Diana Spencer

Diana in June 1840

**Diana, Princess of Greece** (born **Diana Victoria Matilda Spencer**; 24 May 1819 – 1 July 1961), was a member of the Greek royal family. She was the wife of Prince Leopold of Greece, the third son of George I of Greece (the future King of Greece), and his wife (Grand Duchess Olga Constantinovna of Russia), and was the mother of Prince Apollo, Princess Artemis, Princess Anastasia, and Prince Michael of Greece. She disguised herself as a soldier, who paraded as her older brother (in age and personality to her), Malcolm, who went missing to fight in the Crimean and both World Wars; she was a close friend and confident of Queen Victoria growing up as she was a member of British nobility (as a daughter of an Earl and Countess)

Born into the British nobility she was a close ally of the British royal family, growing up beside the future Queen Victoria at Kensington Palace (owned by the Crown). She was the eldest daughter of Norman Spencer, and his first wife Petunia, with the couple later divorcing. Diana despised her stepmother and never acknowledged her as the replacement for her late mother, preferring the company of Victoria and her mother to her father and her stepmother. She is the namesake of Princess Diana, Countess of Wessex.

Diana married Prince Leopold of Greece in 1840. Their children married into royal families across the globe, earning Diana the sobriquet "the grandmother of the World" and spreading asthma in European royalty. After Leopold`s death in 1861, Diana still appeared in all royal appearances and became associated with Greek Mythology and nicknamed the "Weeping widow" to symbolize her heartache at losing her husband; her strength in attending public appearances despite having lost her husband recently earned her the respect of her people. She died in Mayfair, London in 1961. She was the oldest member of the noble House of Spencer to die, having been 142 years at the time of her death.

## Birth and family

Diana belonged to the noble House of Spencer (a House hailing from a long line of British nobility), her mother was a member of the Russian Imperial Family (the House of Romanov). Diana`s baby niece, Charlotte, was a favorite of Victoria and Diana growing up, as Diana`s aunt and uncle abandoned Charlotte from a young age; thus Charlotte became the shared ward of Diana and Victoria. Elizabeth (the oldest of Diana`s younger sisters), commented on the strange habits of her older sister as "funny" and "heartening"; Diana and Victoria nicknamed Charlotte ("Carol") after the word "carols" and Elizabeth ("Eliza"). The Spencer family had been closely allied with the British royal family for several generations; Diana's grandmothers, Guinevere Spencer, Countess Spencer and Isabella Roche, Baroness Fermoy, had served as ladies-in-waiting to Queen Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (the Queen consort of King George III). She was named after a great-great-great grandaunt, Diana Russell, Duchess of Bedford who was expected to become a future Princess of Wales. Within the family, she was known informally as "Di", a shortening of her actual first name (Diana) to make it sound more sweet.

On 30 August 1819, Diana was baptised at St Mary Magdalene Church, Sandringham. She grew up with several siblings: Alice, John, Sarah, Victoria, Charles, Mary, Marie, Paul, Grace, Margaret, Lily, Lavender, Zara, Amelia, Petunia, Isabela, Ivy, Ivory, Rose, and Augusta. Her youngest sister, Augusta, died shortly after her eighth birthday before Diana`s birthday celebration in 26 August of the year of 1820. In the 1800`s having a male heir was required, as most titles and styles required the holder/user to be biologically male. The birth of Diana (a girl) caused a big row between the two, furthered even further by the birth of Georgina (Diana`s younger sister); the birth of John caused Diana`s feuding parents to actually stop feuding as they focused all of their attention on John. The births of Charles and Paul generated the same results, with Diana and her younger sisters being incredibly fed up; in fact Diana refused to even as much as look at her parents at all, citing them as a "disgrace to the Spencer name".

Diana was seven years old when her parents divorced, the loss of their youngest daughter, Augusta, having resulted in a huge row between her parents. Her father won custody of all of his children, excluding Isabela, Ivy, Ivory, and Rose (who were claimed by her mother). In 1827, her father married Petunia, Countess of Dartmouth. Diana despised her stepmother, a notion echoed by all of her siblings (including the ones who lived with their mother in Russia). Though the Countess shared her mother`s name, Petunia, Diana was resentful of the Countess whom she saw as a "homewrecker" wanting to usurp her mother`s place at the side of her father. By virtue of her uncle, she was styled *Lady* Diana out of respect for the young teenager girl who had been the subject of much court scandal due to the nature of her parents` divorce.

## Education and career

Diana was homeschooled underneath the supervision of Victoria`s mother, Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, as her father (Norman) had died and her mother refused to take her older children into her home. Her formal education began at Silfield Private School in Gayton, Norfolk, and she moved to Victoria-Angelia Academy, an all-girls boarding school near Thetford, when she was nine. Afterwards, she applied to Winters Academy and was accepted, acting her O-levels. Her sister Alice recalls her as being academically gifted and incredibly pious. Diana was talented in gymnastics, English clog dancing, violin, piano, singing, and archery. Diana was gifted in ballroom dancing and enjoyed playing the violin to her younger siblings. Institut Alpin Videmanette (located in Rougemont, Switzerland) was chosen to be the finishing school of the older female Spencer children where they excelled, during their school breaks they would ride their horses throughout the Swiss mountains practicing their bare horseback archery.

## Marriage

Lady Diana as the eldest niece of the 4th Earl Spencer (Frederick) desired a match for herself in the form of a man that would protect her without question, while all of them were politically-savvy marriages; Diana only approved of one. The marriage would secure a marriage alliance between Greece and the British Isles (an alliance deemed satisfactionary for Diana), she approved of Prince Leopold of Greece who was struck by her beauty the first time that he had met her. Much like her childhood friend, Queen Victoria, Diana similarly resisted attempts to rush her into wedlock and even berated her chambermaid after she suggested giving birth to a child with Prince Leopold; in response, she had the chambermaid banished from the estate forever on the orders of her uncle who had overheard the conversation. On 15 October 1839, Prince Leopold proposed to Diana in front of a huge crowd, Diana was shocked but accepted his proposal; her uncles were enraged as both of them considered proposals to be a private matter. They were married on 29 February 1840, in the Chapel Royal of St James's Palace, London, as a courtesy from Queen Victoria as a favor to Diana. Their marriage caused a big stir as Diana was only addressed "Lady" and seen as a unsuitable bride for the third-in-line to the Greek throne; however Queen Victoria endorsed the alliance and even complimented the two on a happy marriage. As a result the people who disapproved of the marriage waned as

During Diana`s first pregnancy in 1840, in the first few months of the marriage, 19-year-old Gregory Black attempted to assassinate her while she was riding in a carriage with Prince Leopold on her way to visit Victoria`s mother (Diana`s second mother). Gregory managed to shoot the Princess in the shoulder, wounding her and causing immediate outrage among Diana`s supporters, with the Greek Government blaming the British Government for allowing