Princess Diana was 'change from within' the royals says expert

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The Princess of Wales’ legacy was recently brought back into focus, when her youngest son, Prince Harry, spoke candidly about the impact his mother still has on his life. In an interview with NBC’s Hoda Kotb, he admitted that he feels Diana’s presence “more so than ever before”. He said: “But now, I feel her presence in almost everything that I do now. But definitely more so in the last two years than ever before. Without question. So she’s watching over us.”

Harry and his wife, Meghan Markle, stepped down from their senior roles in the Royal Family two years ago. They have forged a new life in the US, where they now reside with their two children — Archie Harrison and Lilibet Diana.  

Their exit harked back to the words of Charles Spencer — the 9th Earl Spencer and younger brother to Diana — who delivered an emotional eulogy during his sister’s funeral. 

He said that Diana had spoken “endlessly” about leaving Britain, “mainly because of the treatment that she received at the hands of the newspapers. 

He continued: “I don’t think she ever understood why her genuinely good intentions were sneered at by the media, why there appeared to be a permanent quest on their behalf to bring her down. It is baffling.”

Earl Spencer said his sister was “looking for a new direction in her life”. 

Indeed, founder and creator of Los Angeles-based royals site, ToDiForDaily.com, Kinsey Schofield told Express.co.uk that Diana was “taking back her life” in the years leading up to her tragic death.

Ms Schofield referred to Christmas 1991, when Diana spent the festive season at Sandringham. 

She said: “At that time, that Christmas, Diana was hiding all over the place taking secret phone calls with Andrew Morton because they were preparing to release the book.”

This was 11 years into the princess’ marriage to Prince Charles and, at that point, there had been years of speculation surrounding marital issues. 

While it has previously been painted as a dark time during Diana’s life, for instance in the 2021 film, Spencer, Ms Schofield argued otherwise. 

She said: “This was a woman that was finding her ‘out’. She was strategising — some might say scheming, I say strategising. 

“This was not a woman who was unravelling, this was a woman who was taking control of the situation, she was taking back her life.”

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Ms Schofield added: “By the end of her life, she had changed the narrative and she had taken control of her circumstances.”

Diana was practically a permanent fixture in the tabloid newspapers in the months before her tragic death in 1997. 

In the subsequent years, there was speculation that Diana had in fact colluded with the press, a move that Ms Schofield, author of the upcoming book about Diana entitled: ‘R is for Revenge Dress’, claimed was part of the princess “taking control of her own narrative”. 

She said: “She [Diana] figured out pretty quickly how the Royal Family worked, and what the dynamic was — ‘never complain, never explain’ — never address their problems. 

“So, when people started saying things about her that weren’t true or that she didn’t want out there, she knew that she could not get in front of a microphone and say: ‘That’s not true. That’s a lie.’ 

“So Diana developed relationships with the likes of Andrew Morton and Richard Kay.

“She quietly developed these relationships with people that she needed in her corner and then she would leak stories about herself to ensure that there was some balance happening within the commentary of her life.” 

Mr Morton’s biography of the princess, ‘Diana: Her True Story’, was released in 1992, the year that Diana and Charles formally separated. 

Ms Schofield said: “Diana was smart enough to strategise how to change the narrative and get her story out there, because she did not want to be seen as crazy.”

She went on to say that the Duchess of Sussex “could have learned” from Diana’s press strategy.

Much like Diana, Meghan was an almost exhausting regularity in the press following the revelation of her relationship with Harry. 

In a candid conversation with James Corden last year, the prince opened up on the impact the alleged “toxic” British media had on his and Meghan’s decision to leave. 

He said: “It was a really difficult environment as a lot of people saw. 

“We all know what the British press can be like. And it was destroying my mental health. I was like, this is toxic.”

He said he “did what any husband [or] father would do”, and moved his family away. 

Ms Schofield said: “I think that Meghan Markle could have learned a lot from Diana in this aspect, because Meghan talked a lot about how frustrating it was that she couldn’t defend herself — all the while, Diana did this in the background for years and came out on top.”

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