She felt instant compassion for those who were as painfully shy and lonely as she was. And she could often be found comforting a tearful child, even though she was little more than a child herself.
But she grew to be a witty, beautiful and charismatic woman. And she became widely adored when she married into the British royal family. Her innate ability to understand and empathise with ordinary people endeared her to many people.
When she became a mother of two, she took them to hostels for the homeless and people dying of AIDS, hoping her sons would gain an understanding of people's emotions, insecurities, distress, hopes and dreams.
Unhappily, her marriage went through rocky patches and ended in divorce in 1996. Perhaps the misery she had endured was what led her to say these words I want to make my own:
I've learned so much over the last years. From now on, I'm going to own myself and be true to myself. I no longer want to live someone else's idea of what and who I should be. I'm going to be me.When she died in a road accident in 1997, there was an outpouring of grief. Several world leaders mourned for her, with Bill Clinton and Nelson Mandela remembering her humanitarian activities.
Her brother, Earl Spencer, eulogized her as unique, complex and irreplaceable - the very essence of compassion, duty, style and beauty - someone who needed no royal title to continue generating her particular brand of magic.
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Also check out "The Sister I Never Had".
