Lady Diana. Princess of human hearts Benoit Sophia

Chapter 2

It was often said about Diana: incredibly, a simple teacher became a princess! Yes, this is the story of a modern Cinderella! Of course, the rise of a modest girl is like a fairy tale. But is this fairy tale about the people's princess so simple, and can the family of monarchs easily accept a simpleton from the street into their ranks? If you believe this, you should check out the pedigree of the shy "Cinderella".

The mother of the future Princess of Wales, Frances Althorp, was descended from an Irish politician, a member of the British Parliament, Edmund Burke Roche, who lived in the 19th century. For services to the prosperity of the British Empire, Queen Victoria granted Mr. Edmund Roche the title of baronet, after which he began to be called the first Baron Fermoy.

The third Baron Fermoy, Edmund's youngest son James Roche, married Frances Wark in 1880, the daughter of a wealthy American stockbroker. As historians testify, in those days marriages between the offspring of the British aristocracy and the “dollar princesses” of the New World were common when two components were mixed: title and money. In this case, the marriage of convenience broke up after eleven years. Taking three children, the woman returned back to New York. Her father, Frank Wark, left his grandsons Maurice and Francis thirty million pounds each, provided that the heirs ... renounce British titles and take American citizenship. But the brothers refused to accept such conditions. However, when Frank Wark died in 1911, they found a way to get most of the inheritance and live a comfortable life. An amazing fate befell Maurice; the young man fought during the First World War; due to family circumstances, he was forced to accept the title of fourth Baron Fermoy and return to Great Britain in 1921.

Edmund Burke Roche - 1st Baron Fermoy

The experience of American life made him a stranger among his own. But the education received at Harvard, sincerity and lack of snobbery, and military training made his image attractive in the eyes of many young ladies of high society. However, sympathy for him was strong from different sides, which confirms his repeated election to the House of Commons.

Maurice managed to make friends with Albert, Duke of York, the youngest son of King George V. The royal friend managed to secure such a privilege: the Fermoys leased the Park House guest house located on the territory of the royal estate of Sandringham. Here, on January 20, 1936, Frances, the second daughter of Maurice, who later became the mother of Diana, will be born. The girl was born on a fateful day: on the day of the death of King George V.

The British crown went to the eldest son of the late monarch, Edward VIII. Who, as we know from history, was madly in love with American Wallis Simpson. He dreamed of marrying his chosen one, but she was a divorced woman, and such a marriage could not take place in the royal family. The same story - an affair with the ex-wife of an officer Camilla - will be experienced by the heir to the British throne, Prince Charles, and the beautiful Diana will be drawn into this ill-fated love triangle by the will of fate.

British Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin threatened King Edward with legal resignation if he did not give up the unequal marriage. The prime minister's statement put the monarch before a choice: either the throne or love. Edward rushed to seek advice from his friend William Churchill, but received evasive answers. As a result, the monarch chose love and on December 10, 1936, he abdicated in favor of his younger brother Albert.

Edward, Prince of Wales and Wallis Simpson in 1935. It was the desire of the future king to marry the divorced Wallis that caused him to abdicate the throne in December 1936.

The Duke of York, Albert Frederick Arthur George, who ascended the throne under the name of George VI, favored his close friend Maurice Fermoy. It is not surprising that the friend of the king was desired in the eyes of many beauties of high society. Lady Glenconner once remarked:

Maurice was still some kind of red tape. Even I was a little afraid of him.

In 1917, during another trip to America, a successful womanizer met a pretty American Edith Travis and fell in love with her. They had an illegitimate daughter; many years later, she published a book of memoirs "Lilac Days", talking about the passionate feelings of her parents Maurice and Edith.

The wife of Maurice was a more successful and more prudent girl named Ruth Gil, whom the loving Briton met in Paris, where the daughter of a Scottish colonel studied piano at the conservatory. However, before meeting Maurice, Ruth dated his younger brother Francis. Realizing that the elder brother inherits the family title and position in society, the young musician immediately went over to Maurice.

She was 23 years old, he was 46 when they signed. This significant event took place in 1931. Ruth was not only ambitious, but also a smart girl who knew perfectly well what she wanted to get from life. She learned to play by the rules of high society and easily turned a blind eye to her husband's love affairs. And she competently used her passion for music, becoming the patron of the brainchild created by her in 1951 - the Festival of Art and Music in King's Lynn.

Maurice Rocher, 4th Baron de Fermoy - Diana's maternal grandfather

Diana's grandmother managed to make friends with the Queen Mother, becoming the best friend for the monarch. Perhaps, when it came to endorsing her granddaughter's candidacy for the role of Princess of Wales, the royal family expected to see in Diana the qualities of her grandmother, Lady Ruth Fermoy? But instead of patience and accommodating over the years, only one thing appeared in Diana - a masterful desire for freedom. However, there were reasons for that ...

The family of Maurice and Ruth had two daughters - the eldest "bug-eyed" (as she was called) Mary and the younger "attractive, cheerful and sexy" (by the definition of school friends) Francis. Years later, an employee who worked for Prince Charles admits:

When Frances looks at you with her bright blue eyes, she seems grander than the queen herself!

Among the admirers of the girl was John, the eldest son of the seventh Earl Spencer, the equerry of George VI, Viscount Althorp. Perhaps he would not have paid attention to the fifteen-year-old exalted baby, if not for her imperious mother, Lady Ruth Fermoy, who immediately set a goal to get John as a son-in-law. She did everything to awaken interest in her daughter in a man: she set up “casual” dates, found common interests between them, slipped cute gifts allegedly on behalf of Francis ...

Viscount Althorp was no doubt an advantageous match for the pretty youngest daughter of the Baron Fermoy. And soon he believed that Francis was a charming girl, without whom he could not live.

And now, a few months after Francis turned seventeen, John announced his break with his fiancée, Lady Anna Coke, and his engagement to Frances Rocher Fermat. In June 1954, a wedding ceremony was held at Westminster Abbey, which was attended by almost 2,000 guests, including Queen Elizabeth II and her husband Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh.

Mothers of many families dreamed of such a groom as John. Still - the eldest son of Earl Spencer, the heir to thirteen thousand acres in the counties of Northamptonshire, Warwickshire and Norfolk, the owner of the family castle Elthorp House, stuffed with priceless works of art!

The wedding of Diana's parents in June 1954

The British, boasting of their pedigrees, will never fail to emphasize their superiority over others. The Spencers also had their big plus. It turns out, and as the author of the book “Diana: The Lonely Princess” D. Medvedev informs us, “The first mention of the Spencers appeared 250 years before the arrival of the famous Hanoverian dynasty, which began in 1714 by King George I, and 430 years before the accession of the current the ruling dynasty of the Windsors (until 1917 - Saxe-Coburg-Gotha). The Spencers not only served the monarchy, they were among its creators. They lent money to King James I, contributed to the fall of his grandson James II and the enthronement of George I. They were more than once related to the royal dynasties and famous families of the United Kingdom. As a result of genealogical intricacies, Diana was a distant relative of British Prime Minister Sir Winston Churchill, seven US presidents, including George Washington and Franklin Roosevelt, and also - which is absolutely amazing! - eleventh cousin of her own husband, Prince Charles.

However, on separate sites you can find more extensive information about the pedigree of Lady Dee, and among her ancient relatives there are: Rurik of Novgorod; Igor Kyiv; Svyatoslav of Kyiv; Prince of Kyiv Vladimir the Great; daughter of Prince Vladimir, wife of the Polish king Boleslav the Brave Maria Dobronega; as well as many, many famous representatives of the noble ducal and count families of Bavaria, Bohemia, Austria and England, as if they constituted one highly branched genealogical tree. The newfangled theory that the world is ruled by representatives of the same families easily fits into this alignment, and some researchers see this as an all-planetary conspiracy, a Masonic plan, and even ... a conspiracy of reptiles.

Wikipedia, which is popular with Internet users, reports that Diana “was born July 1, 1961 in Sandringham, Norfolk, in the family of John Spencer. Her father was Viscount Althorp, a branch of the same Spencer-Churchill family as the Duke of Marlborough and Winston Churchill. Diana's paternal ancestors were carriers of royal blood through the illegitimate sons of King Charles II and the illegitimate daughter of his brother and successor, King James II. The Spencer Earls have long lived in the heart of London, at Spencer House.

Despite the low self-esteem of the representative of the Spencer family, Diana, the self-esteem of this strong family was fundamentally high, which was also confirmed by the motto on the coat of arms: "God saves the right." And the British establishment respected the claims of the Spencers "to be right" and to be chosen.

Diana's father, John Althorp, was of noble birth, but unlike his fellows in the traditionally prim British society, he was an open person, preferring to show his emotions rather than hide them. His friend, Lord St. John Fousley, assured that John was not afraid to openly talk about his feelings and preferred to live life to the fullest. About her father, the viscount, his eldest daughter Sarah spoke like this:

My father had an innate ability to find a way to people's hearts. If he talked to someone, he really began to be carried away by the feelings of the interlocutor. He knew how to love people! I don’t think that this quality can be learned: you either have it from birth, or you don’t have it ...

Albert Edward Jack Spencer, Viscount Althorp is Diana's paternal grandfather. Photo from 1921

Such a character was formed in John as a kind of opposite to the character of his father - the conservative and despotic Viscount Jack Spencer, who neglected everyone who was below him in the caste. He even spoke with his servants with gestures, contemptuously pursing his lips. It is not surprising that many, including his son, were afraid of this overweight and rude man.

Due to his gentle nature and excessive openness, John was drawn to strong women; Francis turned out to be just like that - confident and strong-willed. One of his relatives confessed:

Johnny loves to communicate with strong and strong-willed ladies. There is a feeling that they are a real tonic for him.

Jack Spencer, strangling any initiative of his son, making him dependent in everything, immediately disliked the young daughter-in-law. Understandably, Frances repaid Jack in kind. Moreover, she not only hated her father-in-law, but also contemptuously treated his beloved, protected and cherished offspring - the family castle of Althorp. The young woman openly declared:

The castle induces depressing melancholy, as if you are always in a museum, closed after the departure of regular visitors.

Saving his strength for the decisive struggle with his daughter-in-law, the father-in-law warned that he was expecting the first-born, to whom he could pass the title (girls in British society do not inherit the title). Nine months after the wedding, the first child was born - daughter Sarah, whom the happy young mother immediately dubbed the "honeymoon child."

Earl Spencer, who ordered on the eve of the birth to prepare brushwood in Althorp for future festive bonfires in honor of the appearance of his grandson, in anger ordered everything to be curtailed until better times.

Francis and John Spencer

Two years later, Frances gave birth to her second child, and again it was a girl. She was given the name Jane. On January 12, 1960, the boy John was finally born into the family of Viscount Althorp, whose life lasted only eleven hours. As it turned out, the baby had lung dysfunction, which actually deprived him of the chance to survive.

Earl Spencer, dissatisfied with what was happening and devoid of all sympathy, began to insistently demand the birth of an heir. But on a warm evening on July 1, 1961, a girl, Diana Francis, is born. And only in May 1964, the long-awaited heir to the Spencer family, Charles, was born.

Diana is two years old

This text is an introductory piece.

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Princess Diana is a stronghold of purity and an example to follow. She has a number of behaviors familiar to the royal family, and her style is still being copied. However, we want to talk not so much about Diana, Princess of Wales, but about Diana Francis Spencer - a woman not so well known to us outside of the royal image.

We are in AdMe.ru learned about the other, more human and dramatic side of Lady Dee's life. Two motives invariably intertwined in her fate: the desire to give happiness and the impossibility of becoming happy herself. This is what the facts we have discovered speak of.

One of the first to draw attention to the problem of AIDS and debunk myths about this disease

At the opening of the UK's first AIDS ward, Princess Diana defiantly took off her gloves and shook hands with each patient. This gesture was intentional: Lady Dee tried to dispel the myths about those infected with AIDS, which at that time were stigmatized. Subsequently, she visited sick children many more times, transferred funds to aid funds, and also did not shy away from personally communicating with HIV-infected people.

Since childhood, she was not a favorite of her mother

Diana Spencer was not wealthy enough to neglect her work. The entire inheritance of Earl Spencer was passed down through the male line, which is why Lady Dee, who had not yet married, unlike her sisters, earned as much as she could. She cleaned friends' houses, taught dance lessons to teenagers, worked as an assistant to a nanny and kindergarten teacher.

Worried about weight and got bulimic before marriage

After 13 meetings with her future husband and the decision to get engaged, Lady Diana became seriously concerned about her weight and began to fall into unhealthy states. It all started with a thoughtless phrase from the groom, and ended with an eating disorder - bulimia. By the time of the wedding, the girl's waist had decreased in girth by 20 centimeters, she "melted from February to June." Diana's condition was also affected by endless jealousy: she saw how Charles secretly exchanged gifts with his first love, Camilla.

The honeymoon was not a fairy tale, but a horror

“By this point, my bulimia was completely out of control. The attacks were repeated 4 times a day. Whatever I could find, I immediately ate, and after a couple of minutes I was sick - it exhausted me.

Princess Diana

“In a protective vest, I tried to walk along a deliberately cleared lane and I can say that it is very scary. And what about those who have neither vests nor miners, who have to risk their lives every time they go for water, those who are simply forced to live among minefields ?!

Princess Diana

In one of the cities of Angola, a few days before the arrival of the princess, teenagers playing football were blown up on a field that was not completely cleared of mines. It was on such a field that Lady Diana walked, wearing a bulletproof vest and a protective mask against bullets - this is how she spoke in support of the movement against anti-personnel landmines.

Problems in marriage pursued everywhere: from bed to social events

After the wedding and honeymoon spent together, it became obvious that Charles and Diana, who was 13 years younger than him, had nothing to talk about. The girl had specific, if not limited, tastes in literature, was not interested in her husband's hobbies and ridiculed his piety. In matters of love, as Lady Di admitted, the prince “did not have a need”: for 7 years they retired three times a week, which seemed to her insufficient, and then this was gone.

She hugged leprosy patients she visited in India

Along with the myths about HIV-infected, Princess Diana tried to dispel rumors about people with leprosy. She first visited them at Mother Teresa's leper colony in India and hugged each one before becoming patron of The Leprosy Mission.

Cheating as revenge on her husband

An unhappy marriage and a husband in awe of another woman pushed Princess Diana to try to find out what true love is. Many men are attributed to her lovers: from a riding instructor to a heart surgeon. The most famous is the bodyguard Barry Mannaki - it was about his dismissal and, as the princess herself believed, that she recalled the rigged death, calling it the biggest blow of her life.

Regularly visited children with cancer

, "Queen of Hearts", "Queen of Hearts" from the English Queen of Hearts. She certainly deserved the love of not only the British, but the whole world. Her sad story won many hearts. You can think about Diana, in general, as you like, you can deify her, she can be reduced from a pedestal to another popular, but empty person. But Diana undoubtedly took her place in the history of both her country and this world, and, undoubtedly, among the positive characters. No wonder she is one of the three most famous Englishmen in the world. Queen of hearts. One can argue about many things, but Diana was actually a good mother, and she really did charity work from the bottom of her heart, she knew how to help others. It is a pity that I could not help myself, to deal with my fate. And be colder, as befits a person.

Princess Diana - biography.

Diana was born on July 1, 1961 in Sandringham, Norfolk. Her father John Spencer is Viscount Althorp. Diana also had royal blood in her veins through the illegitimate sons of King Charles II and the illegitimate daughter of his brother and successor, King James II. Lady Diana will become only in 1975 after the death of her grandfather, it is from that time that Diana's father will receive the title of count, and Diana will become a lady.

Princess Diana spent her childhood at Sandringham, where she received her primary education at home. Then she went to school. But at the age of nine, Diana is sent to Riddlesworth Hall, a boarding school. However, for rich children to study in closed schools of this type was quite in the order of things. Diana was not particularly successful in her studies, although she was hardworking. She was also very kind to her classmates. Like everyone else, she dreamed of a vacation that could finally be spent at home. She spent her holidays alternately with her mother, then with her father, who by that time were already divorced. At age 12, Diana is transferred to West Hill Girls' School in Sevenoaks, Kent. Her sisters, Sarah and Jenny, were already studying there. Jenny was quite happy with this school, but Sarah rebelled against strict rules more than once. Sarah, by the way, was a fairly good athlete, she loved tennis. Diana studied ballet, danced step, but unlike her sister and mother, she played tennis at a fairly low level.
Diana did not pass the final exams at West Hill, she failed in all subjects.

In 1976, Diana's father remarried to Raine, who had previously been the wife of the Earl of Dartmouth, he married her just two months after her divorce. The daughters of John Spencer disliked his new wife, who, moreover, was quite power-hungry and tried in every possible way to command in the house. Following their older sister Sarah, they began to sing along under their breath "Rain, Rain, get out."

In 1977, the future Princess went to study in Switzerland. In the same year, she first saw Charles, who came to Althorp to hunt. The Elpin Wiedemanet Institute in Switzerland was a rather expensive private school that prepared girls for entry into society. They also took a two-year secretarial course and learned how to cook. The main emphasis was on learning French. Speaking a language other than French was strictly forbidden. The very rules that reigned in the Institute were also very strict. Diana didn't like it there. She mostly communicated with Sophie Kimbell, also an Englishwoman, and, of course, in English. She ends up flying home to Chelsea, her mother's apartment in London.

In general, Diana never received at least some kind of education. The only thing she could count on if she was not an aristocrat was unemployment benefits.

In London, Diana soon buys her own apartment, thanks to her share of the family's finances and an inheritance from her American great-grandmother Frances Wark. Her friends live in Diana's apartment - first Sophie Kimbell, whom she met while studying at a Swiss institute, then Caroline Pravd, Diana's friend from West Hill School, who at that time studied at the Royal College of Music. Then two more friends of Diana join them - Ann Bolton, who worked as a secretary, since her friends still had to think about money, and Virginia Pitman, who usually cooked for everyone, and Diana washed the dishes.

Diana also went to work. At one time she worked as a cleaner, then as a health visitor, by the way, while still at West Hill School, the girls had responsibilities to take care of one of the elderly, to participate in charity in an orphanage. Diana worked as a nanny. Among her employers, for example, were Patrick and Mary Robinson, who remembered Diana as an "exceptionally intelligent and excellent with children" nanny.

Lady Di and Prince Charles.

Diana had a dream to become, but the moment for the realization of this dream was lost, and now Diana dreamed of becoming a ballet teacher. By the way, she always loved children and knew how to find a common language with them. And she even managed to work for a while at Mrs. Wakani's dance school. But Diana did not pay enough attention to this work, because, according to Mrs. Vakani, "She loved social life very much." Then Diana worked as a kindergarten teacher. And a prince appeared in her life, Prince Charles, and she did everything to conquer him.

Wedding of Princess Diana and Prince Charles.

On July 29, 1981, their wedding took place. In 1982 and 1984 the sons of Diana and Charles and Harry were born. But their marriage did not become successful and happy. Charles still loved Camilla Parker Bowles. And Diana, realizing that her ideal dreams of an ideal family will never come true, starts an affair with her riding instructor James Hewitt. Since 1992, Charles and Diana lived separately, but divorced only in 1996 at the insistence of the Queen, who was no longer able to endure all these scandals. Indeed, for the Queen, Diana became a constant source of scandals, a woman who cannot behave with dignity, having taken such a high position, a woman who did not reconcile herself to the behavior of her husband, with his betrayals, but she should have. The queen did not like Diana, who spoiled the reputation of her son and the royal family. But Diana was loved by the people, loved by ordinary Englishmen. Diana overshadowed Charles in everything.

In raising her sons, Diana, firstly, tried to protect them from excessive media attention, but at the same time to teach them how to behave in public. And she also gave them the opportunity to feel like quite ordinary children: this is how they received education at school, and not at home, on vacation Diana allowed them to wear sweatpants, jeans and T-shirts, they went to the movies, ate hamburgers and popcorn, and how everyone stood in line for the rides. Diana was actively involved in charity work and soon began to take her sons with her, for example, when visiting hospitals. And, of course, William and Harry loved their mother very much.

After her divorce from Charles, Diana dated film producer Dodi al-Fayed, son of Egyptian billionaire Mohamed al-Fayed. It is with him that she will go on her last journey through the Paris tunnel. They left the hotel, got into the car ... An accident occurred in the tunnel in front of the Alma bridge on the Seine embankment. Dodi al-Fayed and the driver died at the scene. Diana is in the hospital in two hours. The only survivor of this accident was Diana's bodyguard, who was severely injured and later stated that he did not remember any details about this accident.

Diana's death was not without conspiracy theories, the search for the guilty. According to the official version, the driver was guilty, in whose blood the amount of alcohol was significantly exceeded and who was driving at too high a speed. Perhaps they were trying to hide from the paparazzi.

The death of Diana was a tragedy not only for the British, but for many people around the world.

Princess Diana was buried at the Spencer family estate of Althorp, on a secluded island in the middle of a lake.

On the shelves of British bookstores appeared the book "The Genuine Diana" by Lady Colin Campbell - the same aristocratic writer close to royal circles, who had already written a book about the Queen Mother that shook the whole world. Now she has revealed unknown facts about Diana's life in the royal family.

Lady Campbell claims that Diana's father, the ambitious Lord John Spencer, had for many years nurtured a plan to marry his daughter to Prince Charles. But it was not Diana at all, but her older sister Sarah.

And when Charles's father, Prince Philip, began to look for a bride for him, Sarah Spencer was one of the first to be considered. But this union did not take place due to the fact that Sarah’s statement got into the press: “I don’t care whose wife I become, a prince or a scavenger, as long as there is love between us!” After all, the queen, as you know, can not stand someone from her family discussing their personal lives in public.

The future Princess Diana was the youngest of the three Spencer daughters. "Diana's family hoped she would marry Prince Andrew," writes Colin Campbell. - Diana kept his photo on the bedside table all the time while she was at West Heath school. Her relatives even called her the Duchess - that would be the title of Diana, if she became the wife of Andrew, Duke of York.

The youth of aristocratic families have known the young offspring of the royal family since childhood, so Diana knew everyone - Charles, Andrew, Anna, and Edward. But it was with Andrew that she had a childhood friendship - according to Lady Campbell, in infancy they played together on the territory of the royal estate of Sandringham, where the Spencers rented a mansion. This right was granted by King George VI to his friend, Diana's maternal grandfather. In addition, the Windsor and Spencer families had long-standing ties: one of Diana's great-grandmothers was the mistress of George IV and, according to rumors, even bore him an illegitimate child. And Grandma Ruth (as well as Maternal Grandmother Cynthia) served as a lady-in-waiting to the Queen Mother. John Spencer himself performed the honorary duties of equerry to Queen Elizabeth.

After Sarah left the race, at the Spencer family council it was decided to urgently replace her with Diana, the writer claims. Diana was told to attend every event where Charles appeared. And now the opportunity to get closer to the heir to the throne finally stood out - at one of the country receptions, Diana saw that Charles had gone for a walk alone. “In the field, near a haystack, the prince stopped, sat down. Diana came over and sat down next to him: “You really miss Lord Mountbatten, don’t you? Right now you need someone to take care of you!” - she said. Shortly before this, Charles had lost his beloved great-uncle and mentor - Lord Mountbatten, and he really needed sympathy, ”says Lady Campbell.

About how Diana first came to the royal castle of Balmoral as a personal guest of Charles, writes the butler Paul Burrell, who served there then (he, in turn, also wrote a book about Diana - "Royal Duty").

The fact is that Diana made a mistake - she brought with her only one evening dress for three days. She was lucky - the evenings were warm, and everyone gathered in an informal setting - in the barbecue house. So no one but Paul Burrell noticed her miscalculation. However, forgivable - Diana was only nineteen years old, while the rest of Charles' company was over thirty, or even forty. In addition, she, for nothing that an aristocrat, worked as a modest kindergarten teacher and lived in a rented London apartment, and not at all with her father and stepmother, with whom she felt uncomfortable. “She was modest, often blushing,” recalls Paul Burrell. - Over time, the scarcity of her wardrobe was noticed by the ladies of the court and they themselves ordered something for her: a blue skirt, a collarless jacket of the same color, matching shoes and a white blouse with a stand-up collar.

It was this costume that the princess was wearing when her engagement to Prince Charles was publicly announced at Buckingham Palace on February 24."

Lady Colin Campbell believes that this same suit later played a bad joke on Diana: “She put on a blue ready-made suit that sat baggy on her. In it, she seemed much fuller than she actually was. Seeing her photos in the press, she muttered, "Oh my God, I'm so fat!" Charles tried to comfort her by telling her that she looked great. And he pinched her at the same time by the fold of fat at the waist. Lady Campbell believes that this moment, after which Diana set herself the goal of losing weight before the wedding, was the beginning of her infamous bulimia.

“For three days, Diana starved herself, after which she broke loose and ran to the nearest pastry shop for sweets. She only stopped when she had eaten the whole box. Then she was horrified, rushed to the bathroom and used the well-known “two fingers in her mouth” method. Deciding that this was a wonderful way out, Diana began to do this every day, ”writes Lady Campbell. The dressmaker who worked on the wedding dress grumbled - for the umpteenth time the outfit had to be sewn in. After all, Diana lost 12 kilograms in a short time. She looked great. What could not be said about the state of her nerves. “As is usually the case with bulimia, she began to have mood swings, and there were also unreasonable bouts of sobbing. Over time, Charles had to sip enough of all this, ”says Lady Campbell.

According to her information, Diana's tendency to bulimia manifested itself from school. It was difficult for young Lady Spencer to control how much she ate. “Classmates recall that she could eat a dozen slices of bread at a time. And then three more full bowls of stewed beans,” the book says. And it began at the age of eight - that is, exactly when Diana's parents divorced.

DID DIANA HAVE THE RIGHT TO MARRY CHARLES?

The divorce of John and Frances Spencer became one of the most discussed secular scandals of the late 60s. Everyone condemned Francis, who, without waiting for a divorce, got herself a lover. No one wanted to hear that the real reason for her leaving her husband was abuse.

Diana's mother claimed that her husband beat and humiliated her. But she had no witnesses ... As a result, custody of the children - three daughters and a son - went to John. “And he soon sent them off to boarding schools and took himself a new wife, whom his offspring hated,” writes Lady Campbell. At the same time, the children also condemned their own mother. “She should have stayed with us! I would never, ever leave my children! I'd rather die!" - said Diana, even becoming an adult.

Lady Campbell claims that Charles also lacked parental love since childhood: his mother Elizabeth was too busy with state affairs, and his father subjected any of his actions to ruthless criticism, from which Charles developed something like a neurosis.

They say that, even as an adult, Charles once could not resist tears when he heard from his father: “Everything you say is complete nonsense!” - in response to arguments about architecture, in which Charles was well versed. The first (and, as it turned out later, the only one for life) love of Charles Camille Shand preferred him to the handsome officer of the royal guard Andrew Parker-Bowles, whom she married, despite Charles's persistent courtship.

And when, six years after her marriage, Camilla, having lost interest in her husband, nevertheless responded to the love of the Prince of Wales, their marriage was no longer possible - even if she divorced, the heir to the throne cannot marry a divorced woman. Nevertheless, at a ball at the royal polo club, the two kissed in front of everyone.

It was then that Prince Philip began to urgently look for a bride for his son, for the role of which Diana was somewhat hastily chosen. Lady Campbell believes that for some time Charles believed that young Spencer would be able to give him what he so passionately dreamed of - that is, selfless and reckless love. “But the trouble is: Diana, who really sincerely liked Charles, herself suffered from a “dislike complex”, therefore, instead of loving someone, she needed someone to love her herself,” writes Campbell.

The preparations for the wedding were kept secret for as long as they could. Paul Burrell recalls: “When the royal jeweler David Thomas brought a selection of engagement rings to the palace, it was announced to the servants that the rings were there for Prince Andrew's 21st birthday present.

Although the rings were obviously female. Charles asked the queen to make the choice. Diana later told her friends: “I would never choose such a tasteless ring. I would prefer something simpler and more elegant."

According to Lady Campbell, when Charles proposed to Diana, he begged her to think carefully before answering. After all, a member of the royal family has many responsibilities, every step is in sight, you must be able to keep a face, and you can immediately forget about personal freedom. “But Diana agreed instantly, without any hesitation. It seems that she simply could not imagine that any difficulties could follow the wedding with the prince. She was brought up on the romance novels of Barbara Cartland, where after the wedding the finale immediately comes: "And they lived happily ever after, loving each other ..."

Written by Lady Campbell.

Previously, there was no doubt that Diana, at least, met one of the main requirements for the bride of the heir to the throne. It is known that before the wedding, the queen's personal gynecologist examined her and announced that Diana was healthy and innocent. On this occasion, a friend of Camilla Parker-Bowles even quipped: "It may well be that Lady Diana was elected precisely because she remained the only virgin aristocrat of marriageable age in this country." But Lady Colin Campbell, after interviewing Diana's school friends, makes a sensational statement: “Diana was only seventeen when she met young Daniel Wiggin. The son of a baronet, he was a friend of her brother Charles.

And he became her first lover. Soon Diana met with the next - James Coltrast, also the son of a baronet. He was very attractive to her physically, was just her type of man - tall, dark-haired, muscular. In addition to them, Lady Campbell lists five more premarital lovers of Diana. Moreover, the future Princess of Wales, according to her information, was so close with the guardsman Rory Scott that she spent weekends on his parents' farm, washing and ironing his shirts. And Rory confirmed to the writer that their relationship with Diana "was decidedly not platonic." Little of! Allegedly, he had not yet been Diana's first.

According to Lady Campbell, there was another moment that could have upset the wedding if it had been known in 1981.

“The fact that Diana's mother's great-great-grandmother, Eliza Quark, was a Bombay-born Indian was one of the most closely guarded Spencer family secrets,” writes Lady Colin Campbell. “After all, if anyone knew about this, then none of the three daughters of Frances Spencer would ever be able to successfully marry.”

IS THE PRINCESS TOO BETTER WITH THE SERVANTS?

And on July 29, 1981, in St. Paul's Cathedral, 32-year-old Prince Charles was married to 20-year-old Diana Spencer. 75 million people watched the fabulous, by all accounts, wedding ceremony. It is known that at the wedding, Queen Elizabeth, in joy, slightly picked up her skirt and famously danced a jig. It seemed to everyone that this marriage would bring happiness to both the newlyweds and England.

But for Charles and Diana, those hopes were dashed during their honeymoon, which they spent on a Mediterranean cruise aboard the royal ship Britannia. According to Lady Campbell, it was there that it became clear that Charles was not able to give his young wife enough, by her standards, time, and Diana was not able to come to terms with this. The prince immersed himself in his own affairs several times a day - he looked through business papers, or even read something on philosophy just for pleasure. And Diana, meanwhile, was languishing with boredom and complaining about life. “The bulimia had by then shaken her nervous system quite a bit,” writes Lady Campbell. In the end, Charles had an irresistible desire to call Camille Parker-Bowles from the Britannia, locked in the bathroom of his own cabin.

Diana overheard their conversation. There was gossip about Charles's affair with Camilla in royal circles, but Diana, until recently, led a completely different life, and these rumors did not reach her. Now she found out everything and demanded that her husband end the relationship with Camilla.

“The worst thing was that the newlyweds, apart from a passionate desire to be loved and happy, had very little in common,” says Lady Campbell. Here is the footman Paul Burrell, who after the wedding was made the personal butler of the Prince and Princess of Wales, recalls how Charles used to spend whole evenings sitting downstairs in the library, listening to Haydn, while Diana turned on Whitney Houston in her room on the second floor. According to her interests, she was an ordinary resident of London.

Perhaps more kind and sympathetic - this was taught by her work with children. Having become the Princess of Wales, Diana got the opportunity to do what she had long been disposed to - to help people. Paul Burrell tells of the horror he experienced when he was driving somewhere with the princess, and she suddenly stopped next to a vulgarly made-up girl in a short skirt, freezing in a damp wind. While the butler was drenched in cold sweat, imagining the headlines of tomorrow's newspapers: "Princess Diana spends time in the company of prostitutes," his patroness handed the girl 100 pounds and said: "Buy yourself something warm. And so that the next time I pass by here, you should be better dressed.” And after a couple of weeks, Diana really made sure that the girl was now waiting for clients in a warm leather jacket.

But Charles's interests - to art, philosophy, fishing and hunting - Diana did not share. When, after her first participation in the royal hunt, according to the ritual, her cheeks were smeared with blood taken from the belly of a freshly killed deer ripped open with a hunting knife, Diana shuddered in disgust. But not so long ago, Charles initiated Camilla as a hunter in the same way, and she was delighted with the medieval rite! "Even the sports in which Diana was strong - tennis, swimming, dancing - were not those that Charles, who preferred riding," appreciated, says Lady Campbell.

In the first months, Diana and Charles lived in Buckingham Palace, which, as you know, is a real maze of endless corridors, halls and rooms. As soon as Diana moved away from her apartments, she got lost. After all, it never occurred to anyone to give her a tour of the palace.

Somehow, Diana learned the way to the pool and also to the throne room, where she was allowed to take ballet and tap dancing lessons. Diana fluttered there in tights, not far from two ancient thrones that stood on their gilded legs under a heavy maroon canopy with gold tassels. One is taller, for the Queen, the other is lower, for the Duke of Edinburgh.

As for Charles's parents, in their own way they tried very hard to be affectionate and cordial with Diana. Every now and then in the evenings, when Diana was tired of sitting alone, she called the royal page: “Find out, please, will the queen dine alone tonight?” He went to report and received the answer: “Please tell Lady Diana that I will have dinner with her at 8:15 with pleasure.” The crowned mother-in-law never refused her.

But the atmosphere was too formal for intimate conversations. What can we say about the crowded receptions that Diana now had to attend. The Queen, being an excellent hostess, always made sure that no guest sat at the table twice with the same neighbor. And Diana always wanted to sit with Prince Charles.

In a word, irritation accumulated. According to Lady Colin Campbell, even the royal dogs began to seem disgusting to Diana: “During tea parties at the mother-in-law, these corgis curled around Diana like a small demon, dripping saliva on her shoes. And she slowly kicked them in the side. And then she complained to her husband: “They sniffed me! Do they think my legs are steaks?” Diana also disliked Labrador Sandringham, who belonged to Charles himself.

She complained: "You pay more attention to this animal than to me." In the end, Charles, who was tired of quarreling with his wife over a dog, did not find anything better than to take Sandringham to the veterinarian and put him to sleep. Although Diana did not ask for anything like that. She just wanted Charles to spend more time with her, because she felt so lonely ... “After the death of the dog, to whom Charles was very attached, something seemed to die in the prince himself,” writes Lady Campbell.

That's with whom the princess found an outlet, so it was with the servants. She often sat with silversmith Victor Fletcher. Or she chatted in the kitchen with chef Robert Pine, who treated her to rustic jokes and homemade ice cream. Or in the pantry, she did the dishes with Paul Burrell. “It ended up that Prince Charles, to his great surprise, found the footman Mark Simpson in the bedroom of the princess.

He sat on the edge of the bed and calmly talked with Diana, who was not at all embarrassed that she was not properly dressed enough, ”recalls Burrell. This Mark quietly brought a Big Mac from McDonald's to the palace for her.

It was through her friendship with the servants that Diana learned that her husband was still in touch with Camilla in her absence. One day, while waiting for Burrell in the pantry, she looked into the notebook where he wrote down the guests who were waiting for the table. "Mr. and Mrs. Oliver Howre and Mrs. Parker-Bowles for Dinner", "Mrs. Candida Lucette-Greene and Mrs. Parker-Bowles for Dinner", "Mr. and Mrs. Parker-Bowles with Children".

DIANA STRIKES BACK

Subsequently, collaborating in 1992 with journalist Andrew Morton, who wrote the book Diana. Her True Story,” the princess said that while pregnant with William, she threw herself down a wooden staircase in front of her husband. From desperation and impotence to change something. Lady Colin Campbell writes: “In fact, according to the testimony of the servants present at that scene, it was not so. She simply slipped on the slippery wooden steps and fell. Fortunately, everything worked out - for both Diana and William. According to her, Diana tried to play on Charles's feelings more than once, imitating suicide attempts. Once, in the heat of a quarrel, she took a penknife and ran it over her wrist - however, without even scratching it. Another time I poked my leg with a lemon squeezer.

Well, Charles ... "At the slightest sign of a coming showdown, he simply turned and left," writes Lady Campbell.

According to the writer, the novels that Diana eventually began to start on the side were explained partly by the need for happiness and love, and partly by the desire to arouse at least jealousy in her husband. But Charles did not respond. "Aware of his wife's relationship with the banker Philip Dunn, the Prince personally invited him to join them on holiday in Switzerland," says Campbell. The father-in-law and mother-in-law looked at Diana's novels in a completely different way. When they heard rumors about the daughter-in-law's next hobby - her own bodyguard Barry Mannaki - he was hastily transferred to the provincial police department. Diana was most struck by the fact that her lover so simply agreed to part with her.

After all, he could, after all, resign! It soon became clear that the story did not end there. “Barry was going to sell a love story with Diana to one of the tabloids,” writes Lady Campbell. “It hasn't even been a few weeks since he died. Diana did not believe that his death was accidental, seeing in this the machinations of the secret services.

As for the red-haired officer James Hewitt, with whom Diana also had an affair and whom many now believe is the biological father of Prince Harry, Lady Campbell strongly rejects such a possibility. According to her information, Diana also had an affair with Barry after the birth of Harry, and with Hewitt even later. By the way, with Hewitt, as a result, the previous story was repeated - they learned about their relationship in the palace, and Diana's lover was transferred to serve in Germany for two years.

But trying to prevent a scandal was as useless as trying to keep the water out with a sieve.

At first, Diana and Charles decided to leave, which could not be kept secret. Then came the same book by Andrew Morton, written on the basis of conversations with Diana. And to top it all, the princess herself gave a television interview in which she told the whole world about her problems with piercing frankness: “I loved my husband very much and wanted to share both sorrow and joy with him. I thought we were a very good couple." - "Do you think that Mrs. Parker-Bowles played a role in causing your marriage to fall apart?" “You see, there were three of us in this marriage. A little tight, isn't it?" In the same TV interview, Diana spoke about her bulimia.

And when asked if she plans to eventually become queen, Diana replied: "I would like to be the queen of people's hearts, but I do not imagine myself the queen of this country." Finally, she also admitted that she had an affair with James Hewitt.

This interview really turned the already popular Diana into the queen of human hearts. Millions of people reasoned: not only is she actively involved in charity, she brings hope to cancer patients and AIDS, the homeless, the poor, victims of anti-personnel mines ... She is also a sincere, loving and at the same time deeply unhappy person. But for Windsor Castle, Diana became a decidedly inappropriate person.

PINK GRANDMA, BROWN GRANDMA

The queen could not ignore the scandals surrounding her son's marriage indefinitely, and in the end made the difficult decision to formally divorce. Despite the fact that there was no actual marriage for a long time, Diana was terribly struck. Paul Burrell recalls: “On the table lay a letter on the stamped paper of Windsor Castle, written in such a recognizable clear handwriting of the queen. It began with the words "Dear Diana ...", and ended, as usual: "With love, from mom." The princess was very hurt by the mention in the letter that the queen had consulted with the government and the church. “But this is my marriage! No one has the right to interfere in my problems with my husband! she screamed. - I'm talking about the interests of the country.

But why doesn’t anyone care about my interests or the interests of my children?” Diana sat down at the table and wrote back to the Queen, asking for time to think. But the very next day, a letter arrived on the same subject from Prince Charles. To Diana's fury, some of the wording in the letters of her husband and mother-in-law coincided verbatim. For example, "a personal and state tragedy" or "the depressing and confusing situation in which we all find ourselves."

After the divorce, Diana lost her title of Royal Highness and from now on she had to curtsy at official events even in front of her own sons. She was even more upset that Charles now completely and completely goes to her hated rival - Camille. However, the new position also had its advantages. For example, freedom.

Diana now has access to cash again. All the time of the marriage, she had to use only a card or sign checks: "Welsh." But it’s embarrassing to somehow pay in this way in a movie or in a fast food eatery. In addition, all the expenses were in full view of the mother-in-law, which is also tiring. Paul Burrell recalls: “Diana's first act was to take twenty of her dresses and suits to a second-hand store, and on this alone she made about 11,000 pounds in cash. So the young princes first saw paper money, and they liked it terribly. Especially the fact that on banknotes - the face of the Queen. The princes immediately nicknamed the five-pound note the "blue grandmother", the ten-pound note the "brown grandmother", and the fifty pounds the "pink grandmother". It was the “pink grandmother” that William and Harry vied with each other to try to grab when the mother, laughing, handed out money to them.

And then Dodi al-Fayed appeared in Diana's life.

“Now, in no case would anyone have exchanged it for a career - a special attitude to work gave Dodi a lot of free time, and he willingly devoted it to Diana in the quantities that she liked,” writes Lady Campbell. - In addition, they had a lot in common: they loved the same films, books, music. These two could find true happiness and live together until old age, if not for that terrible accident. By the way, the only person who survived in it - bodyguard Trevor Reese-Jones, having restored his memory, said that the last sound he heard from the dying Diana was a groan: "Dodi" ...

The causes of the accident have not yet been sorted out. “The only thing that now, many years later, can be said almost for certain is that the paparazzi chasing the princess’s car were not directly responsible for her death, as was originally believed,” writes Lady Campbell. - The investigation, which lasted several years, established: on the mangled remains of Diana's black car there are traces of white paint. And this means that the cause of the accident was a collision with a mysterious car that fled the scene. Despite many years of joint searches by the French and British police, this car was never found.

Reflecting on all this, the writer recalls Diana's plans to move with her sons to America, which Paul Burrell told her about. "These plans are unlikely to please the British leadership," - she says.

The butler himself recalls this as follows: “The princess showed me a magazine with a house plan, which was sold in California on the ocean coast. We sat on the floor in the living room and began to plan: this is where William's room will be, this is where Harry will be, this is the front room, and this is where the servants will live. She dreamed of morning runs along the beach, of a bright sun that was not like London. “We could also get a dog there,” Diana said. - Labrador ... "

Diana, Princess of Wales (Diana, Princess of Wales), nee Diana Francis Spencer (Diana Francis Spencer; July 1, 1961, Sandringham, Norfolk - August 31, 1997, Paris) - from 1981 to 1996, the first wife of Charles, Prince of Wales, heir to the British throne. Commonly known as Princess Diana, Lady Diana or Lady Di. According to a poll conducted in 2002 by the BBC broadcaster, Diana was ranked third in the list of the hundred greatest Britons in history.

Diana was born July 1, 1961 in Sandringham, Norfolk to John Spencer. Her father was Viscount Althorp, a branch of the same Spencer-Churchill family as the Duke of Marlborough, and.

Diana's paternal ancestors were carriers of royal blood through the illegitimate sons of King Charles II and the illegitimate daughter of his brother and successor, King James II. Earls Spencers have long lived in the very center of London, in Spencer House.

Diana spent her childhood in Sandringham, where she received her primary home education. Her teacher was the governess Gertrude Allen, who taught Diana's mother. She continued her education at Sealfield, at a private school near King's Line, then at Riddlesworth Hall Preparatory School.

When Diana was 8 years old, her parents divorced. She stayed with her father, along with her sisters and brother. The divorce had a strong influence on the girl, and soon a stepmother appeared in the house, who disliked children.

In 1975, following the death of her grandfather, Diana's father became the 8th Earl Spencer and she received the courtesy title of "lady" reserved for daughters of high peers. During this period, the family moved to the ancient ancestral castle of Althorp House in Nottrogtonshire.

At the age of 12, the future princess was accepted into a privileged school for girls in West Hill, in Sevenoaks, Kent. Here she turned out to be a bad student and could not finish it. At the same time, her musical abilities were not in doubt. The girl was also fascinated by dancing.

In 1977, she briefly attended school in the Swiss city of Rougemont. Once in Switzerland, Diana soon began to feel homesick and returned to England ahead of schedule.

Princess Diana Height: 178 centimeters.

Princess Diana's personal life:

In the winter of 1977, before leaving for training, she met her future husband for the first time - - - when he comes to Althorp to hunt.

In 1978 she moved to London, where she initially stayed in her mother's apartment (who then spent most of her time in Scotland). As a gift for her 18th birthday, she received her own £100,000 apartment in Earls Court, where she lived with three friends. During this period, Diana, who previously adored children, began working as an assistant teacher at Young England Nursery School in Pimiliko.

The wedding of Charles and Diana, which took place on July 29, 1981, attracted a lot of attention from the public and the media. In 1982 and 1984, the sons of Diana and Charles were born - the Princes and Wales, who are next in line of succession to the British crown after their father.

By the early 1990s, relations between the spouses were upset, in particular, due to Charles's continued relationship with Camilla Parker Bowles (subsequently, after the death of Diana, who became his second wife).

Diana herself was for some time in a close relationship with her riding instructor James Hewitt, which she admitted in a 1995 television interview (Charles had made a similar confession about the connection with Camilla a year earlier).

The marriage broke up in 1992, after which the couple lived separately, and ended in divorce in 1996 at the initiative of the Queen.

Shortly before her death, in June 1997, Diana began dating film producer Dodi al-Fayed, the son of the Egyptian billionaire Mohamed al-Fayed, but apart from the press, none of her friends confirmed this fact, and this is also denied in the book of Lady Diana's butler - Paul Barrela, who was a close friend of the princess.

Diana was actively involved in charitable and peacekeeping activities (in particular, she was an activist in the fight against AIDS and the movement to stop the production of anti-personnel mines).

She was one of the most popular women in the world of her time. In the UK, she has always been considered the most popular member of the royal family, she was called the "Queen of Hearts" or "Queen of Hearts" (Queen of Hearts).

On June 15-16, 1995, Princess Diana made a short visit to Moscow. She visited the Tushino Children's Hospital, which she had previously provided charitable assistance to (the princess donated medical equipment to the hospital), and Primary School No. 751, where she solemnly opened a branch of the fund for helping children with disabilities Waverly House.

On June 16, 1995, the ceremony of presenting Princess Diana with the International Leonardo Prize took place at the British Embassy in Moscow.

Death of Princess Diana

On August 31, 1997, Diana died in a car accident in Paris, along with Dodi al-Fayed and driver Henri Paul. Al-Fayed and Paul died instantly, Diana, taken from the scene (in the tunnel in front of the Alma bridge on the Seine embankment) to the Salpêtrière hospital, died two hours later.

The cause of the accident is not entirely clear, there are a number of versions (alcohol intoxication of the driver, the need to escape at speed from the persecution of the paparazzi, as well as various conspiracy theories). The only surviving passenger of the car "Mercedes S280" with the number "688 LTV 75", bodyguard Trevor Rhys Jones, who was seriously injured (his face had to be restored by surgeons), does not remember the events.

On December 14, 2007, a report was presented by the ex-commissioner of Scotland Yard, Lord John Stevens, who stated that the British investigation confirmed the conclusions according to which the amount of alcohol in the blood of the driver of the car, Henri Paul, at the time of his death, was exceeded by three times, than is acceptable in French legislation. In addition, the speed of the car exceeded the permissible in this place twice. Lord Stevens also noted that the passengers, including Diana, were not wearing seat belts, which also played a role in their deaths.

Princess Diana was buried on September 6 at the Spencer family estate of Althorp in Northamptonshire, on a secluded island.

Who bothered Princess Diana

Diana has been repeatedly called "the most photographed woman in the world" (some sources share this title between her and Grace Kelly).

Many books have been written about Diana in various languages. Almost all of her friends and close employees spoke with memories. There are several documentaries and even feature films. There are both fanatical fans of the memory of the princess, insisting even on her holiness, and criticism of her personality and the pop cult that has arisen around her.

As part of the album Black Celebration (1986) by Depeche Mode, the composition "New Dress" was released, in which the author of words and music, Martin Gore, ironically plays up how much attention the media showed to the life of Princess Diana.