Princess Diana of Wales

"Life is just a journey." (Princess, Diana. "Princess Diana Quotes.") Life gets rough for everyone, but the sooner you learn to cope with the stresses life has to offer, the easier it gets. Princess Diana, also known as the "duchess" or "queen of hearts" was born on July 1, 1961 Park House, near Sandringham, Norfolk, England. She lived a wealthy life but it was always very dysfunctional. Her parents divorced and caused a lot of emotional distress on their children, Diana for one, developed an eating disorder that she later came to terms with and accepted that it started because of her parent's divorce and Prince Charles' (her husband at the time) secret relationship with Camilla. The Princess married the year after she was engaged, in 1981 and had two kids, Prince William and Prince Henry. After 1990's the princesses work with charities started becoming more visible to society particularly with AIDS. Everything was going smoothly but On February 28, 1996 the Prince and Princess decided to get a divorce because both of them had been seeing other people. This caused a lot of trouble with the media but the Princess just focused on her charities as a way to get through it. Soon later, on the morning of Sunday 31 August 1997 Princess Diana and her new boyfriend got in a car accident and herself, her boyfriend (Dodi) and the driver of the car were killed instantly. A hero must possess the ability to stay humble and optimistic through everything they can. Princess Diana had both those qualities. When she had a divorce she didn't just drop all her charities she was working with, she continued and never once looked back and just looked at the bright side of things and lived her life because life is to short to let it pass by. Princess Diana of wales, ex wife of Prince Charles and first person to open up an aids ward in Britain is considered a very loving woman who helps with charities and is strong enough to use her struggles to help others and to overcome the stresses of the press and didn't let them bother her.

Princess Diana had to overcome many traumatic things through her life, but one of the things that, makes her considered an admirable person still today was her ability to overcome the media drama and stay true to herself. The media followed the Princess everywhere she went and knew everything about her, from her relationship with her husband to what her favorite color was: "In addition she had to come to terms with the consistent presence of the media in her life: even a holiday at a private estate in the Bahamas resulted in the appearance in the papers of long- lens photographs of the couple enjoying themselves on the beach." (Reynolds, K. D. "Diana (nee) Lady Diana Frances Spencer, Princess of Wales")Princess Diana had a lot of pressure put on her to be perfect considering she was now a princess, she had photographers following her every move and had to deal with journalists writing articles about her daily life on a consistent everyday basis. She became accustomed to the paparazzi eventually but that didn't necessarily make it any easier when very personal things were leaked out. Not only did the paparazzi antagonize her and harass her with questions and pictures, they also made her family struggles public: "But Sarah was not well. Already suffering from an alcohol problem, she also became a victim of anorexia, an eating disorder called slimmer's in England. Her weight dropped from 112 pounds to 77 pounds in just a few months. Sarah believed that part of her problem was her parents' divorce and part was her own disappointment in her own love life" (Whitelaw, Nancy "Lady Diana Spencer: Princess of Wales")Sarah was Lady Diana's sister. She suffered deeply in her life and it was clearly a struggle for everyone in the family because when one person has an issue of that sort it doesn't affect them as much as it affects their loved ones. It was hard enough for the whole family already, but when the public heard of this it led them to see the princesses dysfunctional family and that she wasn't completely perfect. Princess Diana had many struggles she had to deal with in her life and what made them even harder was that almost the entire world knew about all of them, but she still managed to get through it all with a smile on her face most of the time.

Princess Diana was extremely passionate about all the charities she worked with and would stop at nothing until people got the help they needed. If it were up to her, she'd help everyone. "Anywhere I see suffering, that is where I want to be" (Princess, Diana. "Princess Diana Quotes."): "Diana had an affinity with the helpless, the ill, and the suffering which first showed itself in her schooldays, when she regularly visited a home for the handicapped as part of a community project." (Reynolds, K. D. "Diana (Née) Lady Diana Frances Spencer, Princess Of Wales) Princess Diana was always helping people not for attention or publicity, but because she actually enjoyed it and she did it out of the kindness of her heart. Everyone always knew the princess would be very generous and kind due to her acts as a child. Princess Diana wasn't one to just see something happen and not do something about it when she knew she had the power to help in bigger and better ways: "In April 1987, she opened the first AIDS ward in Britain, in Middlesex Hospital in London. She received hate mail from people who believed that AIDS patients deserve their disease and should not be helped. Still, she continued" (Whitelaw, Nancy, "Lady Diana Spencer: Princess Of Wales.")When someone opens the first anything, it automatically makes them important in that industry, but in princess Diana's case, she was already important and this just made her even more respected. Although she was highly respected, she didn't go into this whole charity thing looking for respect nor important, she went into this to help others, she didn't care about publicity and that's what made her stand out from other famous people who just help for the publicity. The fact that the princess did all this just to help others shows how much of a hero she really is.

Princess Diana had a tough life, but she didn't let that stop her and she was definitely not going to let self- pity get in the way of her helping others. Instead she used her struggles and made them public but not for others to fell pity for her, but so that others see that if the princess can get help, so can they. Things to the public may have seemed perfect in the life of the royal couple but in reality, it really wasn't so perfect: "In January 1982, Diana had an argument with her husband and threatened to kill herself.There were several other incidents of this type: she threw herself against a glass cabinet, she slashed her wrists with a razor blade, and she cut her chest and legs with a penknife during an argument with her husband." (Diana, Princess Of Wales.) Diana was obviously very emotionally unstable and clearly craved for attention for her husband, which in fact is perfectly normal and she probably felt as if, since he's so busy, that most of the attention wasn't on her and she knew that he was cheating on her so she coped with the things the only way she could, sometimes she just didn't get it right. When someone physically hurts themselves they have to be in a lot of pain to be able to have the courage to injure themselves, it's like a cry for help, because she's been holding it in for so long she doesn't know how to let it out anymore, and she feels as though everything is her fault so she copes the only way she knows how, ruining herself. Not only was she physically hurting, she was mentally hurting as well, she lacked the self- confidence in her self that every women needs: "In early 1988, Diana's friend Carolyn discovered that Diana was dangerously bulimic. Carolyn could not allow her friend to destroy herself. Either Diana would go to a doctor or Carolyn would call the press and force public attention on the issue. Diana discussed her problem with her family doctor, a specialist in eating disorders. After a two-hour interview, the doctor promised that she could get rid of her problem in six months. His prescription included admitting that she was a victim of the disease and reading about causes and prevention."(Whitelaw, Nancy, "Lady Diana Spencer: Princess Of Wales.") Diana clearly wanted to get better because it must be INCREDIBLY hard to come to terms with having bulimia and then telling the whole world with fans that look up to you, but again, she was more focused on those who were suffering from this illness too, to show them they can get better. Not only was it motivation to get better for young girls, but it was inspiring that a royal princess can stand in a room of journalists and tell them all her life struggles and what had caused her to be bulimic. Princess Diana made the best of every situation and made every bad situation into something she could use to help others with, she is clearly very strong for being able to get through such struggles while having the media circling her every move at the same time.

Lady Diana was blessed with the ability to care for everyone around her, and the strength to prosper in life and not let the little things bother her. Not only did the Princess help others by solemnly working with charities, but she worked with herself and shared her inner struggles with society in order to help others get through rough times as well. Princess Diana is an inspiration to many others and I simply because of her works with the needy, and the ill. And how she was very self- less in helping others and didn't think of herself in the process, her goal was always to help others get better. Princess Diana also overcame many mental struggles in her adult years which shows us that even though things look hard, you have to stay strong and keep looking forward because things do get better and she showed us this by coming clean about her struggles with bulimia, helping others set out to get help. The duchess was always very optimistic and it inspires me to look forward to life and not look back on what could've been, but to live in the present and enjoy every minute of it and to be nice to others because karma isn't only bad, because like the saying says, what comes around goes around, so if you do good to others, others will be good to you as well. "Carry out a random act of kindness, with no expectation of reward, safe in the knowledge that one day someone might do the same for you." (Princess, Diana. "Princess Diana Quotes.")

                                                                              Works Cited

Diana, Princess Of Wales." Diana, Princess Of Wales (Biography Today) (2010): 1. Biography Reference Center. Web 

     21 Mar. 2013

Princess, Diana. "Princess Diana Quotes." BrainyQuote. Xplore, n.d. Web. 10 Apr. 2013. .

Reynolds, K. D. "Diana (Née) Lady Diana Frances Spencer, Princess Of Wales 1961 - 1997." Oxford Dictionary Of National

     Biography (2010): 1. Biography Reference Center. Web. 21 Mar. 2013.

Whitelaw, Nancy, and Nancy Whitelow. "Lady Diana Spencer: Princess Of Wales." Lady Diana Spencer: Princess Of Wales

      (1998): 9. Biography Reference Center. Web. 29 Mar. 2013.