She married into the most famous family on earth and spent the rest of her life making them uncomfortable.
At a glance
- Known for
- Princess of Wales, HIV/AIDS advocate, landmine campaigner
- Before fame
- Failed her O-levels twice, taught kindergarten in London
- Off-screen
- Secretly dictated her own tell-all biography while the Palace denied her involvement
Rise to Fame
A 20-year-old kindergarten teacher walked into St Paul's Cathedral on 29 July 1981 and walked out as the most watched bride in history. 750 million people tuned in. She dropped 'obey' from the vows (a first for any royal bride) and wore a 25-foot train carrying 10,000 pearls. The establishment got its fairy tale.
It lasted about as long as the confetti. Within six years she was opening the UK's first purpose-built HIV/AIDS unit, shaking hands with patients when most people wouldn't sit in the same room. That wasn't protocol. That was the point.
In the Spotlight
Almost thirty years dead and she still moves product. A black velvet dress she once wore sold for $1.15 million at auction, eleven times its estimate. Kristen Stewart earned an Oscar nomination playing her in Spencer. A Broadway musical tried to bottle the story and closed after 33 performances.
The institution that stripped her HRH title in the divorce didn't anticipate the resale value.
Side Notes
Shortly after the engagement, Charles reportedly touched her waistline and said 'Oh, a bit chubby here, aren't we?' She developed bulimia around the time of her marriage, what she called 'a survival mechanism,' filling her stomach four or five times a day.
In 1995, she described all of it on Panorama in front of 23 million viewers. Rates of women seeking bulimia treatment in Britain more than doubled afterward. She said she might have been the first person in the royal family to speak openly about mental health on camera. She did it to explain why she was leaving, and accidentally became a public health intervention.
Final Chapter
The funeral at Westminster Abbey on 6 September 1997 drew an estimated 2.5 billion television viewers. Elton John performed a rewritten 'Candle in the Wind,' the only time he's played that version live. The single sold 33 million copies, one of the best-selling in chart history. Tony Blair coined 'the People's Princess' in a speech on the morning she died. The Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Treaty she championed opened for signature that December.