short lecture on a special woman, Diana
Thank you for joining us today for this short lecture on a special woman, Diana. Princess of Wales. Princess Di as she was often called, was married to Prince Charles of the Royal British family. She birthed to heirs to the throne, Prince William and Prince harry. Even if you’re not British, you’ve probably heard about Princess Di. Whether it be due to her iconic style, her charity work, her divorce to Prince Charles or her hard sudden and premature death, Princess Di is considered one of the best-dressed woman in history. Eleri Lynn, curator of Diana, her fashion story, explain how Diana was able to communicate with her clothing. It is very surprising how little footage there exists of the Princess actually speaking. We all have a sense of what we think she was like and yet so much of it comes from still photographs. And a large part of that idea is communicated through the different clothes that she wore. The Princess herself deemed her clothing her caring wardrobe. Lynn continued describing her style in the following way, cheerful, colorful clothes because she wanted to convey approachability and warmth. She didn’t wear gloves because she liked to hold people’s hands. She would sometimes wear chunky jewellery so that children could play with it. And she never wore hats to children’s hospitals after a while. Because she said that you couldn’t cuddle a child in a hat, if she was visiting hospitals for the blind, she would often wear velvets so that she would feel sort of warm and tactile. Probably the most iconic part of her style was her hairstyle. When she cut her hair short into a sporty pixie cut, short hairstyles started trending. During her time as her Royal Highness, she went beyond what was typically expected of a royal member. She supported many courses such as the arts, children in need, HIV/AIDS, and raising awareness of the leftover landmines in war-torn Angola. Following her divorce, she visited Angola to walk across a clear lane in a Helo thrust mind field and later visited victims of mines in Bosnia. She worked with anti-mine organizations in the months before her death to enforce a global ban and right after her death, the Ottawa treaty was signed. 122 countries signed the treaty in an effort to eliminate the production and uses of mines. Princess Di also had a special fondness for children and before joining the Royal Family worked as an assistant in a kindergarten. She exposed her two sons to the outside world by bringing them to hospitals, homeless shelters, orphanages, fast food restaurants and on a pulley transportation. For the above-mentioned reasons, she was nicknamed the people’s Princess. She and Prince Charles didn’t have a very good marriage during the span of 15 years. Throughout the Marriage, Charles kept a close relationship with ex-girlfriend Camilla Parker Bowles, which led to jealousy and distrust in his marriage. He and Diana both finally filed for divorce in 1996. Years later in 2005 Charles ended up marrying his long-term lover Camilla and are still together to this day. Sadly on the streets of Paris in 1997 while trying to escape the paparazzi following them Diana and two others were killed in a car accident. Diana was only 36 years old. At the time of her death, her children were 15 and 12-years-old. The Diana Princess of Wales Memorial Fund was established in order to continue her humanitarian work. During its 15 years span, the fund helped and improved the lives of the most disadvantaged people both in the United Kingdom and around the world. Years later, when William had his second child, he honoured his mother by naming her Princess Charlotte Elizabeth Diana. Thank you for listening. I hope you’ve all learned something new and have been inspired. Take care.