The person I admire most is Lady Diana Spencer. She was the daughter of the eighth Earl Spencer and the first wife of Charles, Prince of Wales. She is the mother of Prince William and Prince Harry.
Diana Frances Spencer was born on 1st July, 1961 to John Spencer, the Viscount Althorp and Frances Roche. She met Prince Charles when she was 16, and married him four years later at St. Paul’s Cathedral in 1981. Charles and Diana separated in December 1992 and divorced in August 1996. In the early hours of 31st August 1997, Diana died in a horrible car crash in Paris, France.
Diana was well known for her charity work, and her patronages included Great Ormond Street Hospital, National Aids Trust, Centrepoint and the Leprosy Mission. She was also respected for her contribution to the international campaign to ban landmines.
After her death, a mass mourning began in England and all over the world, for Diana, who would have been England’s future queen. Her residence Kensington Palace was surrounded with flowers and messages of condolences.
The song ‘Candle in the Wind’ by Elton John which was originally written in memory of Marilyn Monroe was re-written for Diana and the last verse is the very moving, “Goodbye England’s rose, from a country lost without your soul, who will miss the wings of your compassion, more than you will ever know...”
I value Diana for her compassion, perseverance and kindness which she retained despite being a victim of injustice several times in her short life.
Rasali Liyanage,
Grade 9,
Visakha Vidyalaya,
Colombo.