Candle In The Wind
The People's Princess was robbed off her life in a car accident 8 years ago. The tragic death of Diana, Princess of Wales occurred on Sunday, 31 August 1997 following a car accident in Paris, France. The vehicle in which the Princess was travelling was involved in a high-speed accident in the Place de l'Alma underpass in central Paris shortly before midnight on Saturday, 30 August. The Princess was taken to the La Pitie Salpetriere Hospital, where she underwent two hours of emergency surgery before being declared dead at 0300 BST.
The late Diana, Princess of Wales was born Lady Diana Frances Spencer on 1 July 1961 in Norfolk. Lady Diana Spencer married The Prince of Wales at St Paul's Cathedral in London on 29 July 1981. During her marriage the Princess undertook a wide range of royal duties. Family was very important to the Princess, who had two sons: Prince William and Prince Henry (Harry). After her divorce from The Prince of Wales, the Princess continued to be regarded as a member of the Royal Family. Right until the end of her life she was involved with charities working to help children, homeless people and AIDS sufferers, as well as with the campaign to ban land mines.
During her marriage, the Princess was president or patron of over 100 charities. The Princess did much to publicise work on behalf of homeless and also disabled people, children and people with HIV/Aids.
In December 1993, the Princess announced that she would be reducing the extent of her public life in order to combine 'a meaningful public role with a more private life'.
Following her divorce, the Princess resigned most of her charity and other patronages, and relinquished all her Service appointments with military units. The Princess remained as patron of Centrepoint (homeless charity), English National Ballet, Leprosy Mission and National Aids Trust, and as President of the Hospital for Sick Children, Great Ormond Street and of the Royal Marsden Hospital.
In the year before her death, the Princess was an active campaigner for a ban on the manufacture and use of land mines. In January 1997, she visited Angola as part of her campaign. in June, the Princess spoke at the landmines conference at the Royal Geographical Society in London, and this was followed by a visit to Washington DC in the United States on 17/18 June to promote the American Red Cross landmines campaign (separately, she also met Mother Teresa in the Bronx, New York). The Princess's last public engagements were during her visit to Bosnia from 7 to 10 August, when she visited landmine projects in Travnic, Sarajevo and Zenezica.
It was in recognition of her charity work that representatives of the charities with which she worked during her life were invited to walk behind her coffin with her family from St James's Palace to Westminster Abbey on the day of her funeral.
Commemoration of the Princess
In the wake of the Princess of Wales's premature death, Diana, the Princess of Wales Memorial Fund was established to receive charitable donations from members of the public. Its goal is to commemorate the life of the Princess and to support the causes with which she was associated.
The first disbursements, totalling £13 million, were made from the fund in March 1998. The six causes of which the Princess of Wales was either patron or president at the time of her death each received grants of about £1 million ($1.6 million). These were: Centrepoint, the English National Ballet, Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children, The Leprosy Mission, the National AIDS Trust and the Royal Marsden National Health Service Hospital Trust.
The Osteopathic Centre for Children, for whose new centre the Princess was to have launched the 'Sweet Pea Appeal' in September 1997, also received a grant of £1 million.
The Trustees further set aside around £5 million (£8 million) to be shared between the 95 charitable causes with which the Princess had previously been involved. These organisations were asked to submit proposals to the Fund based on projects for 'vulnerable young people', 'children', 'the socially excluded' and 'survivors'.
Since its beginnings in 1997, the fund has continued to give grants to charities and similar organisations as a 'living memorial' to Diana, Princess of Wales.
Money from the fund is not being used to meet the costs of memorial projects for the Princess which have been approved by the Memorial Committee.
Reference: Princess Diana Memorial Site
A chinese proverb goes, 'It's how you live that matters, and not how long you live". Although Princess Diana died at a young age, but she lived a very meaningful life dedicated to charity. At the end of the day, what truly matters is her compassion for the lives of others. Arguments about her death will fizzle in time, but memories of her kindness remain in our hearts forever.