World
Remembering the Life of Princess Diana
A look back at important moments in Diana's royal, family, and charitable life on the 20th anniversary of her death.
Diana Spencer poses at Itchenor, West Sussex, England, during the summer of 1970.
Diana Frances Spencer was born on the Sandringham estate in Norfolk, England, on July 1, 1961, the youngest daughter of Viscount Althorp (Edward Spencer) and Frances Spencer. She became Lady Diana when her father inherited the earldom in 1975.
Lady Diana Spencer is surprised by photographers as she leaves her apartment in Earl's Court on her way to her job as a teacher at a kindergarten nearby in London on Nov. 17, 1980. Diana had become a press magnet following rumors that she was romantically involved with the Prince of Wales.
With a 25-foot sweeping train, Diana and her new husband Charles leave St Paul's Cathedral after their wedding on July 29, 1981.
The Royal couple had an audience of about 3,000 guests, and it is estimated that more than 750 million people from around the world tuned in to watch the wedding on television.
Charles and Diana stand in front of Ayers Rock during their official tour of Australia on March 21, 1983. The couple visited the rock to see the sunset on their first Royal Tour.
Diana quickly became a global sensation, adding some much-needed warmth, youth and modern flare to the monarchy.
Diana stands with U.S. first lady Nancy Reagan during a visit to a drug rehabilitation center in Washington, D.C., in November 1985.
Diana tried to use her public platform to draw attention to a number of humanitarian causes, during her time as a royal as well as the years until she passed away.
Prince William walks with his mother at the Guards Polo Club on May 2, 1988.
Diana wanted her boys, who were born two years apart, to lead both a normal and royal life. She would bring them to eat at McDonald's, holiday with them at Niagara Falls and Disney World, and even ride the London Underground with them.
Princess Diana sits on a bench alone, now affectionately known as Lady Di's Chair, at The Taj Mahal in Agra during the official Royal tour of India on Feb. 11, 1992. Prince Charles was caught up in business meetings and missed the photo op planned for the couple.
Prince Charles and Princess Diana stand next to each other during their last official trip together, in Seoul, South Korea, on Nov. 3, 1992. They attended a banquet at the government Blue House in Seoul.
The couple announced their separation in December 1992, but continued to carry out their royal duties. Then, in August 1996, they formally divorced.
Princess Diana cups the chin of a Nepalese boy on March 5, 1993, in the Himalayan village of Panauti. The Princess was on the fourth day of a five-day visit to Nepal, visiting development projects funded by the British in the country.
When Diana became a member of the British royal family, she chose work that highlighted the young, the sick and the vulnerable, as well as the old, both physically or mentally weak. She made it her mission to seek out those marginalized by society. She destroyed the "Do not touch" taboo as she shook hands with an AIDS patient, and two years later held the stump of a leprosy patient said Press Secretary Dickie Arbiter.
Mother Teresa, left, says goodbye to Princess Diana after receiving a visit from her on June 18, 1997, in New York.
Diana, who was in the United States on a Red Cross fundraising mission for landmine victims, flew to see Mother Teresa after a meeting at The White House with Hillary Clinton.
Mother Teresa, whose home is normally Calcutta, was in the Bronx to offer spiritual assistance to the large numbers of poor and dejected in the borough.
Princess Diana leaves the house of land mine victim Mirzeta Gabelic on the last day of her private visit to Sarajevo, Bosnia as part of her campaign against landmines on August 10, 1997.
Diana met with victims who sustained injuries from devices planted during the country's savage civil war in the 1990's.
The Prince of Wales, Prince William and Prince Harry look at floral tributes to Diana outside Kensington Palace on September 5, 1997 in London.
On Aug. 31, 1997, Diana and her boyfriend Dodi Fayed, accompanied by bodyguard Trevor Rees-Jones, rode through a Paris tunnel in an attempt to outrun paparazzi photographers. When their driver lost control of the car, the vehicle slammed into a concrete pillar, killing the driver and Fayed at the scene. The princess was rushed to a hospital where she later died.
Guardsmen escort the coffin of Diana draped in the Royal Standard, as the cortege passes through crowds gathered along Whitehall, London on Sept. 6, 1997. Walking behind the coffin are the Duke of Edinburgh, Prince William, the Earl of Spencer, Prince Harry and Prince Charles.
The coffin of Diana is carried into Westminster Abbey by the bearer party of Welsh Guardsmen for her funeral followed by the Prince of Wales, Prince Harry, the Earl Spencer, Prince William and the Duke of Edinburgh on Sep. 6, 1997.
According to the BBC, an estimated 2.5 billion people around the world watched Diana's funeral on TV.
Prince William, right, and Prince Harry look at floral and pictorial tributes to their late mother Princess Diana placed on the gates of Kensington Palace in London on Aug. 30, 2017. The princes paid tribute to their mother on the eve of the 20th anniversary of her death by visiting the Sunken Garden to honor Diana's work with charities.