Diana Frances Spencer was born on 1 July 1961 at Park House in Sandringham, a rented property on the Queen’s estate. The Spencer family descend from a long line of aristocrats and have been close to the British royal family for decades. Diana’s grandmother was a lady in waiting to the Queen Mother and Queen Elizabeth II even attended her parents' wedding.

Diana had a happy early childhood growing up on the Norfolk estate. She’s pictured here as a very young child in her pram at Park House. According to her former nanny, Inge Crane, she was "very, very cuddly". "There's always been something special about Park House. It's difficult to put a finger on what it is," Crane told CNN.

Diana and her family moved to Althorp in 1976 when she was 14 years old after her father, John Spencer, Viscount Althorp, came into his title. Despite the bitter state of her parents' relationship, she was said to have loved the place. A former Althorp cook, Betty Andrews, told the BBC in 1997: "looking back, it was probably the happiest time of her life.” 

The grand stately home has been in Diana’s family for over five centuries, with 20 generations having lived there. Her aristocratic bloodline traces back to such noted figures as George Washington and Bonnie Prince Charlie.

This is the South Drawing Room where the family would have hosted guests and it has a number of revealing portraits lining the walls. Alongside a Joshua Reynolds portrait of the young Viscount Spencer painted in 1786, there’s a picture of Lady Georgina Spencer as a child. Better known as the Duchess of Devonshire – portrayed by Kiera Knightly in the film The Duchess – comparisons have been drawn between her life and Diana's.

At the age of 12, Diana moved schools to join her sisters Sarah and Jane at West Heath Girls' School in Sevenoaks, Kent, in 1973. The exclusive institution boarded around 100 girls at the time.

The flat sits on Old Brompton Road, between Earl’s Court and Kensington. A playground for young, rich aristocrats even today, it’s filled with upmarket restaurants and designer shops including Harrods. In Andrew Morton's memoir, Diana, In Her Own Words, she called her days there "the happiest time of her life... It was juvenile, innocent, uncomplicated and above all fun."

In 1980, Lady Diana Spencer was by now romantically linked with the Prince of Wales and this image shows her leaving her London flat in her car after being pursued by the media. Charles and Diana originally met in 1977 when she was 16 and he was dating her older sister, Lady Sarah. They met again at a country weekend in 1980 and he began courting her officially, inviting her to go sailing with him on the royal yacht Britannia at Cowes and then to meet the Queen and Queen Mother at Balmoral, now the Queen's summer home, in November 1980.

Diana and Charles began making public appearances together, starting with this fundraiser in Goldsmiths' Hall in March 1981. Following their official engagement, Diana left her job as a nursery assistant and moved into Clarence House to prepare for their wedding that summer. 

Clarence House was the Queen and Prince Philip's first home following their marriage in 1947, and it's where they raised the Prince of Wales as a young child. From 1953, it was first and foremost the royal residence of the Queen Mother, who was living there during the short time that Diana moved in. 

While Diana spent the night before her wedding at Clarence House, she also lived for a while at Buckingham Palace itself. Diana lived at the world-famous royal address while the huge preparations were underway for what was set to be one of the biggest royal weddings in history.

One of London's most historic addresses, Kensington Palace was purchased by William III as a country retreat in 1689. Since its beginnings as a Jacobean villa, the palace has gone through a number of transformations and has been home to some of the country’s most celebrated royals, including Queen Victoria, Princess Margaret and now Prince William and the Duchess of Cambridge, Catherine. In 2018, newlyweds Prince Harry and Meghan Markle briefly resided on the estate too.

Following their wedding, Prince Charles and Princess Diana took up residence in Apartment 8, before Diana gave birth to William in 1982 and Harry in 1984. Their apartment is located within the quadrangle that sits between Clock Court and Ivy Cottage and was one of several royal apartments within the palace. 

Princess Diana’s desk, which sat in the living room, was surrounded by her personal keepsakes, including photographs of her children and her school tuck box. Though Diana is famously known to have struggled with the pressures of public royal life, she grew extremely fond of Kensington Palace, which she nicknamed KP.

Charles and Diana split their time between Kensington Palace and their country estate, Highgrove House. Prince Charles bought the Gloucestershire country home in 1980 – the year before he married Diana – and they used it as a weekend country retreat. Princes William and Harry spent much of their childhood here and family snapshots show the pair riding a shetland pony around the grounds, led by their mother.

Pictured here on the steps of Highgrove, Diana reportedly wasn't a fan of the nine-bedroom property, which she thought was too small and not private enough. During her time at the estate, the Princess is said to have frequently taken her young sons out shopping in the nearby towns of Tetbury and Cirencester and the royals became a familiar sight for local residents. Highgrove is still the official residence of Prince Charles and he uses the gardens and land to promote his interest in organic gardening.

Following a state funeral at Westminster Abbey on 6th September 1997, Diana was brought to rest at a mausoleum on an island within the grounds of her childhood home, Althorp. Her brother, Lord Charles Spencer, said that "she proved in the last year that she needed no royal title to continue to generate her particular brand of magic."

Though decades may have passed since she died, love for and interest in Diana is as strong today as it ever was. Many of her famous outfits are on display at Kensington Palace, including her wedding dress, and she lives on through her sons who continue to honour her memory through their own ongoing charity work.

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