Princess Diana responds to reporters' questions after she and
her then-husband Prince Charles toured the National Gallery of Art on
November 10, 1985. Princess Diana's sons, Prince William and Prince
Harry, plan to observe the 20th anniversary of her death with a small
ceremony at her former home, Kensington Palace. File Photo by Doug
Mills/UPI| License Photo
Aug. 30 (UPI) -- Twenty years ago, the
world mourned the sudden death of Princess Diana, a humanitarian, the
one-time wife of the future king of Britain and the mother of another.
The princess of Wales, born Diana Frances Spencer, was 36 years old when she died
along with her companion, Dodi Fayed, and their driver, Henri Paul, in a
car crash in Paris on Aug. 31, 1997. Diana's bodyguard, Trevor
Rees-Jones, was the only survivor.
An inquest in London in 2008 blamed the crash
on negligence by Paul -- he was driving drunk -- and by the pursuing
paparazzi, who were "racing" the Mercedes he was driving trying to
obtain photographs of Diana and her rumored fiancee, Fayed.
Diana sustained severe injuries to her lungs and brain, and though doctors tried for 2 hours to save her,
she died of internal bleeding. Her two young sons, 15-year-old Prince
William, and 12-year-old Prince Harry, learned of their mother's death
while vacationing with their father, Prince Charles, in Scotland.
Immediately, there was a global outpouring of grief, with flowers
piled high at makeshift memorials to the princess at Buckingham Palace,
Kensington Palace and even Central Park in New York City. And world
leaders reacted, some traveling to Britain to attend her funeral.
UPI File Photo
Former President Bill Clinton said: "Hillary and I knew Princess Diana and we were very fond of her. We are profoundly saddened by this tragic event. Our thoughts and prayers tonight are with her family, friends and especially her children."
Diana's brother, Charles Spencer, lashed out at the paparazzi, saying
his sister "always believed the press would kill her in the end."
"But not even I could imagine they would take such a direct hand in
her death, as seems to be the case. It would appear that every
proprietor and editor of every publication that has paid for intrusive
and exploitative photographs of her, encouraging greedy and ruthless
individuals to risk everything in pursuit of Diana's image, has blood on
his hands today."
Six days after her death, Princess Diana was laid to rest as 2,000 mourners,
including members of the British royal family, heads of state and
celebrities gathered at Westminster Abbey for her funeral. Though the
young princes put up a brave front walking behind their mother's coffin
in the funeral procession, they shed tears during the iconic moment with pop singer Elton John performed a version of "Candle in the Wind" in tribute to the princess.
"Those inside the catheral say that as the singer sang the line 'Your
candle burned out long before your legend ever will,' Harry buried his
face in his hands and sobbed," a UPI reporter wrote at the time.
File Photo by Ezio Petersen/UPI
Diana left a legacy in the humanitarian efforts she pursued while
alive. During the 1980s, she was one of the early advocates for people
living with AIDS, publicly making physical contact with them even before
it was known how the disease was spread.
"HIV does not make people dangerous to know. You can shake their
hands and give them a hug. Heaven knows they need it. What's more, you
can share their homes, their workplaces and their playgrounds and toys,"
she said in 1987.
She would later open Grandma's House, a home for young AIDS patients
in Washington, D.C., and was a patron of the National AIDS Trust
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