Diana was the first Englishwoman to marry the first in line to the throne since Anne Hyde married James, Duke of York and Albany (later James VII and II), over years earlier, and she was also the first royal bride to have a paying job before her engagement.[21][26] Diana's first public appearance with Charles was at a charity ball held at Goldsmiths' Hall in March , where she was introduced to Princess Grace of Monaco.[44]
Diana became Princess of Wales at age 20 when she married Charles, then 32, on 29 July The wedding was held at St Paul's Cathedral, which offered more seating than Westminster Abbey, a church that was generally used for royal weddings.[21][26] The service was widely described as a "fairytale wedding" and was watched by a global television audience of &#;million people while , spectators lined the streets to catch a glimpse of the couple en route to the ceremony.[21][46] At the altar, Diana inadvertently reversed the order of his first two names, saying "Philip Charles" Arthur George instead.[46] She did not say she would "obey" him; that traditional vow was left out at the couple's request, which caused some comment at the time.[47] Diana wore a dress valued at £9, (equivalent to £43, in ) with a foot (metre) train.[48] Within a few years of the wedding, the Queen extended Diana visible tokens of membership in the royal family, lending her the Queen Mary's Lover's Knot Tiara[49][50] and granting her the badge of the Royal Family Order of Elizabeth II.[51][52]
Children
The couple had residences at Kensington Palace and Highgrove House, near Tetbury.
On 5 November , Diana's pregnancy was announced. In January —12 weeks into the pregnancy—Diana fell down a staircase at Sandringham, suffering some bruising, and the royal gynaecologistGeorge Pinker was summoned from London; the foetus was uninjured.[54] Diana later confessed that she had intentionally thrown herself down the stairs because she was feeling "so inadequate".[55] On 21 June , she gave birth to the couple's first son, Prince William.[56] She subsequently suffered from postpartum depression after her first pregnancy.[57] Amidst some media criticism, she decided to take William—who was still a baby—on her first major tours of Australia and New Zealand, and the decision was popularly applauded.
By her own admission, Diana had not initially intended to take William until Malcolm Fraser, the Australian prime minister, made the suggestion.
A second son, Harry, was born on 15 September Diana said she and Charles were closest during her pregnancy with Harry.[60] She was aware their second child was a boy, but did not share the knowledge with anyone else, including Charles, who hoped for a girl.[61]
Diana gave her sons wider experiences than was usual for royal children.[21][62][63] She rarely deferred to Charles or to the royal family, and was often intransigent when it came to the children.
She chose their first given names, dismissed a royal family nanny and engaged one of her own choosing, selected their schools and clothing, planned their outings, and took them to school herself as often as her schedule permitted. She also organised her public duties around their timetables. Diana was reported to have described Harry as "naughty, just like me", and William as "my little wise old man" whom she started to rely on as her confidant by his early teens.[65]
Problems and separation
Five years into the marriage, the couple's incompatibility and age difference became visible and damaging.
In , Diana began a relationship with James Hewitt, the family's former riding instructor and in the same year, Charles resumed his relationship with his former girlfriend Camilla Parker Bowles. The media speculated that Hewitt, not Charles, was Harry's father based on the alleged physical similarity between Hewitt and Harry, but Hewitt and others have denied this.
Harry was born two years before Hewitt and Diana began their affair.[60][67]
By , cracks in the marriage had become visible and the couple's unhappiness and cold attitude towards one another were being reported by the press,[45][68] who dubbed them "the Glums" because of their evident discomfort in each other's company.[69][70] In , Diana was at a birthday party for Parker Bowles's sister, Annabel Elliot, when she confronted Parker Bowles about her and Charles's extramarital affair.[71][72] These affairs were later exposed in with the publication of Andrew Morton's book, Diana: Her True Story.[73][74] The book, which also revealed Diana's allegedly suicidal unhappiness, caused a media storm.
In , James Colthurst conducted secret interviews with Diana in which she had talked about her marital issues and difficulties. These recordings were later used as a source for Morton's book.[75][76] During her lifetime, both Diana and Morton denied her direct involvement in the writing process and maintained that family and friends were the book's main source; however, after her death Morton acknowledged Diana's role in writing the tell-all in the book's updated edition, Diana: Her True Story in Her Own Words.[77]
The Queen and Prince Philip hosted a meeting between Charles and Diana and unsuccessfully tried to effect a reconciliation.[78] Philip wrote to Diana and expressed his disappointment at the extramarital affairs of both her and Charles; he asked her to examine their behaviour from the other's point of view.[79] Diana reportedly found the letters difficult, but nevertheless appreciated that he was acting with good intent.[80] It was alleged by some people, including Diana's close friend Simone Simmons, that Diana and Philip had a tense relationship;[81][82][83] however, other observers said their letters provided no sign of friction between them.[84] Philip later issued a statement, publicly denying allegations of his insulting Diana.[85]
During and , leaked tapes of telephone conversations reflected negatively on both Charles and Diana.
Tape recordings of Diana and James Gilbey were made public in August ,[86] and transcripts were published the same month.[21] The article, "Squidgygate", was followed in November by the leaked "Camillagate" tapes, intimate exchanges between Charles and Parker Bowles, published in the tabloids.[88] In December , Prime Minister John Major announced the couple's "amicable separation" to the House of Commons.[90]
Between and , Diana hired a voice coach, Peter Settelen, to help her develop her public speaking voice.[91] In a videotape recorded by Settelen in , Diana said that in through to , she had been "deeply in love with someone who worked in this environment."[92][93] It is thought she was referring to Barry Mannakee,[94] who was transferred to the Diplomatic Protection Squad in after his managers had determined that his relationship with Diana had been inappropriate.[93][95] Diana said in the tape that Mannakee had been "chucked out" from his role as her bodyguard following suspicion that the two were having an affair.[92]Penny Junor suggested in her book that Diana was in a romantic relationship with Mannakee.[96] Diana's friends dismissed the claim as absurd.[96] In the subsequently released tapes, Diana said she had feelings for that "someone", saying "I was quite happy to give all this up [and] just to go off and live with him".
Princess diana biography charity: Diana talked regarding her mental health and issue with bulimia as a consequence of her troubled marriage and problematic relationship with the press, who would make judgments on her looks, in Andrew Morton's book "Diana: Her True Story. You May Also Like. Retrieved 15 July Denney, Colleen
She described him as "the greatest friend [she's] ever had", though she denied any sexual relationship with him.[97] She also spoke bitterly of her husband saying that "[He] made me feel so inadequate in every possible way, that each time I came up for air he pushed me down again."[98]
Although she blamed Parker Bowles for her marital troubles, Diana began to believe her husband had been involved in other affairs.
In October Diana wrote to her butler Paul Burrell, telling him that she believed her husband was now in love with his personal assistant Tiggy Legge-Bourke—who was also his sons' former nanny—and was planning to have her killed "to make the path clear for him to marry Tiggy".[][] Legge-Bourke had been hired by Charles as a young companion for his sons while they were in his care, and Diana was resentful of Legge-Bourke and her relationship with the young princes.[] Charles sought public understanding via a televised interview with Jonathan Dimbleby on 29 June In the interview, he said he had rekindled his relationship with Parker Bowles in only after his marriage to Diana had "irretrievably broken down".[][] In the same year, Diana's affair with Hewitt was exposed in detail in the book Princess in Love by Anna Pasternak, with Hewitt acting as the main source.[65] Diana was evidently disturbed and outraged when the book was released, although Pasternak claimed Hewitt had acted with Diana's support to avoid having the affair covered in Andrew Morton's second book.[65] In the same year, the News of the World claimed that Diana had had an affair with the married art dealer Oliver Hoare.[][] According to Hoare's obituary, there was little doubt she had been in a relationship with him.[] However, Diana denied any romantic relationship with Hoare, whom she described as a friend.[][] She was also linked by the press to the rugby union player Will Carling[][] and private equity investor Theodore J.
Forstmann,[][] yet these claims were neither confirmed nor proven.[][]
Divorce
The journalist Martin Bashirinterviewed Diana for the BBC current affairs show Panorama. The interview was broadcast on 20 November [] Diana discussed her own and her husband's extramarital affairs.[] Referring to Charles's relationship with Parker Bowles, she said: "Well, there were three of us in this marriage, so it was a bit crowded." She also expressed doubt about her husband's suitability for kingship.[] The authors Tina Brown, Sally Bedell Smith, and Sarah Bradford support Diana's admission in the interview that she had suffered from depression, bulimia and had engaged numerous times in the act of self-harm; the show's transcript records Diana confirming many of her mental health problems.[] The combination of illnesses from which Diana herself said she suffered resulted in some of her biographers opining that she had borderline personality disorder.[][] It was later revealed that Bashir had used forged bank statements to win Diana and her brother's trust to secure the interview, falsely indicating people close to her had been paid for spying.[]Lord Dyson conducted an independent inquiry into the issue and concluded that Bashir had "little difficulty in playing on [Diana's] fears and paranoia", a sentiment that was shared by Diana's son William.[][]
The interview proved to be the tipping point.
On 20 December, Buckingham Palace announced that the Queen had sent letters to Charles and Diana, advising them to divorce.[][] The Queen's move was backed by Prime Minister John Major and by senior privy counsellors, and, according to the BBC, was decided after two weeks of talks.[] Charles formally agreed to the divorce in a written statement soon after.[] In February , Diana announced her agreement after negotiations with Charles and representatives of the Queen,[] irritating Buckingham Palace by issuing her own announcement of the divorce agreement and its terms.
In July , the couple agreed on the terms of their divorce.[] This followed shortly after Diana's accusation that Charles's personal assistant Tiggy Legge-Bourke had aborted his child, after which Legge-Bourke instructed her solicitor Peter Carter-Ruck to demand an apology.[][] Diana's private secretary Patrick Jephson resigned shortly before the story broke, later writing that Diana had "exulted in accusing Legge-Bourke of having had an abortion".[][] The rumours of Legge-Bourke's alleged abortion were apparently spread by Martin Bashir as a means to gain his Panorama interview with Diana.[]
The decree nisi was granted on 15 July and the divorce was finalised on 28 August [][] Diana was represented by Anthony Julius in the case.[] The couple shared custody of their children.[] She received a lump sum settlement of £17&#;million (equivalent to £40&#;million in ) as well as £, per year.
The couple signed a confidentiality agreement that prohibited them from discussing the details of the divorce or of their married life.[] Days before, letters patent were issued with general rules to regulate royal titles after divorce. Diana lost the style "Her Royal Highness" and instead was styled Diana, Princess of Wales.
As the mother of the prince expected to one day ascend to the throne, she was still considered to be a member of the royal family and was accorded the same precedence she enjoyed during her marriage.[] The Queen reportedly wanted to let Diana continue to use the style of Royal Highness after her divorce, but Charles had insisted on removing it.[] Prince William was reported to have reassured his mother: "Don't worry, Mummy, I will give it back to you one day when I am king".[] Almost a year before, according to Tina Brown, Philip had warned Diana: "If you don't behave, my girl, we'll take your title away." She is said to have replied: "My title is a lot older than yours, Philip."
Post-divorce
After her divorce, Diana retained the double apartment on the north side of Kensington Palace that she had shared with Charles since the first year of their marriage; the apartment remained her home until her death the following year.
She also moved her offices to Kensington Palace but was permitted "to use the state apartments at St James's Palace".[][] In a book published in , Paul Burrell claimed Diana's private letters had revealed that her brother, Lord Spencer, had refused to allow her to live at Althorp, despite her request.[] The allegations were proven to be untrue as Spencer received legal apologies from different newspapers, including The Times in , which admitted that "having considered his sister's safety, and in line with police advice, the Earl offered the Princess of Wales a number of properties including Wormleighton Manor, the Spencer family's original ancestral home".[] However, he could not offer Garden House cottage on the Althorp estate to Diana as the home was intended for a member of staff.[]
Diana was also given an allowance to run her private office, which was responsible for her charity work and royal duties, but from September onwards she was required to pay her bills and "any expenditure" incurred by her or on her behalf.[] Furthermore, she continued to have access to the jewellery that she had received during her marriage, and was allowed to use the air transport of the British royal family and government.[] Diana was also offered security by Metropolitan Police's Royalty Protection Group, which she benefitted from while travelling with her sons, but had refused it in the final years of her life, in an attempt to distance herself from the royal family.[][] After her death, it was revealed that Diana had been in discussion with Major's successor, Tony Blair, about a special role that would provide a government platform for her campaigns and charities to make her capable of endorsing Britain's interests overseas.[]
Diana retained close friendships with several celebrities, including Elton John, Liza Minnelli, George Michael, Michael Jackson, and Gianni Versace, whose funeral she attended in [][] She dated the British-Pakistani heart surgeon Hasnat Khan, who was called "the love of her life" by many of her closest friends after her death,[][][] and she is said to have described him as "Mr.
Wonderful".[][][][] In May , Diana visited Lahore upon invitation of Imran Khan, a relative of Hasnat Khan, and visited the latter's family in secret.[][] Khan was intensely private and the relationship was conducted in secrecy, with Diana lying to members of the press who questioned her about it.
Princess diana biography video The burial took place privately later the same day. New Statesman. People's princess Funeral Operation Paget Conspiracy theories. Related: Princess Diana.Their relationship lasted almost two years with differing accounts of who ended it.[][] She is said to have spoken of her distress when he ended their relationship.[] However, according to Khan's testimony at the inquest into her death, it was Diana who ended their relationship in the summer of [] Burrell also said the relationship was ended by Diana in July [81] Burrell also claimed that Diana's mother, Frances Shand Kydd, disapproved of her daughter's relationship with a Muslim man.[] By the time of Diana's death in , she had not spoken to her mother in four months.[] By contrast, her relationship with her estranged stepmother had reportedly improved.[][]
Within a month, Diana began a relationship with Dodi Fayed, the son of her summer host, Mohamed Al-Fayed.[] That summer, Diana had considered taking her sons on a holiday to the Hamptons on Long Island, New York, but security officials had prevented it.
After deciding against a trip to Thailand, she accepted Fayed's invitation to join his family in the south of France, where his compound and large security detail would not cause concern to the Royal Protection squad. Mohamed Al-Fayed bought the Jonikal, a metre multimillion-pound yacht on which to entertain Diana and her sons.[][][] Tina Brown later claimed that Diana's romance with Fayed and her four-month relationship with Gulu Lalvani were a ploy "to inflame the true object of her affections, Hasnat Khan".[65] In the years after her death, Burrell, journalist Richard Kay, and voice coach Stewart Pierce have claimed that Diana was also thinking about buying a property in the United States.[][][]
Princess of Wales
Following her engagement to Charles, Diana made her first official public appearance in March in a charity event at Goldsmiths' Hall.[][] She attended the Trooping the Colour for the first time in June , making her appearance on the balcony of Buckingham Palace afterwards.
In October , Charles and Diana visited Wales.[26][] She attended the State Opening of Parliament for the first time on 4 November [] Her first solo engagement was a visit to Regent Street on 18 November to switch on the Christmas lights.[] Diana made her inaugural overseas tour in September , to attend the funeral of Princess Grace of Monaco.[26] Also in , Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands created Diana a Grand Cross of the Order of the Crown.[] In , Diana accompanied Charles and William on a tour of Australia and New Zealand.
The tour was a success and the couple drew immense crowds, though the press focused more on Diana rather than Charles, coining the term 'Dianamania' as a reference to people's obsession with her.[] While sitting in a car with Charles near the Sydney Opera House, Diana burst into tears for a few minutes, which their office stated was due to jet lag and the heat.[] In New Zealand, the couple met with representatives of the Māori people.[26] Their visit to Canada in June and July included a trip to Edmonton to open the Summer Universiade and a stop in Newfoundland to commemorate the th anniversary of that island's acquisition by the Crown.[] In , she was targeted by the Scottish National Liberation Army who tried to deliver a letter bomb to her.[]
In February , Diana was the patron of London City Ballet when she travelled to Norway on her own to attend a performance organised by the company.[26] In April , Charles and Diana visited Italy, and were later joined by their sons.[26] They met with President Alessandro Pertini.
Their visit to the Holy See included a private audience with Pope John Paul II.[] In autumn , they returned to Australia, and their tour was well received by the public and the media, who referred to Diana as "Di-amond Princess" and the "Jewel in the Crown".[] In November , the couple visited the United States,[26] meeting Ronald and Nancy Reagan at the White House.
Diana had a busy year in as she and Charles toured Japan, Spain, and Canada.[] In Canada, they visited Expo 86,[] where Diana fainted in the California Pavilion.[][] In November , she went on a six-day tour to Oman, Qatar, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, where she met King Fahd of Saudi Arabia and Sultan Qaboos of Oman.[]
In , Charles and Diana visited Thailand and toured Australia for the bicentenary celebrations.[26][] In February , she spent a few days in New York as a solo visit, mainly to promote the works of the Welsh National Opera, of which she was a patron.[] During a tour of Harlem Hospital Center, she spontaneously hugged a seven-year-old child with AIDS.[] In March , she had her second trip to the Arab states of the Persian Gulf, in which she visited Kuwait and the UAE.[]
In March , Diana and Charles toured Nigeria and Cameroon.[] The president of Cameroon hosted an official dinner to welcome them in Yaoundé.[] Highlights of the tour included visits by Diana to hospitals and projects focusing on women's development.[] In May , they visited Hungary for four days.[][] It was the first visit by members of the royal family to "a former Warsaw Pact country".[] They attended a dinner hosted by President Árpád Göncz and viewed a fashion display at the Museum of Applied Arts in Budapest.[] Peto Institute was among the places visited by Diana, and she presented its director with an honorary OBE.[] In November , she and Charles went to Japan to attend the enthronement of Emperor Akihito.[26][]
In her desire to play an encouraging role during the Gulf War, Diana visited Germany in December to meet with the families of soldiers.[] She subsequently travelled to Germany in January to visit RAF Bruggen, and later wrote an encouraging letter which was published in Soldier, Navy News and RAF News.[] In , Charles and Diana visited Queen's University at Kingston, Ontario, where they presented the university with a replica of their royal charter.[] In September , Diana visited Pakistan on a solo trip, and went to Brazil with Charles.[] During the Brazilian tour, Diana paid visits to organisations that battled homelessness among street children.[] Her final trips with Charles were to India and South Korea in [26] She visited Mother Teresa's hospice in Kolkata, India.[] The two women met later in the same month in Rome[] and developed a personal relationship.[] It was also during the Indian tour that pictures of Diana alone in front of the Taj Mahal made headlines.[][][] In May , she went on a solo tour of Egypt, visiting the Giza pyramid complex and attending a meeting with Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak.[][] In November , she went on an official solo trip to France and had an audience with President François Mitterrand.[] In March , she went on her first solo trip after her separation from Charles, visiting a leprosy hospital in Nepal where she met and came into contact with some patients, marking the first time they had ever been touched by a dignitary who had come to visit.[] In December , she announced that she would withdraw from public life, but in November she said she wished to "make a partial return".[26][] In her capacity as the vice-president of British Red Cross, she was interested in playing an important role for its th anniversary celebrations.[] Later, the Queen formally invited her to attend the anniversary celebrations of D-Day.[26] In February , Diana visited Japan.[] She paid a formal visit to Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko,[] and visited the National Children's Hospital in Tokyo.[] In June , Diana went to the Venice Biennale art festival,[] and also visited Moscow where she received the International Leonardo Prize.[] In November , Diana undertook a four-day trip to Argentina to attend a charity event.[] She visited many other countries, including Belgium, Switzerland, and Zimbabwe, alongside numerous others.[26] During her separation from Charles, which lasted for almost four years, Diana participated in major national occasions as a senior member of the royal family, notably including "the commemorations of the 50th anniversaries of Victory in Europe Day and Victory over Japan Day" in [26]
Charity work and patronages
In Diana confided to the