Lady Diana Spencer married Prince Charles in a fairy tale royal wedding in 1981. They had two sons, but their marriage turned into a nightmare, and both parties had affairs before splitting up. Within a year of their divorce, the Princess of Wales found love again with Dodi Fayed before losing her life in a car crash in Paris. This is the tragic story of how the Peoples’ Princess became the Queen of Hearts.
A Princess Is Born
Diana, Princess of Wales, was born Diana Frances Spencer at Park House on the Sandringham Estate in Norfolk, England, on July 1st, 1961. Born into the aristocracy, her parents were the Viscount and Viscountess of Althorp, John and Frances Spencer. The Spencer-Churchill family has had links with the British royal family for generations.
All four of Diana’s grandmothers were ladies-in-waiting to Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother. The family dates back to the early 16th century, and Diana was a distant cousin of Sir Winston Churchill.
Strained Marriage
Diana, her older sisters, Sarah and Jane, and her younger brother Charles grew up on the Sandringham Estate — which her parents rented from The Queen, whom Diana affectionately called Aunt Lilibet. Before Diana and Charles Spencer were born, John and Frances’ marriage was strained due to the pressure to produce a male heir.
John sent Frances to Harley Street clinics to determine why she hadn’t conceived a boy. To make matters worse, they had lost their one-year-old son, John, shortly before Diana was born.
Her Parents’ Divorce
John and Frances Spencer separated in 1967 and divorced two years later when Diana was eight. Diana’s brother, Charles Spencer, later revealed the immense pressure their father placed on their mother to produce a male heir to the Spencer bloodline was “the root of their divorce.”
After the divorce, John Spencer won custody of the four children. However, Diana went to live with her mother in London. In 1969, Frances Spencer remarried wallpaper tycoon and heir Peter Shand Kydd.
Lady Diana Spencer
When Diana’s grandfather, Albert Spencer, 7th Earl Spencer, passed away in 1975, her father became 8th Earl Spencer and moved the family from Sandringham to Althorp.
The Spencer family ancestral seat is a grand Grade I listed stately home nestled on 13,000 acres of land in West Northamptonshire and has been in the family for more than 500 years. At this point, the young Diana — who had been nicknamed “Duch” due to her duchess-like attitude in childhood — became Lady Diana Spencer.
Wicked Stepmother
In 1976, Diana’s father, Lord Althorp, married Raine, Countess of Dartmouth (pictured) — a socialite, local politician, and the daughter of eccentric English romantic novelist Barbara Cartland. However, Diana’s relationship with her new stepmother was rocky. She stated her childhood was “very unhappy” and “very unstable, the whole thing.”
The Countess of Dartmouth bullied Diana, and the young girl grew to resent her wicked stepmother. While Raine walked all over Diana, the young girl would push back when cornered, once pushing her stepmother down the stairs.
Diana’s Education
Diana was initially homeschooled by her governess, Gertrude Allen. When she was nine, she went to Silfield Private School in King’s Lynn, Norfolk, and then the all-girls boarding school Riddlesworth Hall School.
