Page 257 - Cousins - Celebrities, Saints & Sinners

crash in a Paris tunnel in 1997 and subsequent televised funeral. Her legacy has had a deep impact on the royal
family and British society.

Diana's extensive charity work also included campaigning for animal protection and fighting against the use
of landmines. She was the patroness of charities and organizations who worked with the homeless, youth,
drug addicts, and the elderly. From 1989, she was president of Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children. She
was patron of the Natural History Museum and president of the Royal Academy of Music. From 1984 to 1996,
she was president of Barnardo's, a charity founded by Dr. Thomas John Barnardo in 1866 to care for vulnerable
children and young people. In 1988, she became patron of the British Red Cross and supported its
organizations in other countries such as Australia and Canada. She made several lengthy visits each week
to Royal Brompton Hospital, where she worked to comfort seriously ill or dying patients. From 1991 to 1996,
she was a patron of Headway, a brain injury association. In 1992, she became the first patron of Chester
Childbirth Appeal, a charity she had supported since 1984. The charity, which is named after one of Diana's
royal titles, could raise over £1 million with her help. In 1994, she helped her friend Julia Samuel launch the
charity Child Bereavement UK which supports children "of military families, those of suicide victims, [and]
terminally-ill parents," and became its patron. Prince William later replaced his mother as the charity's royal
patron.

Diana dated the British-Pakistani heart surgeon Hasnat Khan, who was called "the love of her life" by many of
her closest friends after her death, and she is said to have described him as "Mr. Wonderful". In May 1996,
Diana visited Lahore upon invitation of Imran Khan, a relative of Hasnat Khan, and visited the latter's family in
secret. Khan was intensely private, and the relationship was conducted in secrecy, with Diana lying to
members of the press who questioned her about it. Their relationship lasted almost two years with differing
accounts of who ended it. She is said to have spoken of her distress when "he" ended their
relationship. However, according to Khan's testimonial at the inquest for her death, it was Diana who ended
their relationship in the summer of 1997. Burrell also said the relationship was ended by the Princess in July
1997.
Within a month, Diana began a relationship with Dodi Fayed, the son of her summer host, Mohamed Al-
Fayed. After deciding against a trip to Thailand, she accepted Fayed's invitation to join his family in the south of
France, where his compound and large security detail would not cause concern to the Royal Protection squad.
Mohamed Al-Fayed bought the Jonikal, a 60-metre multimillion-pound yacht on which to entertain Diana and
her sons
On 31 August 1997, Diana died in a car crash in the Pont de l'Alma tunnel in Paris while the driver was fleeing
the paparazzi. The crash also resulted in the deaths of her companion Dodi Fayed and the driver, Henri Paul,
who was the acting security manager of the Hôtel Ritz Paris. Diana's bodyguard, Trevor Rees-Jones, survived
the crash. The televised funeral, on 6 September, was watched by a British television audience that peaked at
32.10 million, which was one of the United Kingdom's highest viewing figures ever. Millions more watched the
event around the world.
Diana had become what Prime Minister Tony Blair called the "People's Princess", an iconic national figure. Her
accidental death brought an unprecedented spasm of grief and mourning, and subsequently a crisis arose in
the Royal Household. Andrew Marr said that by her death she "revived the culture of public
sentiment", while The Guardian's Matthew d'Ancona dubbed Diana "the queen of the realm of feeling" and
said that "the impassioned aftermath of her death was a bold punctuation mark in a new national narrative
that favored disinhibition, empathy and personal candor.”
References:
1. Relative Finder, associated with FamilySearch, and the Church of Latter Day Saints (LDS)
2. Wikipedia.org
3. Learn more – Princess Diana Biography: Life and Death
4. LDS Family Tree attached
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