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Princess Diana, often hailed as the most beloved royal, remains a figure of history that everyone wants to revisit to unravel. An iconic figure of British royalty, Princess Diana left behind an unparalleled legacy. She was a style icon and was often described as the "world's most photographed woman". She was a humanitarian, and raised awareness and advocated for ways to help people affected with cancer and mental illness.
HBO is releasing a documentary called The Princess as we near Lady Diana's 25th death anniversary. The documentary puts on a retrospective lens but through the eyes of the media. It was the media who made the royal princess a larger-than-life personality. It was the media that constantly pried, praised, and picked on her.
The film is directed by Ed Perkins and comprises of old interviews, appearances, and news reports only. The film was well received at its Sundance Premiere in January 2022 and is all set to release on August 13, 2022, only on HBO.
While the film brings a whole new perspective to Princess Diana's story through media reports, here are some startling facts about the 'People's Princess' that you don't know.
Rewriting vows and working odd jobs - things about Princess Diana that you didn't know
1) Worked as a nanny
When Princess Diana was 18, she landed a job as a private nanny for an American family. She looked after the toddler, Patrick Robinson, two days a week. Reportedly, she was paid $5 for her services. The family didn't even know that they had hired a member of the royal family. One day, Mary Robertson found her bank deposit slip and that gave the aristocrat away. She said,
"It said ‘Lady Diana Spencer’, and it was deposited to Coutts & Co, and because I worked in finance, I knew that Coutts was the bank of the aristocracy and the Royal family."
Despite being a member of the royal family, even before her marriage to Prince Charles, Princess Diana didn't shy away from doing ordinary jobs. Alongside her nanny job, Princess Diana was also, however briefly, a teacher at Young Kindergarten School in Pimlico, London.
Lady Di's brief working career also made her the first royal bride ever to have a job before getting engaged to the royal heir.
2) Omitted part of her vows
Princess Diana's short lifespan is testament to the fact that she was a trailblazer. The paths she took, the statements she made, the signs showed pretty early on that she would be a different breed of royal as she was the first royal bride ever to alter vows. Lady Di wore a record-breaking dress to her wedding, designed by husband-and-wife David and Elizabeth Emanuel. She donned a gown embellished with over 10,000 pearls and a 25-foot-long train.
Diana omitted the word 'obey' from her vows. Originally, the wedding vows for the man were "to love and to cherish" his wife, and for the bride "to love, cherish and to obey". Queen Elizabeth II pledged to 'obey' her husband in 1947 even though she knew she was to become the future queen. But not Princess Diana. She had the word removed and according to a New York Times report from the time, she pledged to Charles to,
"Love him, comfort him, honour and keep him, in sickness and in health."
Lady Di had her way of standing out right from the beginning. Her precedent was followed by her daughters-in-law, Kate Middleton, and Meghan Markle.
3) Speculatively went to a gay bar dressed up as a man
It is no secret that Princess Diana liked to have her share of fun. After a messy divorce and unsolicited public attention, it was next to impossible for her to have a nice evening without being papped.
Lady Di had some close celebrity friends whom she regularly hung out with. Freddie Mercury, lead vocalist of the rock band Queen, was one of her good friends. The two bonded over their love for the sitcom Golden Girls. In a 2013 book, The Positive Power of Drinking, Cleo Rocos described a particular afternoon where Diana spent time with Freddie, Rocos, Rupert Everett and Kenny Everett. The Princess wanted to tag along with her friends to the iconic gay bar, the Royal Vauxhall Tavern.
It's an urban legend, though unconfirmed, that upon Diana's insistence, Freddie Mercury dressed her as a man and took her to the gay club. Cleo wrote about this anecdote in her book, but the myth, however fun and probable, was never confirmed.
4) Battled with depression
Evergreen royalty, the Princess of Wales always seemed like she had it all together. However, the reality was a far cry from this picture.
(Content warning // mention of eating disorder)
Lady Di, who worked for people's welfare, was struggling with depression. A lot was going on in her life and that made her bulimic, an eating disorder where one binge eats and then finds ways of not gaining weight. Most of these measures take the form of vomiting and can result in excessive exercise or fasting.
In Andrew Morton's book, Diana: Her True Story, the late Princess opened up about her marital problems and her love-hate relationship with the media, which impacted her mental health and resulted in bulimia. In a controversial interview with Martin Bashir on the BBC, Diana poured herself out about her struggles with bulimia. She said,
"You inflict it upon yourself because your self-esteem is at a low ebb, and you don't think you're worthy or valuable. You fill your stomach up four or five times a day — some do it more — and it gives you a feeling of comfort. I was crying out for help, 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."
5) Wanted to marry a Pakistani heart surgeon
Lady Di separated from Prince charles after 11 rocky years of marriage. She lost her title, but got to keep Kensington Palace where she lived. In September 1995, she first came across Hasnat Khan, a heart-surgeon. He liked to maintain a safe distance from the limelight and so they kept their affair secret.
Diana met Hasnat Khan on September 1, 1995 when the latter came to the waiting room to inform Oonagh Toffolo, Di's healer, that her husband had to be rushed to the operating room. Toffolo introduced Princess Diana and Hasnat, but he didn't stay around to chat and went straight to go about his work. However, he left an impression on the princess. She found him gorgeous and frequented the hospital to meet him. Soon, they were dating and after a while the princess started talking about a secret wedding. She even visited Pakistan to mingle with Khan's family.
Hasnat Khan was not ready for all the glare and eyeballs that being with the most popular royal brought him. And so, their relationship died out. In a 2008 interview, quoted by Sky News, Hasnat Khan said,
"Sometimes I feel like screaming. There have been very bad times. I have moved on, but it keeps coming back."
The Princess will be released on HBO on August 13 at 8 pm ET, marking the 25th anniversary of Diana’s death on August 31. It will also stream on HBO Max on the same day.
