On the 10th Anniversary of Diana'€™s Death, Many Nagging Questions Have Not Been Resolved. Her Legacy, However, Is Not In Doubt.

During the 16 years that Diana was a part of the Royal Family, she was patron or president of around 100 different charities, most of them involving children, women� s prenatal care, and other world health issues in which she was vitally interested.

I think that Diana almost single-handedly made most people aware that the stigma surrounding illnesses such as AIDS was unwarranted. She, herself, had no fear of contracting AIDS or leprosy as she shook hands and embraced patients. Now, 23 years later, this may not seem so memorable, but at the time - in the early 1980s, it was astonishing to see a member of the Royal Family in close contact with patients who were dying. The patients, too, could hardly believe it, as Diana sat and comforted them, talking quietly to them as she walked from one hospital ward to another.

As editor of British Digest Illustrated, I was fortunate to be assigned to many of Diana’s official and public tours from 1981 to 1994, when I retired. I personally observed the princess, as over the years she shed her cocoon as “Shy Di,� and slowly but surely emerged to become the world’s most photographed and most elegant fashion icon.

Diana never went to college. She even had difficulty passing exams in school. I remember that once, speaking to a small group of journalists, she laughed and described herself to be “as thick as two planks!� Nevertheless, Diana had that mercurial something that can’t be taught in school. She had compassion by the bucketful, and she had a substance that made her a true humanitarian - not just for show, but deep down to her core.

Lord Joseph Kagan, a friend of my family (and a big Diana fan who often counseled her) told me that she was always motivated by love, in all of its meanings. She knew how important love was in people’s lives - possibly because she hadn’t had much of it when she was growing up, and she didn’t find it in marriage, either.

I am sure that what Lord Kagan said was quite true. From my own observations of Diana over the years, the lack of love in her own life turned her into a person who loved more, because she knew how people — all of us, need love.

As a teenager, she read Barbara Cartland’s love stories and dreamed about finding her own true knight in shining armor. And, as she matured Diana developed the most extraordinary gift of being able to reach out to people, touch them physically, spiritually, and emotionally. She had, in my opinion, very little self pity — a glimpse of it would surface once in a while as depression set in, or bulimia got the best of her. Most often her antidote was to reach out to other people who were suffering, as she was. Sometimes she reached out and trusted the wrong people, usually a male friend, and she would be hurt again.

Yes, I’ve been told by reliable sources that Diana could be unpredictable in private. On occasion she would cut herself off from a long-time friend or two if they disappointed her. Many times she would be paranoid about being spied upon (and in retrospect she had good reason) by government and media spies. When she was genuinely ill with post-partum depression, she was ignored by her husband and her family. She resorted to ill-advised tantrums and retaliated by getting negative publicity.

But we must remember that good people are not perfect. Good people are flawed people who have become extraordinary by overcoming. And some, like Diana, have an exceptional gift for teaching others by example. Her weaknesses eventually became her strengths.

Above all, Diana was bom to be a mother, and she was a wonderful one. Her world revolved around William and Harry and she wanted them to know what the real world was like, far beyond the life of a privileged Prince of the Realm. She nurtured her sons, hugged them in public, stroked their hair and straightened their ties. She called them her “royal rascals!�

By 1994, having emerged from a loveless marriage, debilitating eating disorders and betrayals, Diana started going solo in high style. One could see how determined she was to become her own person - and her popularity had never been higher with the public. She developed, through her own experiences, into a Patron who had communication skills that market research people could only dream about. She became deeply involved in RELATE, a family counselling organization that she had supported for several years. Now, she was insisting that the media pay more attention to her charities instead of her.

In 1997, she was on the brink of becoming an Ambassador to the World. It seemed that she had never been happier in her personal life. Her sons were growing up to be the finest young men. At last, Diana seemed to be totally satisfied about her own identity and her role in life.

Then, on August 31, 1997, her senseless death reminded us about how easily things we value can be lost in an instant. Ten years later, it still seems sad to me that Diana, as mother of the Heir to the Throne, had to depend upon the Al-Fayed family for protection. When the Royal Family (presumably The Queen) stripped Diana of her HRH royal status, they effectively cast her adrift to fend for herself. The only time bodyguards were assigned to her after her divorce, was when her sons were with her - the bodyguards were for their protection, not hers.

It was, in my opinion (and many others) a petty thing to do. There are plenty of M16 and security bodyguards on the payroll for the Royal Family. Had Diana been protected she would have been safe from the circumstances which took her life on that fateful night. She would have been wearing a seatbelt for one thing, and the driver of her car would have been sober and not speeding under any circumstances other than a threat of an attack.

Diana cannot be replaced but her influence will live on in many ways.

HER DESTINY, she once said was to provide an Heir to the Throne. She gave us William and Harry. William is a future king who already exhibits many of his mother’s caring qualities, and certainly he inherited her looks. Harry, too, is a caring young man who is currently serving his country in the military and sponsoring several youth-based charities.

HER PLACE IN HISTORY is established as a wife who refused to look the other way when her husband said “he never loved her.� Her reactions set in motion a chain of events that shook the monarchy to its foundations and changed it forever.
HER COMPASSION led her to seek patronage of charities that other royals ignored. She represented and worked hard for many needy organizations who counted upon her to raise the money they needed to survive.

HER ENDURING LEGACY is that her death brought about the Diana Foundation, a multi-faceted charity that is now an umbrella organization for her own charities and others that she had planned to support. Since her death ten short years ago, the foundation has raised over 500 million pounds, a sum that would have taken her a lifetime to raise, had she lived — and the fund will continue to grow.

While the money will continue to flow in and her charities will flourish, Diana herself- who searched for love in most of the wrong places, is an irreplaceable mentor who gave love unconditionally to so much of humanity. This too, is her legacy.