7 Lessons I Learnt from Princess Diana

I was never been the one to care about the Royal Family. The only people I bothered to know are Prince Harry and Duchess Meghan because asides from the whole royal ruckus, they’re both amazing and very charitable humans.

The Queen died 6 days ago and the news has been all over social media. Another name that has been buzzing on every timeline is Diana, Princess of Wales. Of course, I’ve “heard” of Diana but like I said, I’ve never cared to know anything about whatever goes on in Buckingham Palace.

I suddenly had interest in wanting to know who she was. Who is this Princess that died 25 years ago and people still can’t get enough of?

Throughout last weekend, I consumed almost every form of content on Diana; documentaries, clips, articles, letters etc. Although her story is one of most heartbreaking stories I’ve ever read, I found myself falling in love with her more and more. I kept telling everyone the things I read, I would randomly text my sister, “Hey, did you know Diana had a microwave accident in the palace? Did she know she loved Elton John?”. My sister had to be like, “Okay, that’s enough now”😂

I’m very captivated by her. Very. There are a lot of lessons I learnt from her that I thought would be nice to share.

💐 Stay True to Yourself

One thing I admire a lot about Diana is that for the most part, she was true to herself through and through. She didn’t care that the people around her disapproved of the way she lived and the things she did. She did them anyways.

She was a true example of “live for yourself and not for others”

💐 Do not let the “norms” hold you down

Diana was known for breaking royal norms. She did a lot of things royals weren’t supposed to do. She would visit hospitals, sit and talk with sick people. There was a stigma on with AIDS but Diana held hands with them to prove that you couldn’t infected from physical touch. These are things that people from the Royal family don’t do.

I was really touched by her actions.

💐 Love People

Diana loved people and because of that, she was loved and adored by many.

She was either the Patron or President for Centrepoint, the English National Ballet, Leprosy Mission, the National Aids Trust, Hospital for Sick Children, Great Ormond Street and the Royal Marsden Hospital. She supported and gave her voice to people struggling with AIDS, leprosy, cancer and illnesses, and homelessness.

In an interview, she was asked if she ever thought she would be the Queen. She replied that she doesn’t think the royal family would want her to be the Queen. When asked why, she responded, “Because I do things differently, I don’t go by a rule book, because I lead with the heart and not the head but someone has to go out there and love people”.

I’d like to be the Queen of people’s hearts, in people’s hearts but I don’t see myself being the Queen of this country.
Diana, Princess of Wales

💐 Set Your Boundaries

With great duty comes great responsibility. Diana was loved by many, people were intrigued and interested in her and everything she did, especially the media. Paparazzi followed her everywhere. It didn’t matter where she went to, they were there. Of course, this became a huge burden for both Diana and her sons who weren’t comfortable having cameras on them everytime.

Even though there was only little she could do to control them on her own, there were times when she was on outings with her kids and would tell the paparazzi to respect her children’s privacy. She would politely but sternly ask them to stop filming her and her children on private vacations.

💐 Humility

Princess Diana was very humble. Someone who saw her on the streets asides maybe the cameras constantly following her, would have no idea that she was the Princess of Wales. She was very down to earth, loving, warm and beautiful.

Elton John, a popular singer and good friend of Diana’s said she had “the ability to walk into a room and disarm people straight away”.

💐 Be there for people

Diana had a lot of personal struggles of her own. She suffered post natal depression, bulimia and even self harm.

She said the Royal family found her depression daunting and publicly labeled it as “Diana is unstable and unbalanced”.

When asked why she self harmed, she replied, “When no one listens to you or you feel no one is listening to you, all sorts of things start to happen. You have so much pain inside yourself that you hurt yourself on the outside because you want help but it’s the wrong kind of help you’re asking for. People think it’s attention seeking”.

Diana didn’t really have anyone to confide in in the palace. Her husband was having an extramarital affair and his mother was busy being a Queen. No one reached out to her to try to help her.

I realized that there are a lot of people around us that struggle in silence everyday and they don’t know how to cry for help. Reaching out to people when you see they’re down or when you haven’t heard from them in a while goes a really long way.

💐 Be Charitable

Diana was charitable in many ways but there was one thing she did that really surprised me. After she and Charles decided to go separate ways, Diana auctioned all her princess dresses and tiara and donated all the money made to charity. I think that showed a great deal of selflessness which was something I really admired.