Above all, there was shock. That's the word people use over and over again when they remember Princess Diana's death in a Paris car crash 25 years ago.
The woman the world watched grow from a shy teenage nursery school teacher into a glamorous celebrity who comforted AIDS patients and campaigned for land mine removal couldn't be dead at the age of 36, could she?
It was disbelief that cemented Diana's legacy as the woman who brought lasting change to Britain's royal family, helping bridge the gap between centuries of tradition and a new, multicultural nation in the internet age.
Princess Diana accepts a bouquet of flowers during a walkabout at a civic centre in Kelowna, Canada, May 3, 1986.
Prince Charles and his bride Diana, Princess of Wales, are shown on their wedding day on the balcony of Buckingham Palace in London, July 29, 1981.
Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer pose for a photo following the announcement of their engagement on Feb. 24, 1981.Britain's Diana, Princess of Wales, is pictured during an evening reception given by the West German President Richard von Weizsacker in honour of the British Royal guests in the Godesberg Redoute in Bonn, Germany Monday, Nov. 2, 1987.Princess Diana of Wales smiles as she sits with her sons, Princes Harry, foreground, and William, on the steps of the Royal Palace on the island of Mallorca, Spain, Aug. 9, 1987.Young Prince Harry tries to hide behind his mother, Britain's Princess Diana, during a morning picture session at Marivent Palace, August 9, 1988.Princess Diana wearing a white dress, races ahead during the mother's race, held during a sports day for Wetherby school, where her son Prince William was a pupil, on June 28, 1989.Princess Diana touches the leg of a leprosy patient at the Anandaban Leprosy Hospital in the south of Katmandu, March 4, 1993, the third day of the princess's five-day visit to Nepal. The hospital is owned by Leprosy Mission International, a London-based organization, of which the Princess of Wales is patron.Princess Diana smiles in the reception line as she greets guests at a fund raiser for breast cancer research at the National Building Museum Tuesday night, Sept. 24, 1996 in Washington. From left are Princess Diana, Washington Post owner Katherine Graham, Vogue Magazine Editor-in-Chief Anna Wintour, designer Ralph Lauren and Georgetown University President Rev. Leo J. O'Donovan.Mother Teresa, left, walks with Diana, Princess of Wales, after receiving a visit from her June 18, 1997, in New York.The Prince and Princess of Wales, Prince Charles and Princess Diana leave St. Mary's Hospital in Paddington, London on Sept. 16, 1984 with their new baby son, Prince Harry who was born on Sept. 15.Diana, Princess of Wales, left, and Britain's Queen Elizabeth II smile to well-wishers outside Clarence House in London on Aug. 4, 1987.Former South African President Nelson Mandela, left, escorts Diana, Princess of Wales, during a courtesy visit to Mandela while visiting her brother, Earl Spencer, in Cape Town on March 17, 1997.Princess Diana pauses at the bed of a seriously injured man as she visits Cook County Hospital in Chicago June 5, 1996.In this file photo taken on March 5, 1993 Diana, Princess of Wales, joins her hand as she looks down at Nepali children while touring a Red Cross Project in the rustic Himalayan foothills.In this file photo taken on August 19, 1995, Prince Charles (R), Princess Diana (L) and their children William (2nd R) and Harry (2nd L) watch the march past on a dais on the mall as part of the commemorations of VJ Day.Diana, Princess of Wales, talks to amputees, Tuesday Jan. 14, 1997, at the the Neves Bendinha Orthopedic Workshop in the outskirts of Luanda. Sitting on Diana's lap is 13-year-old Sandra Thijica who lost her left leg to a land-mine while working the land with her mother in Saurimo, eastern Angola, in 1994.Princess Diana meets with John Collins, a 51-year-old lung cancer patient, while touring Northwestern Memorial Hospital's Hospice- Palliative Care Unit in Chicago in 1996. -Diana, Princess of Wales, arrives at a dinner during her visit to Australia on November 7, 1985.Princess Diana listens to a young disabled boy during her visit to a home for handicapped in Paris on November 13, 1992.In this file photo taken on October 5, 1990 Britain's Princess Diana arrives to visit First Lady Barbara Bush (not seen) at the White House.Princess Diana sits alone in front of the Taj Mahal in Agra, India on Feb. 11, 1992.Princess Diana at Orly airport during a private three-day visit on November 13, 1992.Onlookers gather outside the entrance of the Alma Bridge tunnel in Paris, Aug. 31, 1997, where Diana, Princess of Wales, her companion Dodi Fayed, and the driver of their car were killed in a car crash.Prince William, Earl Spencer, Prince Harry and Prince Charles follow the coffin of Diana, Princess of Wales, into Westminster Abbey in London, Britain September 6, 1997.
