Henry's mourning for his mother, Princess Diana 1:35
(CNN) -
In 1995, two years before Diana, the Princess of Wales, died in a car accident in Paris, she said in a television interview that she would like to be queen.
But she was not referring to the British monarchy that she had married.
I wanted to be the queen of people's hearts.
In the 23 years since his death on August 31, 1997, it has become clear how well he fulfilled that hope.
Each August, tributes arrive to celebrate his life and legacy, one that valued authenticity over protocol and humanity over prestige.
She used her fame to raise awareness for a number of causes, from leprosy to domestic violence to mental health.
She made headlines in 1987 when she intentionally shook the hand of an AIDS patient, in a job that sought to dispel the myth that HIV / AIDS can be spread through touch.
And in the months leading up to her death, she used the media spotlight and set her sights on the dangers of landmines in Angola.
She was, in the words of former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, "the people's princess."
Celebrities and fans honor the memory of Princess Diana, more than two decades after her death
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Princess Diana remains a much loved figure 20 years after her untimely and untimely death.
Take a tour of the following gallery to learn about the life of this British icon and the legacy he left behind.
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Diana, in this one-year-old photo, was born on July 1, 1961 with the name Diana Frances Spencer.
She was born into a noble family in Sandringham (England).
Her father, John, was Viscount of Althorp.
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This is Diana, around 1965. She studied in private schools in England and Switzerland.
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Diana poses with her brother Charles, in 1968. She had two other sisters: Sarah and Jane.
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Diana, on the far right, is photographed with her father John and her three brothers, around 1970. On the left: Sarah.
Next to Diana: Jane.
Diana's parents separated when she was 7 years old and her father was left with custody of the children.
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Here, as a teenager, getting a kiss from his pony Scuffle, in 1974. A year later, she became Lady Diana, when her father was named Earl Spencer.
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After finishing school, Diana had different jobs: from cooking, babysitting and being a kindergarten teacher.
This photo is from 1980, taking care of two children.
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Diana and her friend Camila Parker-Bowles visit the Ludlow racecourse in October 1980. One of the horsemen competing was Prince Charles, son of Queen Elizabeth II and heir to the British throne.
Diana and Carlos got engaged only a few months later.
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Diana, caught in her car outside her London apartment in November 1980.
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Diana was haunted by photographers very soon after her engagement to Prince Charles was announced.
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Diana and Carlos pose at Buckingham Palace following their engagement announcement on February 24, 1981.
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Diana and Carlos arrive at a charity concert in London in March 1981.
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The couple and Queen Elizabeth II, in March 1981.
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The royal wedding was on July 29, 1981, at St. Paul's Cathedral, London.
It is estimated that more than 700 million people watched the ceremony on television.
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Charles and Diana kiss at Buckingham Palace after the marriage.
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Here on their honeymoon, when they left Gibraltar on the royal yacht Britannia.
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Part of the honeymoon was spent in Scotland.
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Carlos and Diana at the Grand National horse race in April 1982.
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In June 1982 Diana gave birth to her first child: William (Guillermo).
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Diana greets a child on a visit to Wrexham, Wales, in November 1982.
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Carlos, Guillermo and Diana pose together at Kensington Palace in February 1982.
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Diana had her second child (Harry or Enrique, in Spanish) in September 1984.
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Carlos kisses his wife after a polo match in Cirencester, England, in June 1985.
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Princes William and Henry play the piano in front of their mother at Kensington Palace in October 1985.
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Diana helps her son Guillermo solve a puzzle in October 1985.
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Diana attends a polo match her husband played in Palm Beach, Florida, in November 1985.
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Diana dances with actor John Travolta at the White House in November 1985. Behind Travolta are United States President Ronald Reagan and his wife, Nancy Reagan.
A few weeks later, the velvet dress Diana wore to that dance was auctioned for 240,000 pounds, about $ 362 at the time.
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Diana holds Prince Henry in the royal residence of Gloucestershire (England), in July 1986. At her side, Prince William.
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Prince William and Princess Diana on a miniature pony in the same royal residence.
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Prince Henry shows part of his personality here, in a photo taken on the balcony of Buckingham Palace in June 1988.
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Diana and her two children outside Wetherby College, London, in April 1990.
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Diana and her two children ski in Lech (Austria) in April 1991.
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Diana and Carlos, on a royal visit to Toronto (Canada), in October 1991.
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Princess Diana traveled to Egypt in May 1992.
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The royal couple at a memorial ceremony in South Korea in November 1992. A month later their formal separation was announced.
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Diana and her two children visit a theme park in Surrey, England, in April 1993.
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This photo shows Diana arriving at the Serpentine Gallery, London, in June 1994.
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A policeman takes a photographer away from Diana in July 1986. Her divorce from Carlos had just been announced.
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Diana traveled to Angola in January 1997 to help with an International Red Cross anti-personnel mine campaign.
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On that same trip to Angola, Diana visited several minefields.
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Diana met with South African President Nelson Mandela in March 1997, in Cape Town, South Africa.
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He was also with Mother Teresa of Calcutta in New York in June 1997.
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This image, captured from security camera video, shows Diana arriving at the Ritz Hotel in Paris on August 30, 1997. It is one of the last photos of Diana alive.
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That same day, this image of Diana was captured in the elevator of the Ritz Hotel in Paris with her boyfriend Dodi Fayed.
After leaving the hotel, the couple died in a traffic accident in the Puente del Alma tunnel.
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Fayed and the driver Henri Paul, died immediately.
Diana died in a hospital in Paris hours later.
A French investigation concluded that Paul was legally drunk and that he was responsible for the accident.
In 2008, a British jury of forensic experts determined that Diana and Fayed were killed by Paul's actions and by the pursuit of the paparazzi, who were after the couple's car.
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Diana's coffin is carried to Westminster Cathedral, London, in September 1997. From the back and from left to right, watching the funeral procession pass: Prince Charles, Prince Henry, Charles Spencer, Prince William and the Prince Philip.
"People felt a kinship with her"
When Blair used that phrase in a speech after Diana's death, he was searching for words to help a nation mourn a surprisingly sudden loss.
The Princess of Wales had finalized her divorce from Prince Charles in 1996, but intense media scrutiny still followed her when she went on vacation the following summer with her boyfriend Dodi Fayed.
Just after midnight on August 31, a Mercedes carrying Diana and Fayed crashed into a tunnel not far from the Eiffel Tower in Paris.
The accident killed Diana, Fayed, and their driver, Henri Paul.
This is how Henry grew up, the rebellious prince of the royal family 2:16
The news reached the royal family while they were in Scotland at Balmoral Castle.
Within hours, Prince Charles flew to Paris to retrieve Diana's body before returning to Balmoral to be with the married couple's children: Prince William and Prince Henry.
“The immediate reaction of the royal family was to say: 'We must regroup and protect the children;
there will be formalities to follow, but that's what we do, "said author Jonathan Dimbleby on CNN's original series on the royal family" The Windsors. "
“Carlos's priority was those boys.
I was desperately worried about them, "adds biographer Penny Junor.
At 15 and 12 years old, Guillermo and Enrique "were at a very tender and difficult age… this was the most shocking, terrible and frightening thing that happened to them."
When television broadcasts began reporting on the fatal accident, the royal family issued a brief statement that they were "deeply shocked and distraught" by the news.
But "for this grieving population, it seemed like nothing," remembers historian Kate Williams in "The Windsor."
As the hours passed, with notoriously reserved Britons in open mourning, all eyes were on Buckingham Palace making a larger gesture or statement, to establish a connection, the way Diana had always been able to. do.
"People got very excited about Diana because she had an extraordinary connection to everyone," says Anji Hunter, Blair's former adviser, on the CNN series.
'People felt a kinship with her;
it was as if your beloved friend, mother, sister, had died.
And from the public's perspective, the queen and her house were being too quiet.
"I think the audience was expecting the queen to lead the morning," Junor says.
And she didn't.
Capturing the pain of a country
This growing criticism entered Prime Minister Blair, himself with only four months in office.
In his autobiography, he remembers being very aware of the pain and anger that began to radiate among the public.
The Palace's response "was very faithful to protocol, but did not take into account the fact that people don't give a damn about protocol," he wrote, according to the BBC.
Blair said her role was to "protect the monarchy, channel anger before it turned into rage, and generally make the whole thing emerge in a positive and unifying way rather than being a source of tension, division and bitterness".
Blair took notes for his now famous speech on the back of an envelope, with the guidance of his communications leader Alastair Campbell.
Once Blair took the mic, he shared the emotion that the audience was looking for.
"I feel like everyone else in this country today, completely devastated," he said of Diana's death.
She was a wonderful and warm human being.
Although her own life was often sadly affected by tragedy, she touched the lives of many others, in Britain and around the world, with joy and consolation ... She was the princess of the people, and that is how she will remain forever. our hearts and in our memories, forever «.
Reflecting on the phrase "the people's princess" in her book, Blair said it "seems like something from another era, cheesy and over the top."
Yet it's hard to argue with how well he captured Diana's legacy, particularly at the time, says journalist Richard Kay in "The Windsor."
"He coined this wonderful phrase about the village princess and it struck a chord," says Kay.
"It seemed to sum up the feelings of a country in a paralysis of pain and shock in a way that the Queen did not."
The queen responds
Before Diana's funeral, Queen Elizabeth II responded to an audience demanding that the royal family somehow show they cared.
On live television, he addressed his subjects as a "queen and as a grandmother," and singled out Diana as an "exceptional and talented human being."
And at the funeral, the queen took another step to pay tribute.
"The queen bows down to no one, ever," said historian Jane Ridley on the CNN series.
And yet, as the funeral procession passed Buckingham Palace, the queen was seen at the front, "bowing to her daughter-in-law."
Diana of Wales
