The Princess who had everything but happiness

Diana, Princess of Wales, was an icon for her age, a woman who bewitched the world, but not her prince.

She brought life and compassion into the lives of millions. But while the world will remember this dynamic personality for her empathy with the sick, the injured and the downtrodden and the huge asset she represented to every one of the 150 charities with which she was involved, the earlier tragedy of the rupture of her loveless marriage cast a shadow over the long-term future of the British Crown.

Not since the abdication of King Edward VIII in 1936 had the royal family's private life so imperilled its prospects.

The 'fairytale' partnership of the Prince and Princess of Wales ended in a public relations fiasco of 'his and hers' biographies and television interviews that made divorce inevitable and the only means of salvaging the dignity of the monarchy.

But her death at the age of 36 escaping from the paparazzi might also be seen as one result of the opening up of a once aloof royal family to the scrutiny of the world.

The marriage? 'It has all the ingredients of a Greek tragedy,' the prince once lamented. 'I never thought it would end up like this. How could I have got it all so wrong?' Tawdry revelations about their extramarital affairs made even sympathisers question the judgment and moral authority of the heir to the throne.

When the princess cast doubt publicly on her husband's fitness to become king, the queen responded by pressing her son and daughter-in-law to end the marriage.