Diana's Charity Work and Patronages

[anbrida]

Lord Deedes recalled his conversation with Diana about the coming Oslo Mine ban treaty meeting.

There was a tentative agreement that she’d go on to Oslo, I think, where there was going to be a meeting about an international ban. I was cagey about this, because the ban was political and, of course, the government were giving the armed forces what the armed force wanted, which was landmines, and nobody had proscribed them. We briefly discussed Oslo and I warned her it was political and vaguely agreed to help with the speech that she’d made there. That was going to be in September, I think. And then within ten days she was killed. -- Lord Deedes

Reference:
Rosalind Coward, “Diana: The Portrait”, 30 Aug 2004, pp. 151.

Charles Spencer recalled Diana's last letter to him

"The last letter I got from her was all about landmines. She was very proud of the landmine issue and I think if she had to have a swam song it's a wonderful one to have because it was such an important and meaty issue. Her last letter wasn't about her summer romance or anything, it was about her landmine campaign" -- Charles Spencer

Reference:
Rosalind Coward, “Diana: The Portrait”, 30 Aug 2004, pp. 151.

[Thumbahlina]

Originally Posted by anbrida

Charles Spencer recalled Diana's last letter to him



Reference:
Rosalind Coward, “Diana: The Portrait”, 30 Aug 2004, pp. 151.

wow, well, given that, it is one of those things that I remain skeptical of. I do suppose it is possible. Really it could of happened. Personally, right now, if I open my mouth about it, a huge amount of extremely asinine snarky comical drivel is going to fall out of it, about an unrelated topic. As far as Diana is concerned, she's but a memory only the history books can dish out so we can all follow. It is easy to be content, a luxury, one thing she did seem was content so anything contrary seems so odd. Nonetheless.

[anbrida]

In Bosnia (Aug 8-10, 1997) Diana had a conversation with a 14-year-old Muslim boy, Malic, who lost most of his leg when he stepped on a mine.

“When she came, I didn’t know who she was , but she was kind and friendly. She talked to me about the accident with the mine and asked what she could do to help. I said I wanted a new leg and to be able to run about and play football again like I did before. She told me I had to be brave and that she would try to help me” – Malic [1].

Poignantly, Diana’s last word to Malic was a promise

“I’ll come back and see you soon. Everything will be OK. You will not be FORGOTTEN” [2].

(I think in the last summer Diana really made a strong determination that the mine victims should not be forgotten by the world. This can be seen from her thank-you notes and conversation with the mine victims. And her action to make Mr Al Fayed Senior agree to set up a charity for the mine victims. No doubt that she would attend the Olso meeting had she not killed that night. )

References:
[1] “Enemies united by love”, Woman’s Day, 4 May 1998.
[2] Rosalind Coward, “Diana: The Portrait”, 30 Aug 2004, pp. 151.

[Osipi]

In hindsight we have 20/20 vision and no matter how we look at Diana, the person, I'm of the opinion that no matter how much or how little she did or cared about what she was doing as far as charity work, the fact remains that if she affected just one person to become aware of needed changes or that a situation existed that needs attention, it was all worthwhile. That was her mission.

She did care. She did make a difference. That's what matters. Perhaps some of her iconic status came about for some not too positive reasons but sometimes out of a negative, positive things happen.

[anbrida]

Aug 15-20, 1997, Diana went on a holiday with her friend Rosa Monckton. Rosa recalled their conversation on landmine in inquest to Diana and Dodi’s death:

(Rosa was asked whether Diana had talked about her landmine campaign during their final vacation in the hearing of inquest) “Yes, she did, and she said of all the trips, charitable trips, that she had been on, that she was most affected by what she saw in Bosnia and it had actually really made her cry ... What she said was that it was the most frightening thing that she had done. It was the most hideous thing that she had seen; the injuries she had seen were absolutely horrendous and that she wanted very much to do something about it to prevent that sort of thing going on” – Rosa Monckton.

Reference:
“Hearing of Inquest into the Deaths of Diana and Dodi – Rosa Monckton”, 13 Dec 2007 afternoon.

[anbrida]

About what Diana wanted for the Mine Ban Treaty, here was what her work partner Jerry White, founder of LSN said

I was scheduled to visit Kensington Palace this Sept. 5 to discuss a message the princess wanted to deliver to the international gathering in Oslo next week to negotiate the first global ban on land mines. She wanted the treaty to include strong language on rehabilitating victims. -- Jerry White

Reference:
Jerry White, “Travels with Diana: A Landmine Survivor’s Tale,” Christian Science Monitor. 3 Sep 1997.

Christina Lamb, a journalist who used to be rather cynical about the whole enterprise, seeing it more as political grandstanding than humanitarian mission on Diana’s part, admitted the Angola visit had ‘wiped out’ all her past cynicism about Diana.

Once, at a hospital in Huambo when the photographers had all flown back to their air conditioned hotels to wire their pictures, I watched Diana, unaware that any journalists were still present, sit and hold the hand of Helena Ussova, a seven year old who’d had her intestines blown to pieces by a mine. For what seemed an age the pair just sat, no words needed. When Diana finally left, the young girl struggled through her pain to ask me if the beautiful lady was an angel. . . .

Reference:
Sarah Bradford, "Diana: Finally, the Complete Story", July 3, 2007.

[anbrida]

Found something about Diana's personal donation to her charity in Simone Simmons's book.

So moved was she by the experience and the sight of all those injuries (in Angola) that she wrote out a cheque for 250,000 pounds, drawn against her divorce settlement, and donated it to help treat the landmine victims...Have done her bit, she could have left it there, but Diana wanted to do more. She was upset that so many of the protheses didn't fit, and she thought it was wrong that, after suffering so much, they should have to wear uncomfortable artificial limbs.

Reference: Simone Simmons and Ingrid Seward, “Diana – The Last Word”, 1 July 2005.

[anbrida]

It has been well reported that Diana had planned to visit China, though the purpose was not clear.

Just read in a biography of Diana (2004) written by a Chinese. It mentioned that right before her death, she had contacted the Red Cross of Hong Kong to arrange her visit to China to discuss the issue of Landmine with Chinese authority. [1]

I would believe that was Diana's real purpose, because it is obvious that she was very deep in the landmine issue.

In Oct 1997, China launched a two-year long campaign of de-mining at the border between China and Vietnam. This was the largest one of their demining activities in the history. So if Diana did visit China, she would not be disappointed I think. Shortly after her death, the Chinese authority gave a very nice eulogy for her

1997 Sep 2 China's leading People's Daily on Tuesday eulogized Diana as an ''ambassador of peace'' and a ''princess of the people'' and then roundly condemned the Western news media. ''She sympathized with the hardships of ordinary people, undertook charitable works with all her heart and expressed a special concern for society's masses of weak and frail,'' the Communist Party-run paper said in a eulogy.

But what I don't understand is, why Tina Brown would tell a lie on this planned visit of Diana to China.

On June 23, 1997 Diana had a lunch with Tina Brown and Anna Wintour at the Four Seasons restaurant, New York City. They pledged that they would not disclose the contents of their conversation. However, obviously Tina Brown broke her words very soon. In her Sep 6,1997 Newyorker article, Tina Brown wrote a great deal about their conversation over that lunch. Especially, she wrote these:

“I’d really, really like to go to China,” she (Diana) says. “I’m very good at sorting people’s heads out.” She says this straight-facedly, and I note that, like many stars with a gift for self-projection, she is almost wholly devoid of irony. But in her case the therapized phrases point to a quality of driven earnestness. It’s easy to understand how she could throw herself into a public role, and just as easy, sadly, to see why she would bore Prince Charles. [2]

And then in her book "The Diana Chronicles" (2007), Tina Brown wrote these:

An overdose of public adoration had made her almost delusional. She told me over lunch that she thought she could resolve the conflicts of Northern Ireland. “I’m very good at sorting people’s heads out.” [3]

While Tina Brown hadn't changed her demeaning attitude towards Diana's work, she changed the name of the country. That is weird.

References:
[1] "一个真实的戴安娜", 苏菲，2004.
[2] "A WOMAN IN EARNEST", The New Yorker, Tina Brown, Sep 6, 1997.
[3] "The Diana Chronicles", Tina Brown, 2007.

[anbrida]

Disclosed in the inquiry of Diana and Dodi's death (2007-2008), shortly after Diana went on the first vacation with Dodi (Aug 1-6 1997), Diana discussed with Dodi a plan to setup a worldwide network of hospices together. And she talked about this on a phone call to her friend Rita Rogers (Aug 1-6 1997). Then on Aug 30 1997, six hours before the crash, Diana talked to Richard Kay this plan again.

"when she was on the boat (Aug 1-6), for example, with Dodi, she rang to ask me what I thought about her and Dodi opening hospices up all around the world, and I said I thought it was a brilliant idea. I always used to say to Diana that if she hadn't been a Princess, she would have been a doctor because she loved anything medical and helping people." -- Rita Rogers's testimony to the inquiry of Diana and Dodi's death [1]

"Six hours before the Princess of Wales and the man she loved were killed in a paparazzi car chase, she telephoned me from Paris. She told me she had decided to radically change her life. She was going to complete her obligations to her charities and to the anti-personnel landmines cause and then, around November, would completely withdraw from her formal public life. She was dreaming of being a private person.

"None of this would mean, she explained, an end to the good works that she had become so closely identified with. Dodi Al Fayed’s father, Mohamed Al Fayed, had agreed to finance a charity for the victims of mines and, with Dodi’s encouragement she also had sketched out the framework of a plan to open hospices for the dying all over the world."
-- Richard Kay wrote in his tribute "The Diana I Knew", Daily Mail, Sep 1, 1997 [2]

It is well known that Diana had a profound desire to comfort the dying. And in her diary about her 1992 visit to Mother Teresa's mission in Calcutta, she'd already expressed such a wish to open up hospices globally.

What an enlightening experience for me - it felt so right to be there, to be beside these sick people as they prepared to finish their stay on this planet. The emotion running through that hospice was very strong and the effect it had on me was how much I wanted and longed to be a part of all this on a global scale. [3]

In fact, shortly after her visit to Mother Tereasa's mission in Calcutta in 1992, Diana'd already showed a desire to work in the nun's hospice.

(In Calcutta 1992) Diana had very much wanted to meet Mother Teresa, but the little nun is away in Rome having treatment for a heart condition. As soon as Diana returned to London, however, she flew to Italy and introduced herself to the person she described as 'an amazing woman who is doing God's work here on earth'. She went with a clear objective: her visit to the mission had convinced Diana that the most worthwhile thing to do if she really wanted to help those desolate people was to go to India and devote six months of her life working there. Mother Teresa dismissed the request out of hand. She told Diana that she would not be ready to take on the job until she was at least sixty years old, and said, `I couldn't do what you do -- and you couldn't do what I do.'[4]

Similar wish was also recorded in Andrew Morton's book, "From 1995 onwards she spoke with increasing frequency about setting up a network of hospices around the globe."[5]

There is no doubt Diana's hospices wish was sincere and very serious. I simply consider this as her biggest dream. What surprising is, when she finally decided to carry out her wish, she wanted to do it with Dodi Fayed, a man she knew only a couple of days -- merely several days into their vacation, she'd already started to dicuss this plan with Dodi.


References:
[1] "Hearing of Inquest into the Deaths of Diana and Dodi -- Rita Rogers", 17 Jan 2008 afternoon.
[2] Richard Kay, ``The Diana I Knew", Daily Mail, Sep 1, 1997.
[3] Diana's 1992 Calcutta diary.
[4] Simone Simmons and Ingrid Seward, "Diana -- The Last Word", 1 July 2005.
[5] Andrew Morton, ``Diana: In Pursuit of Love", 2004.

[anbrida]

I don't think Dodi was randomly picked by Diana to carry out this work together. There must be some reason for her to believe Dodi was the right partner.

Shortly before her death, in July/Aug, Diana gave an in-depth interview to French newspaper La Monde, in which she really opened up herself and spoke some very impressive words. One of them is, of course, the famous quote:"Nothing bring my more happeness...it is a goal, from now on, an essential part of my life. It's sort of destiny...". However, there were other very grand words not printed on the paper.

"She knew better what she was doing and what she was good at and she insisted in the interview on the fact that now she wanted to give a lot of love to people and to take care of people all over the world." -- Annick Cojean, the journalist who interviewed Diana, said in a interview by AP associate, Sep 1, 1997.[1]

What I notice is the emphasis on "now" and "from now on". It seems she had made some serious decision about her life at that time. Literally, she said she wanted to take care of people all over the world. If this was her goal, then teaming up with a Muslim would be a much better choice than a Caucasian Christian. Such a high-profile Christian and a Muslim working together to help people all over the world, isn't it a wonderful act of PEACE? From this point of view, Dodi was a natural choice. And the benefit of such union is apparent.

In fact, Diana and Dodi's relationship developed very fast. They started their first vacation on Aug 1st, then by Aug 13rd, Diana already gave Dodi her father's cufflinks, with a letter which read

Darling Dodi,
These cufflinks were the very last gifts that I received from the man I love most in the world - My Father -
They are given to you as I know how much joy it would give him to know they were in such safe & special hands...
Fondest love from Diana. x

During their short vacation, they had also come up with a plan to make a conservation movie about wildlife poaching together, as well as a charity for mine victim financed by Dodi's father. With so many things they were planning to work together, it is ridiculous to say they were not serious.

In his tribute to Diana, Tony Bailr said "people everywhere, not just here in Britain but everywhere, they kept faith with Princess Diana." And then in his 2010 autobiography "A Journey: My Political Life", he mentioned the reason behind this phase.

I used the phrase “kept faith with Princess Diana” for a very particular reason. For some time before her death— and most of all recently, because of the relationship with Dodi— the jackals had been on the prowl...The reason they held off was that her support was deep and quite visceral in its way, and people did keep faith with her. They were not going to let her be sacrificed. I knew that she would want those people to be recognised too.[2]

Tony Blair had a lot of interaction with Diana in her last year; they met at Chequers on July 6, and Diana sent him several letters afterwards. Alastair Compell recalled the following conversation with Tony Blair on the night of her death in his published diary [3].

`She will become an icon straight away. She will live on as an icon.' He felt that it happened as she was fairly close to the height of her appeal. Dodi was probably a step too far for a lot of people. Had she got married, had another child maybe, she'd have started to fall in popularity. But this will confirm her as a real icon...We talked about the last time they met at Chequers and the letters she sent afterwards. She was a real asset, a big part of 'New Britain'. But somehow he knew it was going to end like this, well before her time. [3]

When they talked about Diana, both Tony Blair and Alastair Compell had been as ambiguous as they could--they made comments, but never provided any reason. It's like completing a puzzel, and now I can generally see the picture they have hid behind their words. I think Diana was an Utopian, in a very radical way. I think she wanted to use her own marriage to "make a difference" in this world. It is really crazy.


References:
[1] "USA: WASHINGTON: REACTION TO THE DEATH OF PRINCESS DIANA", AP Archive, 31 Aug 1997.
[2] Tony Blair, "A Journey: My Political Life", 20 Sep 2011.
[3] Alastair Campbell, "The Blair Years: The Alastair campbell Diaries", 20 July, 2011.

[anbrida]

Some quotes of Diana about her thought on taking care of the sick and dying

"I feel the power of God working through my fingertips. I feel I have been chosen for this work. I hear a thundering voice from on high telling me to continue to do these good deeds. This sort of work brings me strength, I'm drawn to it and the strength of the patients is incredible. All I want to do is be there with them. I hold their hands, I chat with them ... whatever they need, I give them and they all need to be loved!"

"I don't just go in there and hold hands, you know," she told Jennie. "What I do is sit and talk to them about the meaning of life and death, the meaning of being a victim and how to be positive about something bad that has happened that's what I want to go on doing."

[Osipi]

Hi Anbrida. Good to see you back in action here at TRF. I just wanted to let you know that your work that you've taken the time to compile from various sources on the life and times of Diana, Princess of Wales is appreciated. It is quite obvious that you admired her so much.

Many, many times when someone does a search about someone royal, what pops up is various links to threads here at TRF in regards to that royal. That's why I believe that TRF is not only an informative discussion forum but also serves as a vast archive of information that can be found in one place.

Once again, thank you!

[Curryong]

Yes, Thankyou Anbrida. I do believe that Diana had a real gift for charity work and for making those she met feel better, not just those who were suffering or ill, either. Her work for land mine clearance will never be forgotten. Diana threw herself into her causes heart and soul and that's what drew people to her IMO. Sincerity shines through always.

[royal rob]

Originally Posted by Curryong

Yes, Thankyou Anbrida. I do believe that Diana had a real gift for charity work and for making those she met feel better, not just those who were suffering or ill, either. Her work for land mine clearance will never be forgotten. Diana threw herself into her causes heart and soul and that's what drew people to her IMO. Sincerity shines through always.

Lovely post and so true 💐


Sent from my iPhone using The Royals Community

[Queen Camilla]

Originally Posted by anbrida

Just read in a biography of Diana (2004) written by a Chinese. It mentioned that right before her death, she had contacted the Red Cross of Hong Kong to arrange her visit to China to discuss the issue of Landmine with Chinese authority.

I would believe that was Diana's real purpose, because it is obvious that she was very deep in the landmine issue.

In Oct 1997, China launched a two-year long campaign of de-mining at the border between China and Vietnam. This was the largest one of their demining activities in the history. So if Diana did visit China, she would not be disappointed I think.

Diana had absolutely no influence on Chinese policy.

Diana joined the landmine campaign in January 1997 at the suggestion of the Red Cross. She was not deeply involved in landmines.

When the Red Cross asked her to join their meetings, IIRC, she attended one and then never attended another one.

Read what she told Richard Kay about her commitment to the landmine compaign posted in the first or second page of this thread.

The clearing of landmines has been going on since the 1970s. Prince Charles swept for landmines in the 1970s while in the navy.

As far as China just a quick search reveals:

In the 1990s, China successfully undertook two major campaigns to clear the landmines in the provinces of Yunnan and Guangxi, removing the threats to the local civilians. This effort helped restore the local environment, rehabilitate victims and ensure the safety of border trade. In the two mine-clearing campaigns of 1992–1994 and 1997–1999, China cleared 300 square kilometers (116 square miles) of 830,000 landmines and pieces of UXO along the Chinese-Vietnamese border, and demolished 700 metric tons (772 tons) of old munitions and explosives without committing a single error.

Humanitarian Landmine Action in China and the Role of the NGO by Zhai Dequan (10.2)

From Cambodia

There are three main organizations working to clear landmines in Cambodia: the Cambodia Mine Action Committee (CMAC), the Mines Advisory Group (MAG) and the Halo Trust. Between 1993 and 1999 the three groups cleared 66,027,761 square meters, or 66 square kilometers. Each year they have been clearing faster than the year before. In 1999, the three groups combined cleared 11,857,920 square meters, with CMAC, the government body that also coordinates all demining, clearing 9,573,821 square meters (NGO forum website).

http://www.seasite.niu.edu/khmer/Led.../Landmines.htm

From the U.N.
The UN has been actively engaged in addressing the problems posed by landmines since the 1980s. It acted decisively to address the use of weapons having indiscriminate effects when it sponsored the 1980 Inhumane Weapons Convention. In 1996, that Convention was strengthened to include the use of landmines in internal conflicts and to require that all mines be detectable.

http://www.un.org/en/globalissues/demining/

From the Red Cross August 1995

Concern about the effects of certain conventional weapons, particularly landmines, is not new.

https://www.icrc.org/eng/resources/d...isc/57jmm9.htm

[Curryong]

Diana publicised the cause of anti personnel land mine clearance. Photographs of her helping in that way went all round the world. They remain in my memory and I'm sure in the memories of thousands of others. A picture is worth a thousand words, and especially so in this case.

[royal rob]

They remain in my memory too along with the one of her shaking hands with a person with aids


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[anbrida]

Originally Posted by Queen Camilla

Diana had absolutely no influence on Chinese policy.

I disagree with you on this point. Yes China, my country, had another demining activities between 1992-1994, but the scale of the one between 1997-1999 was much larger. In addition, different to the 1992-1994, besides just demining, they also made a long (8 hours) documentary about the 1997-1999 demining activity. Why? Of course, for propaganda.

I know our government very well. If you wants to come to discuss some tricky issue with the Chinese government but they don't want to cooperate, they wouldn't even allow you to come to China at all. If they accept your visiting, that means you already half succeed at least.

Diana visiting Red China, it would be a real big news, and would attract a lot of attention on a global scale. Diana might not have the HR title, but she was still a very popular figure, who would attract a lot of eye sights globally. In no way the Chinese government would let her come and then leave disappointingly, because it would cost them a lot of face in the international society. Think about the headline "China let down Diana on landmine", it would be a PR disaster. Either they would not allow her to come at all, or they would try their best to make the meeting succeed.

I actually think the Chinese government wanted to take this chance to show a good side of themselves to the world. Usually, the western media are very reluctant to report any good news about China. But Diana's visit to China was not something they would want to miss. And from the timing of this demining activity, and the fact that they made a propaganda TV document out of it, I think very likely it was intended for the visit of Diana. And in the document, an Chinese official said frankly that, this demining activity was an action China show to the world that we were also very supported the international anti-landmine campaign.

[Jacknch]

I am not sure Diana had the capacity to actually change a government's policy on an issue, but she certainly had the capacity to highlight a cause and have it spread through the media around the world.

Of-course, we all knew about the dangers and horrors of landmines years before Diana got involved. But I don't think it was something very much on peoples' minds until it was put on the news when Diana got involved.

[anbrida]

Of course, Chinese government would not change their mind and sign the Anti-landmine treaty because of Diana. But demining is not something hard to do. I think the Chinese government was very happy to cooperate on this issue.

For example, right before Prince William visiting of China, the government announced one-year ban on ivory import. It was obviously not a coincidence. It is Chinese government's style to do things like this.