Before she became known as the People's Princess, Diana was redefining what it meant to be a royal. At a time when members of the Royal Family were expected to keep a distance from controversial issues, Princess Diana rolled up her sleeves and embraced causes others deemed unsuitable for a Princess of Wales. While tackling issues like AIDs, homelessness and eliminating landmines, Diana often looked to where people were suffering when it came to her royal patronages. But behind her choices lay something deeply personal, as Dianaworld: An Obsession author Edward White wrote.
"From the late 1980s, she embraced causes which were considered by many to be distinctly inappropriate concerns for a future queen, but which she felt passionately about," White wrote. He added that her choices sent a message to the public about "how she felt about herself: abandoned, rejected, and misunderstood."
A young Diana struggled with her marriage to Prince Charles and didn't fit in with her royal in-laws, feeling that the Windsors "failed to give her the support she desperately needed," per White. The author added that before she got deep into her charity work, Princess Diana felt "a void" in her life, adding she was "both lacking in direction as to what she should do to fill her days and unsure about how to conduct herself while doing so."
Princess Diana is seen during a 1989 visit to London Lighthouse, a center for people affected by HIV and AIDS.
Princess Diana, seen during a visit to charity Centrepoint, was passionate about helping the homeless.
He noted that Diana "compensated for" a lack of love and validation from her husband "by carving out a public existence that focused on service to the suffering." It was an idea of royal duty that didn't exactly gel with the "Men in Grey Suits" at the palace, a group of courtiers who Diana saw, according to White, as people whose purpose was "to silence, thwart and disempower her."
Whether it was visiting HIV patients or those suffering from Leprosy, Princess Diana found a purpose while seeking out people who—like her—felt they were "misunderstood." It's a subject Tessy Ojo, CEO of the Diana Award, discussed during a 2024 event with Prince Harry.
"It’s so easy to pause, to stop and to say, 'This is too big. It’s too messy. I’m not going to get involved,'" Dr. Ojo said at the time, via People. "And that’s the kind of thing we saw with Princess Diana. She went where the pain was. And usually where the pain is—it’s not always comfortable. It’s not easy."
