From her tensions with Prince Charles to her constant battle with the paparazzi, The Princess tells the story of Princess Diana’s public life through real-life archival audio and footage

Princess Diana. Photo: VINCENT AMALVY/AFP

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Life in the Spotlight

Tim Graham Photo Library

Just before their wedding, Prince Charles and Princess Diana sat down for a joint interview and spoke about the glare of the royal spotlight.

“If you don’t try to work out in your own mind some kind of method for existing and surviving this kind of thing, you would go mad, I think. In the end, you do get used to it,” Charles says before turning to Diana and asking: “Don’t you find that after the last six months you’re beginning to get used to it?”

Diana quietly responds, “Just.”

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The Wedding

Princess Diana and Prince Charles. Anwar Hussein/Getty

As Princess Diana and Prince Charles leave their wedding ceremony, a commentator says, “Usually fairy tales end here with the phrase ‘and they lived happily ever after.’ ” While footage shows celebrations throughout the U.K., including dancing and popping champagne in the streets, we know now that Princess Diana never got her storybook ending. The couple seemed to know something was amiss at the time too — as they pulled up to Buckingham Palace in their carriage, they were completely silent with no loving interactions or cheerful expressions expected of newlyweds.

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Diana’s Popularity

Princess Diana and Prince Charles. Jayne Fincher/Princess Diana Archive/Getty

During a 1983 tour of Australia, overwhelming crowds gathered everywhere that Princess Diana and Prince Charles visited. But it was clear that they were there to see Diana — as one commentator noted in the documentary, “You can’t give pictures of him away, but Diana is very big news everywhere.” Prince Charles recognized that he was playing second fiddle to his new wife, asking photographers, “Am I in the way?”

“Charles doesn’t like the fact that she’s a superstar, and he isn’t,” another commentator notes.

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“Trapped”

Princess Diana, Prince William and Prince Charles. Diana Archive/Getty

In an interaction between the royals and members of the media, Prince Charles talks to a young Prince William as Princess Diana looks on glumly. As Prince William peers through a video camera lens, Charles tells his son, “The people in there, look at them…trapped.” The irony of the statement is not lost on viewers.

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Diana’s Loneliness

Princess Diana. Anwar Hussein/Getty

While Prince Charles “continued to live like a bachelor” despite being a husband and father, Princess Diana was clearly feeling isolated in her royal life. During a 1992 visit to the Taj Mahal, a monument built by a man to pay tribute to his wife, Princess Diana ironically posed for photos alone — and it spoke volumes about the state of the couple’s marriage at the time.

Diana looks uneasy as she’s being photographed on a bench in front of the Taj Mahal, putting on her sunglasses as she stood. She then walked over to another bench and sat with her back towards the photographers in a moment of solitude.

“So she’s just sitting there, is she?” one cameraman is heard asking.

“Thinking about her marriage,” says another.

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Dodging Paparazzi

After Princess Diana and Prince Charles announced their separation, paparazzi climbed on ladders and ran into traffic to capture Diana on everyday outings, such as going to the gym and attending Prince William and Prince Harry’s school events. As Princess Diana tried to escape them, her car is shown speeding away — an ominous foreshadowing of her tragic death just a few years later.

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William and Harry Run from the Cameras

Princess Diana. Princess Diana Archive/Getty

The documentary intercuts Princess Diana’s 1993 speech, in which she announced she would be reducing her public appearances, with shots of her and her sons avoiding paparazzi. Both Prince William and Prince Harry are seen running away from the cameras and shielding their faces with hats.

“When I started my public life 12 years ago, I understood the media might be interested in what I did. I realized then their attention would inevitably focus on both our private and public lives,” Diana said in her speech. “But I was not aware of how overwhelming that attention would become, nor the extent to which it would affect both my public duties and my personal life in a manner that’s been hard to bear.”

However, she was again met with criticism: “It’s very Diana, isn’t it, to call a press conference to announce that she wants to be left alone,” said one commentator. “Very in character.”

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Coming Into Her Own

Princess Diana. Princess Diana Archive/Getty

Following her divorce, Princess Diana focused on charities and causes with special meaning to her, from homelessness to HIV/AIDS. “Good work and associating one’s self with good voluntary causes, that, I think, is the sort of direction that the Princess of Wales see herself moving in,” one commentator said before adding, in a now-ominous statement: “She has 20, 30, 40 years of active public life ahead of her. So people who think this is the end of something, you’re misunderstanding. This is the beginning of something.”

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The Crash

GABRIEL BOUYS/AFP

Home video showed a group of friends playing Uno as the news that Princess Diana was involved in a car crash in Paris unfolded on television. Although the men were making light of the coverage, the mood quickly shifted and they all fell silent when it was announced that Diana had died. The scene reflects how Princess Diana had become a source of entertainment for many, and it wasn’t until her untimely death that there was concern for her as a person.

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William and Harry in Mourning

Prince William, Prince Harry and Prince Charles. Tim Graham Photo Library

Prince William and Prince Harry, just 15 and 12 at the time, had just lost their mother. However, in the days following her death, they played the roles of consolers to members of the public. In the documentary, the grieving brothers are seen shaking hands and greeting people gathered outside Kensington Palace.

Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip are also shown viewing the public memorial to Diana outside the palace. In one tense moment, a woman calls out: “Take care of the boys.” Philip then curtly responds: “That’s what we’ve been doing.”

The exchange reflects the public criticism at the time that the Queen hadn’t been doing enough to comfort her subjects in the wake of Diana’s death.