Princess Diana

'Princess Diana has died.' I was in Australia when someone told me and I just started laughing and said 'don't be so ridiculous'. But it was true. I wonder how many other people around the world were filled with similar feelings of disbelief.

Diana, Princess of Wales, died after a car crash in the early hours of the morning in Paris on 31 August 1997. She was taken to hospital where surgeons fought for two hours to save her life, but in vain. The accident happened after the princess left the Ritz Hotel with her companion, Dodi Al Fayed, son of the Harrods owner Mohamed Al Fayed. Both he and the driver of the vehicle were also killed in the collision which took place in a tunnel under the Place de l'Alma in the centre of the city. The car was apparently being pursued at high speed by photographers on motorbikes when it hit a pillar and smashed in to a wall. Mr. Al Fayed and the chauffeur died at the scene but the princess and her bodyguard, who subsequently survived, were cut from the wreckage and rushed to hospital.

The nation was plunged in to mourning, united in their grief at the untimely death of someone who had played such a bug role since her wedding, as an innocent eighteen-year-old, to the Prince of Wales. Over the years she had blossomed into an international superstar. Her face could be seen on magazine all over the world. She was fashion icon. But being in the limelight took its tool.

It was very poignant that she should die so young just as she seemed to have found happiness. In the days after her death, thousands upon thousands of people laid flowers in front of Buckingham Palace and Kensington Palace (the Princess' London home). Over one million people (many weeping openly) lined the streets of London to see the princess' funeral cortege as it made its way to Westminster Abbey in early September. And around the world, many millions more watched the funeral on television.

Diana, Princess of Wales, will be remembered as the people's princess. She did much to bring the royal family closer to the people and she also worked tirelessly for many charities around the world.