Princess Diana was an exceptional leader. Diana worked as a kindergarten teacher
in London until her engagement to Prince Charles was announced in February of
1981. She wed Prince Charles in an internationally televised ceremony on July
29, 1981. Almost immediately, "Shy Di" as she was initially called by
the press, blossomed into the "people's Princess". Princess Diana
contributed to society in so many ways; she would always go the extra mile to
help people in need. While she became the president or patron for over 100
charities, there were many more that she raised funds and campaigned for. Diana
was the busiest of the royal family. She was not just fulfilling a schedule or
participating just for the adulation; she was a person of compassion expressing
a genuine love for people. Princess Diana was spontaneous in ways, happily
turning away from royal protocol to kiss a child in a crowd or writing letters
to individuals of the public and signing them "love, Diana". Her
leadership was truly remarkable because she made every effort to reach out to
those that not everyone wanted to reach out to. Princess Diana could always be
found walking with, hugging, really listening to those people in situations that
some might help from a distance such as the sick, the elderly, those with aids,
the homeless, the battered, the drug-addicted, people maimed by land mines.
Princess Diana led the royal family out of a period of rapidly declining support
from the people. Since her death, the royal family continues to make efforts in
maintain the closeness with the people that the Princess had formed. They have
learned much about leadership from the Princess and it is a legacy to her that
the royal family practices what they have learned. In recognition of all her
charity work, representatives of the charities with which Princess Diana had
worked were asked to walk behind her coffin with her family the day of her
funeral.