Princess Diana's Global Legacy

Twenty years after her death, former BBC royal correspondent Jennie Bond looks at the enduring appeal of the people’s princess

- Jennie Bond

Perhaps it was the way she lived – forever in the news as drama after drama unfolded. Or, perhaps it was the way she died – suddenly and tragically young.

Whatever the reason, Diana, Princess of Wales remains a source of eternal fascination. Whenever people ask me about my work as the BBC’s royal correspondent during those turbulent years, the one person they always want to know about is Diana.

Even two decades on from that fateful night in the Pont de l’Alma tunnel in Paris, her influence on how the Royal Family behave today is evident. And it is her two sons who are keeping her memory very much alive.

There’s no doubt whatsoever that Lady Diana Spencer was a one-off. From a shy, damaged young girl who married – and then lost – her Prince, she grew into the strong, determined woman I knew, who was willing to take on the establishment, including the Royal Family.

I watched her battle with her demons as bulimia took hold during the early years of her marriage. I talked with her at length as that marriage gradually unravelled and she lost her royal status. I also went with her to the minefields of Angola as she forged a new global role for herself. Diana was tougher and shrewder than she made out, and she chose her charity work carefully.

As her feelings of being isolated and alone within the Royal Family increased, she naturally reached out to people who felt similarly cast aside, for example, those who had contracted leprosy or AIDS. I watched as she tenderly touched the hands and feet of leprosy patients in a Calcutta hospital. Later she said: ‘It has always been my concern to try to show in a simple action that they are not reviled, nor are we repulsed.’ It was a powerful gesture.