Twenty-five years after her shocking death at the age of just 36, Princess Diana remains a source of fascination and intrigue to people around the world.
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Diana was killed on Aug. 31, 1997, when the limousine carrying her and her boyfriend Dodi al-Fayed crashed in the Pont de L’Alma tunnel in Paris as it sped away from chasing paparazzi on motorbikes.
Her death plunged the monarchy into crisis, as it followed her highly public divorce from Prince Charles. Their relationship was filled with fighting and adultery, and Diana often spoke of the misery she felt being part of the royal family.
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But as much pain as Diana felt in the role of the “People’s Princess,” there was no doubt she was an adoring and attentive mother to her two sons, Prince William and Prince Harry. She also often spoke of the joy she felt lending her name and talents to charity and philanthropic efforts around the globe.
The world watched Diana grow from a shy teenage nursery school teacher into a glamorous celebrity who comforted AIDS patients and campaigned for land mine removal, among many other philanthropic and charitable efforts.
“Every day, we wish she were still with us,” William said when the two brothers unveiled a statue in her honour last year at Kensington Palace in central London, her former home.
Prince William, Duke of Cambridge, and Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, during the unveiling of a statue they commissioned of their mother Diana, Princess of Wales, in the Sunken Garden at Kensington Palace, on what would have been her 60th birthday on July 1, 2021, in London, England.
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“I feel her presence in almost everything that I do now,” Prince Harry said during a U.S. television interview in April. To honour Diana a quarter-century after her death, here’s a look at some of the photos of Diana doing what she loved most: spending time with her two sons and helping other people.
Diana, Princess of Wales, with her sons, Prince William and Prince Harry, at the piano in Kensington Palace in 1985.
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Princess Diana, Prince William, Prince Harry and their former nanny, Olga Powell, ride in a carriage in Lech, Austria, in March 1993.
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Diana, Princess of Wales, wearing protective body armour and a visor, visits a landmine minefield being cleared by the charity Halo in Huambo, Angola.
Tim Graham / Getty Images
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Diana, Princess of Wales, chats with AIDS patient Wayne Taylor at Casey House AIDS hospice in Toronto in this Oct. 26, 1991, photo.
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The Princess of Wales chats with Prince Harry as Prince William looks on during VE Day commemorations in London’s Hyde Park in 1995.
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Diana, Princess of Wales, enjoys a ride on the Maid of Mist in Niagara Falls, Ontario, with her sons Prince Harry and Prince William, in October 1991.
Hans Deryk / The Canadian Press
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Diana, the Princess of Wales, accompanied by her son Prince Harry (R), family friend Catherine Soames (back L), and her son Harry (L).
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Diana, Princess Of Wales, with seven-year-old Helena Ussoua, who lost most of her intestines in a landmine blast.
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Diana, Princess of Wales, following her sons Prince Harry (right), then five years old, and Prince William, then seven, on Harry’s first day at the Wetherby School in Notting Hill, West London.
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Diana, Princess of Wales, listens to former Angolan soldiers, victims of landmine explosions during 20 years of civil war, during a visit at Neves Bendinha orthopedic hospital in Luanda.
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Princess Diana At Highgrove with Prince William and Prince Harry dressed in miniature parachute regiment uniforms.
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After her divorce, Princess Diana whittled her humanitarian focus down to a few causes, among them was Centrepoint, a U.K. charity that helps homeless youth.
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Princess Diana, wearing a green coat, interacts with crowd at St Joseph’s Hospice in Hackney, London, England, in 1985.
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Diana, The Princess Of Wales, and Prince William and Prince Harry, at a polo match.
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Diana, Princess of Wales meets a leprosy patient at Sitanala Leprosy Hospital in Jakarta, Indonesia .
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— With files from Reuters and The Associated Press