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How Britain's Princess became the world's queen of hearts

From her earliest days, Diana loved to care for others. Her younger brother Charles, now Earl Spencer, recalls how tenderly she looked after him following their parents’ separation when she herself was just five.

Por hola.com

From her earliest days, Diana loved to care for others. Her younger brother Charles, now Earl Spencer, recalls how tenderly she looked after him following their parents’ separation when she herself was just five.

Once she became a Princess, she saw how she could use the huge public interest in her to shine a spotlight on those in need. She channelled any unhappiness in her own life into helping those less fortunate, and following her separation from Prince Charles in 1992, she spent more time than ever sharing her compassion through good causes around the world, becoming a global humanitarian icon known as the 'Queen of Hearts'.  

"I think the biggest disease this world suffers from is the disease of people feeling unloved, and I know that I can give love... I’m very happy to do that,” she explained. She didn't pick (1) glamorous causes, but rather, showed an affinity with people shunned (2) or ignored by society.

In 1987, at the height of the AIDS epidemic – when the disease was still little understood - she was pictured smiling as she shook hands, gloveless, with a patient. That one photo did more to help remove the shame and stigma surrounding HIV than perhaps anything else could have done.

By the time she died ten years later the Princess was a global humanitarian icon, with a network of powerful friends ready to back her philanthropic missions. The last of these was her anti-landmine campaign. Michael Stone, who accompanied her on a visit to Angola with the Red Cross, recalls the spectacular way she grabbed the world's attention.

“By walking through a cleared minefield she highlighted the dangers ordinary people were facing every day, demonstrating the split second (3) difference between life and death. She was completely selfless (4) about it," he tells us.

With such an example, it's no surprise that her sons Princes William and Harry are both committed humanitarians, continuing her work for these and other causes such as homelessness and mental health.

MORE:
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-Sarah Ferguson EXCLUSIVE Interview: Her heart for a compass

What made the Princess such a force for good was her ability to connect with others, whoever they were and whatever their circumstances. She felt empathy with everyone, from the richest to the poorest, the oldest to the youngest, whatever their background and culture.

Where some see differences, she saw what we have in common. This meant that, as well as being a humanitarian,  “long before diversity and inclusion were at the forefront (5) of our collective consciousness, she was, without proclaiming it, both an ally and a vessel," says royal commentator Shinan Govani. "From bonding with indigenous people in New Zealand to cuddling a teenage amputee in Angola, as privileged as her own life was, the Princess saw neither herself nor anyone else as 'different'."

1. To pick = To choose

2. To shun = To stay away from, marginalise

3. Split second = Extremely quick

4. Selfless = Thinking only of others

10. Forefront = The most prominent position

 

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