In the past 25 years, the world has changed significantly but the affection for Diana remains the same. The princess’ remarkable life – her drama, her joys, her undeniable pain and, of course, her tragic end, will never be forgotten.
On August 31, the world will mark a quarter-century since Diana’s untimely death at the age of 36. It was in the early hours of that morning in 1997 that the Queen and Prince Charles were first told that the Princess of Wales, who was by then divorced from Charles, had been involved in a car accident in a Paris underpass.
The royal family were on their summer break at Balmoral Castle in Scotland and initial reports suggested Diana had suffered nothing more than a broken arm.
Soon, however, the news became much darker: the beloved People’s Princess had been conscious immediately after the crash, asking first responders, “Gosh, what’s happened?” But soon after, she died of her injuries.
The Queen ordered a pot of tea but never touched a drop as she and the rest of the adult royals sat through the night. Diana’s sons, Prince William, then 15, and Prince Harry, 12, were woken at 7.15 the next morning to be told the devastating news.
“I knew something was wrong,” William later shared. “I kept waking up all night.”
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