20 things yous probably didn't know about Princess Diana

princess diana wearing red coat and holding flowers while meeting with admirers

Princess Diana was e'er eager to meet with people of all ages and backgrounds while traveling.
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  • Kristen Stewart depicts Princess Diana in the latest film almost her life, "Spencer."
  • The real Diana was just xvi when she met Prince Charles, and he was dating her older sister.
  • She loved bread-and-butter pudding, but she wasn't a proficient cook herself.

Princess Diana's parents divorced when she was 7 years old.

Lady Diana Spencer in 1969.
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Diana'southward parents, Frances Shand Kydd and Edward John Spencer, divorced later years of a tumultuous, unhappy human relationship, co-ordinate to "Diana, Her True Story" by Andrew Morton.

Diana concluded upwardly living with her father later on her parents' divorce and a vicious custody battle ensued between her begetter and mother over Diana and her iii siblings.

When Diana Spencer was young, she wanted to be a ballerina.

Diana Spencer.
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However, her dreams would never get a reality, as she presently grew to be too tall for the profession and was forced to give it up. Princess Diana was five anxiety and 10 inches.

Merely she was also an accomplished diver, even inventing her own signature motion while at school.

A young Princess Diana on holiday in 1970.
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According to Yahoo!, Diana was a star in the sport in school. The "Spencer Special" was known to be a dive with almost no splash.

She also loved swimming and, after her marriage to Charles, regularly swam laps at the pool at Buckingham Palace.

Diana became Lady Diana Spencer when her father inherited the title of Earl Spencer in 1975.

Princess Diana.
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"Lady Di" became her unofficial nickname, fifty-fifty after she became the Princess of Wales when she married Prince Charles.

Princess Diana struggled in school and dropped out when she was 16.

Princess Diana.
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The soon-to-exist princess struggled in school and somewhen dropped out. While she was in boarding schoolhouse, Diana failed her O-level exams twice earlier dropping out of school.

She later enrolled at a finishing schoolhouse in Switzerland but was only in that location for one semester before meeting Prince Charles and dropping out.

When Princess Diana and Prince Charles met, he was dating her older sister.

Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer together at Buckingham Palace on Feb 24, 1981.
Ron Bell/AP

Prince Charles and Princess Diana officially met when she was xvi years old and Charles was nearing xxx.

Co-ordinate to The Sun, Prince Charles and Diana'due south older sister, Sarah Spencer, were rumored to be dating in 1977, before the royal couple got together. In fact, the older Spencer sister even reportedly takes the credit for introducing Charles and Diana.

"I introduced them. I'm Cupid," Sarah Spencer reportedly said at the time.

"I recall thinking what a very jolly and agreeable and attractive sixteen-yr-old she was," Charles recalled in a 1981 interview with The Telegraph. "I mean, corking fun, and bouncy and total of life and everything."

The couple only met 13 times before they tied the knot.

Prince Charles and Princess Diana.
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Despite their almost 13-year age departure, Prince Charles and Princess Diana'south courtship moved speedily.

However, co-ordinate to Town and Country, many of their conversations took place over the phone and it's reported that the pair only met in person a dozen or so times before they married.

When Diana married Charles, she was just 20 years old.

Princess Diana and Prince Charles on their wedding twenty-four hours on July 29, 1981.
AP

From the very beginning, Diana appeared to be a young woman totally in love. Nonetheless, she still had her doubts well-nigh her presently-to-exist husband.

"We had this ghastly interview the day nosotros announced our engagement," she said in the documentary, "Diana: In Her Own Words."

"And this ridiculous [reporter] said, 'Are y'all in love?' I idea, 'What a thick question.' So I said, 'Yep, of course, nosotros are,' and Charles turned effectually and said, 'Whatever dear ways.' And that threw me completely. I thought, 'What a strange answer.' It traumatized me."

Princess Diana reportedly chose her own appointment band from a catalog.

A 1981 file photo of the engagement rings of Britain'south Prince Charles and his fiancee Lady Diana Spencer.
AP

According to Brides, the ring was designed by crown jeweler Garrard just was called past the princess-to-exist from a catalog, significant that technically anyone could have purchased the sapphire and diamond ring.

According to Vogue, the royal family didn't approve of this and didn't desire commoners having the same access to jewels fit for royals. At the time of its original purchase in 1981, the ring was estimated to cost most $36,000. Today, yet, the ring is priceless.

When Prince William asked Kate Middleton to marry him, he proposed with his late mother'southward stunning engagement ring.

Princess Diana's wedding clothes is estimated to have cost $115,000.

Princess Diana pictured on her wedding day.
AP Photo

The dress was designed by married man-and-wife team David and Elizabeth Emanuel and featured sequins, lace, ten,000 pearls, and a 25-foot railroad train.

Princess Diana was the offset royal to give nascency in a hospital.

Princess Diana and Prince Charles holding their new son, William, on the steps of St Mary's Hospital.
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On June 21, 1982, Princess Diana broke with regal tradition when she gave birth to Prince William, and after Prince Harry, at the Lindo Wing at St Mary's Hospital in London. Prior to Princess Diana becoming a mother, it was commonly custom for members of the regal family to give nascency at the palace.

Kate Middleton later gave birth to her children, Prince George, Princess Charlotte, and Prince Louis, at the same hospital. Prince Harry and Meghan Markle'south son, Archie, was born at Portland Hospital in London, while their daughter, Lilibet, was born in a hospital in California.

Princess Diana chose her sons' names and disagreed with Charles on what William and Harry should exist named.

Princess Diana with Prince William and Prince Harry on a chairlift during a ski vacation in Lech, Republic of austria, in 1991.
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According to Diana herself in Andrew Morton'due south volume, "Diana: Her True Story," Charles originally wanted William to be named Arthur and for Henry — who goes past his nickname "Harry" — to exist named Albert.

Both names, withal, were used in some regard. Prince William'south full proper name is William Arthur Philip Louis, while Harry'due south is Henry Charles Albert David.

Princess Diana struggled with depression and bulimia.

Princess Diana waving to photographers.
ASSOCIATED PRESS

In Andrew Morton's volume, "Diana: Her True Story," the Princess of Wales besides opened up near her mental health and struggle with bulimia equally a result of her troubling matrimony and complicated human relationship with the printing, who would make comments on her appearance.

In the now-controversial 1995 interview with Martin Bashir — the BBC apologized earlier this year after an inquiry found "deceitful" tactics had been used to secure the interview — Diana described bulimia as a "symptom of what was going on in [her] marriage," and described it as "a clandestine disease."

"You inflict it upon yourself because your self-esteem is at a low ebb, and yous don't think you're worthy or valuable," she said. "You fill your stomach up four or 5 times a day — some do it more — and it gives you lot a feeling of comfort."

"I was crying out for assist, but giving the wrong signals, and people were using my bulimia as a coat on a hanger: they decided that was the problem — Diana was unstable," she said.

Diana reportedly confronted Camilla Parker Bowles virtually her matter with her hubby, Prince Charles.

Prince Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles in 1979.
Getty Images

According to archived recordings from National Geographic and the documentary, "Diana: In Her Own Words," Princess Diana approached Camilla at a party afterwards becoming suspicious of her interest with her hubby.

Co-ordinate to the recordings, Diana went downstairs where she found her husband speaking with Camilla and some other friend. Subsequently her married man and the friend left the room, Diana told Camilla, "I'd just like y'all to know that I know exactly what is going on."

Diana then recalled Camilla defending herself by saying that Diana had "all the men in the earth." However, when asked "what more could she want," Diana replied by saying, "I want my husband."

Diana had a number of famous friends in her inner circle.

Princess Diana With Liza Minnelli in 1991.
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Amongst the princess' famous friends were Liza Minnelli, Kurt Russell, Goldie Hawn, Elton John, Freddie Mercury, Christy Turlington, Cindy Crawford, and Naomi Campbell.

She also had a sweetness tooth. Her favorite dessert was bread-and-butter pudding.

Bread and butter pudding with raisins.
photogal/Shutterstock

According to an interview Princess Diana'due south former chef, Darren McGrady, did with the Huffington Post, she would ofttimes come up into the kitchen to chat and swallow the raisins the dessert is traditionally topped with.

In a split up, 2021 interview with Insider, McGrady besides revealed her go-to breakfast earlier the gym. The princess would asking a "tin can of Heinz baked beans, a pink grapefruit, a cup of coffee, and a glass of orange juice" for breakfast at to the lowest degree three times a week, he said.

However, despite loving good food, she wasn't a very skilful melt herself.

Princess Diana helping Prince William with a jigsaw puzzle in his playroom at home in Kensington Palace in 1985.
Tim Graham Photo Library/Getty Images

"She was only theworst, a terrible person in the kitchen," McGrady told the Huffington Postal service, adding that he would often get out microwavable meals with instructions for the royal on the days he wasn't cooking for her.

Princess Diana's grave can exist found on a small isle at the Spencer family unit'due south Althorp domicile in Northampton, England.

Full general view of the Althorp home of Princess Diana of Wales on July 28, 2008, in Althorp, Northampton, England.
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Later on her heartbreaking death in 1997 due to a automobile crash in Paris, Princess Diana was laid to rest at Althorp Business firm in Northampton, which has been in the Spencer family unit for more than than 500 years.

Her memorial is located on a minor, tranquil island across from a lake, where visitors can become to pay their respects to the "people's princess."

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