Diana's common touch changed the monarchy forever
Posted August 28, 2017 7:00 am
LONDON (AP) - Twenty years after her death, Princess Diana, the young woman who married her prince in a fairy-tale wedding and died while fleeing tabloid photographers with her lover, continues to have an impact on Britain and the world.
A preschool teacher thrust into the glare of celebrity by her marriage to Prince Charles, Diana dragged Britain's ribbon-cutting royals into the modern world. She made a direct connection with the public -once running her own race in a flowing white skirt and baggy sweater - and promoted causes far from the mainstream at the time like AIDS research.
That link lives on through her two sons, who have adopted their mother's more personal approach to monarchy and in the process reinvigorated the institution.
FILE- In this Aug. 9, 1987 file photo, Britain's Princess Diana of Wales smiles as she sits with her sons, Princes Harry, front, and William, on the steps of the Royal Palace on the island of Mallorca, Spain, where the British Royal family is on holiday with the Spanish King Juan Carlos and his family. It has been 20 years since the death of Princess Diana in a car crash in Paris and the outpouring of grief that followed the death of the âpeopleâs princess.â (AP Photo/John Redman, File)
The Associated Press
FILE - In this Monday, March 17, 1997 file photo, South African President Nelson Mandela, left, shows the way to Princess Diana, during a meeting in Cape Town. It has been 20 years since the death of Princess Diana in a car crash in Paris and the outpouring of grief that followed the death of the âpeopleâs princess.â (AP Photo/Sasa Kralj, File)
The Associated Press
FILE - In this Tuesday, January 14, 1997 file photo, Britain's Diana, Princess of Wales, talks to amputees at the Neves Bendinha Orthopedic Workshop in the outskirts of Luanda, Angola. It has been 20 years since the death of Princess Diana in a car crash in Paris and the outpouring of grief that followed the death of the âpeopleâs princess.â (AP Photo/Joao Silva, File)
The Associated Press
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