PRINCESS DIANA: THE LEGENDARY ICON
WEEK 19/2025
Let me take you back to the late ’70s, early ’80s. Lady Diana Spencer was, in many ways, an ordinary girl. I mean, she was an aristocrat with a title, but at the same time, she worked at a kindergarten. She owned a flat in the posh area of Earl’s Court, London, with flatmates. Who could have imagined she would become the most photographed woman on Earth?
When her engagement to the Prince of Wales was announced, her life did a full 180. It was the beginning of the end.
We all know her story. We all know how it ended. What amazes me, though, is how a woman so young, so fragile, became the most famous person on Earth—and used her fame to do good. There aren’t many people like her.
More than two decades after her tragic passing, Princess Diana remains a symbol of compassion and elegance, whose legacy continues to inspire. While she captivated the world with her beauty and fashion sense, it was her courageous humanitarian work—particularly with AIDS awareness—that truly set her apart.
In the 1980s and early 1990s, when fear and stigma surrounded HIV/AIDS, Diana did something revolutionary: she showed compassion. She shook hands with AIDS patients without gloves, hugged them, sat at their bedsides, and helped change public perception at a time when many turned away. In doing so, she sent a powerful message: AIDS could not be spread through touch—and more importantly, those living with the disease deserved dignity, love, and care.
Her involvement wasn’t just symbolic. Diana was a patron of the National AIDS Trust in the UK and visited numerous hospitals and hospices, quietly advocating for funding, research, and compassion. She humanized a crisis and gave a voice to the voiceless, often with no cameras around, and no agenda beyond kindness.
That world-famous photo of her shaking the ungloved hand of someone suffering from AIDS still brings tears to my eyes. It broke barriers. It showed everyone suffering: you are not alone, you are not untouchable, you are human. She stood up. She did something. While the rest of the world judged, she acted.
Princess Diana became an advocate for the LGBTQ+ community at a time when it was most needed. AIDS was largely associated with gay men. Today, we know AIDS doesn’t discriminate—but in those years, incomplete and often harmful information was spread by the media and governments around the world. They turned a blind eye. Diana did not.
She was also a staple in queer culture: her style was iconic, her charisma electric, her sense of drama unmistakable. In clubs, on drag stages, and in fashion circles, Diana became more than a princess—she was a kind of queer muse. We adopted her as one of our own. In fact, she was rather like us: always under scrutiny, often unheard, and pushed aside by the establishment.
Her death in 1997 hit the queer community particularly hard. It felt like losing not just a public figure, but an ally, a protector—and perhaps most of all, a friend.
Diana’s legacy endures not just in glossy magazine pages or royal documentaries, but in the quiet ways she made people feel seen. At a time when many queer people felt invisible, she looked directly at us. She saw us. And she stood up for us.
“The biggest disease this day and age is that of people feeling unloved" - Diana, Princess of Wales (July 1961 – 31 August 1997)
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