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  • (thrilling music)

  • - She's aware that she hadn't seen it--

  • - [Narrator] The fourth season of Netflix's The Crown

  • introduces a myriad of new characters.

  • But perhaps one of the most culturally

  • notable figures of the 1980s also makes her entrance

  • into Buckingham palace this season,

  • Diana Spencer, Princess of Wales.

  • The season follows Diana's courtship, marriage

  • and relationship breakdown with Prince Charles

  • ending on an ominous note before any

  • formal separation between the pair.

  • What followed in real life was the devastating end

  • to Diana's life in 1997.

  • The tragedy that shocked Britain and the rest of the world.

  • (news reporters in the background)

  • (melancholy music)

  • Diana was born the honorable Diana Francis Spencer

  • on July 1st, 1961 at Parkhouse near Sandringham, Norfolk.

  • When her father, then Viscount Althorp,

  • inherited the heirdom, she became

  • Lady Diana Francis Spencer.

  • Her family was acquainted with

  • The Royal Family for many years.

  • Her father working for both King George VI

  • and then Queen Elizabeth.

  • And the two families neighbored one another

  • at Sandringham until 1978.

  • Growing up, Diana attended boarding school in Switzerland,

  • showing a particular talent and interest

  • in music, piano, dancing, and home economics.

  • She was just 16 years old when she first

  • met Prince Charles, the heir to the Royal throne,

  • on a weekend in Althorp.

  • Charles had come as a guest of one of Diana's sisters,

  • whom he dated on and off.

  • Two years later, Diana was living in a flat in London

  • where she worked as a nanny and kindergarten teacher.

  • Her friendship and eventual relationship

  • with the Prince began after being invited

  • to Charles' 30th birthday celebration.

  • It wasn't long before cracks

  • in the relationship started to form.

  • In an interview held after their engagement was announced

  • in February 1981, a reporter asked the couple

  • if they were in love.

  • Charles gave a baffling response, "whatever love means."

  • - [Reporter] And I suppose in love?

  • - Of course. - Whatever in love means.

  • - Diana revealed later that she had been

  • traumatized by this moment.

  • The young woman was quickly thrust

  • into the limelight and fame of The Royal Family.

  • Moved out of her flat and moved into Buckingham Palace

  • shortly after her engagement.

  • Here, she became incredibly lonely

  • according to a Royal biographer, Ingrid Seward.

  • Most days she swam, worked on plans for the wedding

  • and took dance and exercise classes.

  • Aside from this, she reportedly sat around bored and alone.

  • Regardless, the wedding took place

  • at St. Paul's Cathedral on July 29th, 1981,

  • just three weeks after Diana's 20th birthday.

  • The ceremony drew an estimated global television

  • and radio audience of around 1 billion.

  • While hundreds of thousands of others lined the streets

  • from Buckingham Palace to the Cathedral that day.

  • The Archbishop, who presided over the ceremony,

  • dubbed the wedding, the stuff of which fairytales are made.

  • What awaited Diana however,

  • was regrettably nowhere near fairytale fodder.

  • Later, Diana would recall that she and the Prince

  • had met all of 13 times before getting married.

  • It was shortly after moving into the palace

  • that Diana began struggling with an eating disorder.

  • In a 1995 interview with the BBC,

  • Diana disclosed that her bulimia

  • stemmed from a period of exceedingly low self-esteem

  • and finding herself with little value or worth.

  • She also pointed to an instance wherein

  • Prince Charles placed his hand around her waist

  • and commented "a bit chubby here, aren't we?"

  • The Royal Family was generally unsupportive

  • of the princess's struggle.

  • In one of Diana's conversations with the queen.

  • She implied that Charles and Diana's

  • relationship was struggling because of Charles

  • being unable to cope with her eating disorder.

  • Diana also became severely depressed

  • and later revealed that she attempted to kill herself.

  • On top of everything, Diana was coping with

  • the additional emotional turmoil

  • of Charles his longstanding affair

  • with Camilla Parker Bowles.

  • Charles and Camilla had dated for six months

  • after meeting in 1971.

  • But Charles was discouraged from marrying her by his family.

  • Their affair, however, resumed sometime around 1989.

  • At this point, Diana had given birth

  • to both her children, Prince William and Prince Harry,

  • and was well aware of the relationship

  • between her husband and Camilla.

  • In her BBC interview, Diana famously

  • acknowledged the affair by saying,

  • "well, there were three of us in this marriage

  • so it was a bit crowded."

  • Diana and Charles would separate in 1992,

  • their divorce following in August 1996.

  • Despite facing enormous challenges in her life

  • as a royal, Diana flourished in the public eye,

  • becoming an undeniable star of The Royal Family

  • and winning over the hearts of millions.

  • The Princess used her popularity to raise awareness

  • for many causes, such as leprosy, domestic violence

  • landmines in Angola and mental health.

  • She made headlines in 1987 for shaking hands

  • with a patient undergoing treatment for AIDS

  • with the desire to help dispel the myth

  • that HIV AIDS could be spread through touch.

  • Her popularity was not without it's challenges,

  • however, and Diana was severely harassed

  • by the invasive paparazzi, becoming at one point

  • the most photographed woman in the world.

  • According to Prime Minister Tony Blair's former adviser

  • people felt a kinship to The Princess,

  • which led to a deeply emotional reaction

  • from the whole country following her unexpected death.

  • In August 1997, a year after her divorce from Charles,

  • Diana went on holiday with her partner, Emad Dodi Fayed.

  • The two vacationed on the French Riviera

  • for 10 days, then traveled to Paris

  • where they would meet their disastrous fate.

  • On Saturday, August 30th, Diana and Dodi dined

  • at the private salon in the Ritz Hotel

  • leaving a few minutes after midnight, presumably

  • to travel to a private estate owned by the Fayed's.

  • A Mercedes-Benz awaited the pair

  • and they were accompanied by Diana's bodyguard.

  • Accounts of that night state the car reached

  • around 70 miles per hour before approaching

  • the entrance of the Pont de l'Alma tunnel

  • where the posted speed limit was only 30 miles per hour.

  • The driver, Henry Paul, lost control of the vehicle

  • colliding with a pillar in the center of the highway.

  • Dodi and Paul were pronounced dead at the scene

  • while Diana was rushed to the

  • Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital, still alive.

  • She had suffered a concussion, a broken arm

  • and cut thigh as well as massive chest injuries.

  • Doctors operated for two hours,

  • but failed to get The Princess's heart

  • to beat properly again.

  • Diana never regained consciousness

  • and passed away from internal bleeding

  • in the early hours of August 31st, 1997.

  • In 2019 Britain's top forensic pathologist,

  • Dr. Richard Shepherd revealed that the death was caused

  • by an extremely small and badly placed tear

  • in a vein of Diana's lung, an injury so rare

  • that Dr. Shepherd claimed to never have seen

  • another case of this throughout his career.

  • It was also revealed that should she and Dodi

  • had been wearing seat belts,

  • The possibility of them surviving the crash

  • could have been much more likely.

  • Diana's bodyguard, the only passenger in the car

  • who was restrained by a seatbelt

  • was also the only one to survive the crash.

  • On the Monday following the crash,

  • French authorities revealed that driver Henry Paul,

  • who had also been acting head of security at the Ritz Hotel

  • had a blood alcohol content three times higher

  • than the legal limit.

  • Additionally, many eye witnesses

  • stated that the Mercedes had been followed closely

  • by paparazzi on motorcycles and in another cars,

  • pursuing the possibility of photographing

  • Diana and Dodi together.

  • According to one motorcycle driver

  • following Diana that night, many paparazzi at the scene

  • did not help the victims after the accident.

  • Instead taking photographs of the crash.

  • According to the New York Times,

  • nine of the photographers present at the scene

  • were charged with manslaughter

  • but were not found guilty.

  • It took Queen Elizabeth five days

  • before publicly acknowledging Diana's death.

  • Diana's funeral took place on September 2nd, 1997.

  • 2.5 billion viewers tuned in to watch the procession,

  • greatly exceeding the number of those who watched

  • her Royal wedding 16 years earlier.

  • (news reporter speaking in background)

  • There are numerous conspiracy theories

  • surrounding the accident.

  • Most sharing the fundamental belief

  • that someone wanted to kill Diana intentionally.

  • Some conspiracy theorists believed that Diana

  • had been pregnant at the time of her death

  • and that the British monarchy

  • deemed the possible pregnancy unsavory.

  • Other conspiracies include theories

  • that the paparazzi killed Diana purposefully,

  • that her medical care was sabotaged intentionally,

  • or that Henry Paul, Diana's driver, was paid off

  • to crash the Mercedes deliberately.

  • But why do some people believe Diana

  • was killed intentionally?

  • Many point to the fact that in a note,

  • written by Diana sometime before the accident

  • she stated "I'm sitting here at my desk today in October

  • longing for someone to hug me and encourage me

  • to keep strong and hold my head high.

  • This particular phase in my life is the most dangerous.

  • My husband is planning an accident in my car,

  • brake failure and serious head injury

  • in order to make the path clear for Charles to marry."

  • Many of the conspiracies were so convincing and widespread

  • that the British metropolitan police

  • were forced to launch Operation Pageant,

  • an inquiry to determine whether any theories

  • could have been true.

  • The operation lasted years and costed millions of pounds

  • examining 175 theories in total.

  • Ultimately finding that each was

  • without any foundation or basis in reality

  • and concluding the death was,

  • after all, merely a tragic accident.

  • (news reporter talking in background)

  • Regardless of whether Diana's death was indeed accidental

  • or something more sinister, it is indisputable

  • that hers was a loss so unexpected

  • and heartbreaking that it remains one

  • of the most infamous events of the 20th century.

  • Diana Spencer was truly The People's Princess

  • as she would come to be known

  • in the years following her death.

  • She was a humanitarian and activists

  • striving to live in alignment with the truth.

  • Diana once famously stated that she wished to be

  • a queen of people's hearts,

  • leading from the heart and not the head.

  • By playing by her own rules

  • and going against the flow of Royal tradition,

  • It is undeniable that Princess Diana left an unparalleled

  • legacy and remains a queen of many hearts across the globe.

  • (melancholy music)

(thrilling music)

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