The Princess of Wales, the former Lady Diana Spencer, was born on 1 July 1961, the daughter of the then Lord and Lady Althrop now the Earl Spencer and the Hon Mrs Shand-Kydd. The Earl, a former Captain in the Royal Scots Greys, was Equerry to the late King George VI from 1950 to 1952, and to Queen Elizabeth II from 1952 to 1954.
The Princess’s mother born to the Hon Frances Roche, the daughter of the fourth Baron Fermoy. Her grandmother, Ruth, Lady Fermoy, has been a Woman of the Bedchamber to Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother since 1960.
The Princess of Wales was brought up at her father’s house, Park House on the Queen’s estate at Sandringham, and at the family home of Althorpe near Northhampton. The latter is a great and stately house which dates from 1508, when it was built by Sir John Spencer, and has several thousand acres of farmland. It contains one of the finest private art collections in Britain, including portraits by Reynolds, Gainsborough and Van Dyck.
After three years at Riddlesworth Hall, a preparatory scholar near Diss in Norfolk, Lady Diana went to another boarding school, West Heath, near Sevenoaks, Kent. Her headmistress here was described as being “kind but firm” and the emphasis was on character-building. It was during these childhood years of school and divided holidays, that Lady Diana became friendly with the Royal Family. Not only were they neighbours at Sandringham, but there were also close associations between the Spencers and Fermoys and the Royal Family. The royal children were particularly fond of going over to Park House to use the heated swimming pool there.
Lady Diana did not stay at West Heath to take her “A” levels, preferring to go to an exclusive finishing school at Videmanette near Gstaad in Switzerland. She was there for only two terms, before deciding that she missed England too much to go back for her final term.
In London, Lady Diana took up the work to which she was so well-suited, as a teacher at the Young England Kindergarten in Pimlico. Like her mother and her elder sisters before her, Lady Diana had no desire formally to “come out”. Her father had bought her a flat in Brompton Road, which she shared with several friends, and it was from here that Lady Diana could be seen bicycling to work, or driving her red Mini Metro.
Her Royal Highness was married to the Prince of Wales in St. Paul’s Cathedral on 29 July 1981. She is the first English woman to marry an heir to the throne for over 300 years, when Lady Anne Hyde married the future James II, from whom the present Princess descends. She shares a common ancestor to Prince Charles, being descended from King James I. The Spencers also descend through female lines from King Charles II, as well as from the daughter of the first Duke of Marlborough, who was the ancestress of Sir Winston (Spencer) Churchill.
All children born to the Prince and Princess of Wales will have the title of His or Her Royal Highness before their Christian names. If the sons have reached adulthood when the Queen is still reigning, they may receive a royal dukedom, as did the two sons of Prince of Wales, later Edward VII, during the reign of his mother, Queen Victoria.
Details
- Date of Issue: 1 July 1982
- Date Withdrawn:
- Date Invalidated:
- Designer: Jennifer Toombs & Clive Abbot
- Printer: Format International Security Printers Ltd
- Process: Lithography
- Paper:
- Watermark: Multiple Crown CA Diagonal
- Perf:
- 13.5 x 14 (16c, $1)
- 13.5 (16c, 25c, 40c)
- Cylinders: Printed in two panes separated by horizontal gutter.
- 1A : 1B [upper left : upper right]
- 1C : 1D [lower left : lower right]
- Sheet: R5 x 5 (25 stamps)
- Quantity:
Subjects
- 16c – Bahamas Coat of Arms
- 25c – Diana at Ascot
- 40c – Diana and Earl Spencer
- $1 – Portrait of Princess of Wales
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