The early life of Princess Diana

Diana when she was baby...

Diana when she was young...

Diana and her family members...

Diana Spencer was born late afternoon on 1 July 1961, in Sandrigham,Norfolk.She was the third child born to John Spencer,8th Earl Spencer, Viscount Althorp, and Frances Ruth Burke Roche, Viscountess Althorp (later known as Frances Shand Kydd).While her family was overjoyed, there was no hiding that the fact that the entire Spencer family was hoping for a male heir to carry on the Spencer name.The Spencer family is one of Great Britain's oldest and most important families. They have been closely allied with the royal family for over five hundred years.Since they were initially expecting a boy, they had no name when she was first born. A week later they settled on Diana Frances, after a Spencer ancestress and her mother.Diana was the sister of Lady Sarah McCorquodale, Jane Fellowes, Baroness Fellowes, and Charles Spencer, 9th Earl Spencer.Diana was baptized at Sandringham church, with normal commoners as god parents. While her baby brother, Charles, was baptized at Westminster Abbey with Queen Elizabeth II as principal god parent.She also had another brother, John, who died a year before she was born.According to Andrew Morton's biography about the Princess of Wales, he was so deformed and sick that he only survived ten hours after he was born.This initially put strain on John and Frances' marriage. Lady Frances Althorp was sent to Harley Street clinics in London,after old members of the Spencer family questioned why she could only give birth to girls.The experience was described as "humiliating", with Charles Spencer, the current Earl Spencer saying: "It was a dreadful time for my parents and probably the root of their divorce because I don't think they ever got over it."While she was young, Diana caught the pitch of her family's frustration. She considered herself a nuisance, and later felt an overwhelming load of guilt over it. These feelings she later learned to accept and recognize.Diana grew up in Park House which was situated near to the Sandringham estate.

Diana's parents separated when she was only seven years of age.They divorced because her mother, Frances, had an affair with Peter Shand Kydd.In Morton's book, he described how she remembered her father packing suitcases, her mother crunching across the gravel forecourt, and driving away through the gates of Park House. Shortly after, her father, John Spencer, won custody of both her and her three siblings.She was first educated at Riddlesworth Hall, and later attended boarding school at The New School at West Heath.In 1973, John Spencer began a relationship withRaine Legge, the Countess of Dartmouth, the only daughter of Alexander McCorquodale and Barbara Cartland.Lord Spencer and Lady Dartmouth were married at Caxton Hall, London, on 14 July 1976. As Countess Spencer, Raine was unpopular with her stepdaughter Lady Diana Spencer.However, media reports have suggested that at the time of her death, Diana was reconciled with her stepmother, while her relationship with her mother Frances Shand Kydd, had been strained.Diana received the title of Lady after her father inherited the title of Earl Spencer in 1975. Diana was often noted for her shyness while growing up, but she did take an interest in both music and dancing. She also had a great interest in children. After attending finishing school at the Institut Alpin Videmanette in Switzerland, she moved to London. She began working with children, eventually becoming a kindergarten teacher at the Young England School.Diana had apparently played with Prince Andrew and Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex as a child while her family rented Park House, an estate owned by Queen Elizabeth II.