Rededication of Diana's grave on July 1, 2017

[royalanthropologist]

The management and execution of Diana's will showed the Spencers at their very worst Amabel. Indeed during the Burrell trial, all the dysfunction and mean-spirited attitude was laid bare. Diana had an estate worth at least $30 million. Nothing substantial was left to charity. Even the statement of wishes was ignored for reasons beyond me. The god children got a few trinkets and neither William nor Harry have ever indicated that they would give part of their share to charities. Diana was no Bill Gates when it came to giving out to charities. That was just not her thing. She was more into the PR stuff, publicity and engaging with the people.

As for the bequest, the entire fortune ended straight back to the Windsors (and make no mistake William and Harry are Mountbatten-Windsors). The effect of the will was to make them have some of the money they would have gotten anyway from their father and grandmother. From a purely dynastic point of view, the Windsors were not bothered about the size of the settlement since it went straight back to one of their own. Indeed Charles earns the entire settlement every year from the Duchy of Cornwall so it was pittance (although he pleaded poverty at the time to avoid engaging in a tit-for-tat haggling over the money).

[sandy]

No she wasn't. She could have just lived a life of ease using the money she got in the settlement, that Summer before she died she called attention to the Anti Landmine Campaign and donated her iconic gowns to charity. William and Harry may yet give some to charity. I would not write that off because they have not made "announcements."  Bill Gates was never a royal family member, he made his own $$$$  from scratch (good for him!)and he never was the parent of royals. He has a lot more money than Diana could dream of. Anybody can accuse a donor of money to do it for "PR."  It does not make it true.

WIlliam and Harry were Diana's own they did not spring from Charles head. They had two parents. Diana did not will money to her in-laws and William and Harry are to use the $$$ as they see fit. The money will be passed down to those of Windsor and Spencer blood.

[amabel]

She die not expect to die at age 36. People do update their wills it has been known to happen. In any case DIana's charity auction bought big bucks to charities. Those gowns did not sell cheap

true it was probably a holder will, sicne she was young and did not expect to die so soon. Possibly had she lived longer she would have changed things.  but it does not alter the fact that she didn't leave anything to charity in that will.

[Duch_Luver_4ever]

To be fair, Diana did raise quite a lot for charities, both directly with her appearances, and with her awareness she brought to various causes. How much money and awareness were landmines getting before she got involved? How about AIDS pre 1987?

Often she would double the proceeds a charity would get for appearing at a fundraiser. She raised an extra million at the one she got volunteer of the year award, not bad for a nights work. She raised millions with the sale of her dresses. Even her death raise a lot of money with the memorial fund (although like the will, it wasnt managed the best, thanks Sarah.....)How much is enough?

She wasnt a dot com millionaire or other businessman trying to buy respectability or hide from taxes by setting up a foundation. As far as rich people go her fortune was fairly modest, and like was said earlier by @royalanthropologist she sadly didnt get the best deal with her divorce, and doubly so considering the end result of it all going back to the windsors, which of course we have the benefit of hindsight.

But I know weve danced around that before, but I think both the novelty of a royal divorce,possible asymmetrical access to financial documents and such under purvue of Royal Secrets Act, etc., plus her desire to be out (her financial adviser mentioned as early as 1990/91 she wanted out of the RF) worked against her, she should have gotten a scrappy California divorce lawyer to carve that Duchy up like a henpecked Long Beach dentist^^.

How many 36 year olds are thinking of giving vast sums to charity? While her children wouldnt have been left out in the street begging, I think she was right to make sure they were taken care of first. Its of course speculation and opinion, but had she lived to the usual life expectancy, she may have set up a charitable foundation once William was either PoW or King, and Harry was Duke of Whatever to dispense with her estate at that time.

Dianas strong suit was convincing others to open their wallet for charity, not making vast sums of money to hand over to it. While she was loaded by the average persons standard, among the rich she was an amateur at making money, im afraid.

[Curryong]

Yes, Diana was an incomparable fund-raiser, as this 1997 article illustrates.

Diana 1961-1997: The charities - The best fundraiser in the world | The Independent

[FanDianaFancy]

Again, can  we  stick to FACTS  FACTS  instead of  opinions  of  this dead girl, dead issues, old news.

BRF  do not give money to charities.  EII  and PC  and CPB  do  not write  out  a check.
PD  had  a  gown sale for charity  .  Google it.  That  was  one she  to  give  money, cash, to charities.
BRF  do  not give out checks  from their  banking  accts, etc. to charities.

PD  did this after divorce. Ok, her thing, but still, THEY do  not this.
LOL!!  WHY the jab, again, at  PD  regarding charities?

YES,  PD's will by her  was  mishandled  so badly  by  her  side-mother, sisters.
Godchildren? Zero.  Charities? Zero.

PW and PH  , I believe BY BTH SIDES, did not receive their mother's  collections of  private jewelry, etc. I  do  not know for certain, but  it seemed , the young princes   got robbed.  I, we KNOW, any  estate  jewels  of the crown she  wore    ,  before her death,  at divorce  were returned to the  crown.  Those were not hers personally. Spencer tiara  was not hers personally either.

Correcting some other posts  here by  some of us that  are INCORRECT and  are not a matter of OPINION, but  they just deny  FACTS FACTS.

HRH,  D, Princes of Wales,  whatever  before and after divorce really did  not  matter  in the  media  or with  people  or  even in her work  or in meeting rich n'famous  or political  people. She  was  still  who  she was.
YES, that title, for  Brit arisots/nobility, it is everything.  On a  personal level, it  was a  blow to her ego. I  cannot  remember  the  particulars  of  what her name  was  or  title or lack of title after divorce.  If  someone  wants to  post  a google search  of it, fine.  I care  not to read  it  or  be corrected. NOT INTERESTED!!

YES, common sense  ,  PW and PH  are Windsors and  anything PD  had  went back  in the BRF funds  or  to PH and PW.  AGAIN,  PC  did  not reproduce asexually  and PW and PH and PW's  kids  are not Camillas.  The stork did not  just drop  off the kids  at PC 's house.

Fatty Spencer  's  comments at the  funeral  , for the world  to  hear , were then, now,  and are public record,  were  hypocritical of him and  were not classy. He  could have left put some comments and said  to  PW and PH  in private. Add,  PD wanted, needed safe haven  at Altrope,  I do not know, maybe needing to get back  to her childhood home  for  a  minute and Fatty Spencer  said  no.
Double post auto-merged: July 03, 2017, 10:39:09 AM

Even if the marriage had failed, there was still room to work together. Diana had her talents and I am sure she would have been delighted to do some role. For a time, there were noises about her being made a goodwill ambassador for the UK. I think some other publicity stunt annoyed the queen and she vetoed the decision; devastating Diana in the process. Being divorced or separated from Charles need not have meant that Diana could not play a role in the royal family. It is just that the desire for revenge (sometimes on both sides) made it impossible.

How reassuring it would be if the Windsors and Spencers were actively involved in the memorials. Thanks to Charles Spencer and a section of Diana supporters, that is not to be. Perhaps they actually enjoy the drama of people fighting one another.

In time, years make a  difference, QEII could have  changed  her  thoughts and PD  would have  matured and changed too.  See  Sarah  Fergs-Ascot,  Balmoral.

Windsors  actively taking part  in any memorials to PD, ummm, NO!! The boys had  that concert and PC  attended. QEII  hardly wanted to  see her subjects in their grief,  well, FACTS again, we all know Tony Blair's role in that .

My  thoughts..... NOT FACTS.
We  do not live around them, but  I am SURE the family members  do  not talk ill  of  PD  to the  princes  or anything like that. Perhaps they do not even mention her. I AM SURE Camilla does  not  talk  or say  nice things about their mother to them or bad things  either. Nothing. What  could she say , " Wills,  I know this is the anniversary  of  your  mother's passing and  I  think about her often and how happy  she would  be with  your guys  today. I  was  glad to have  known her  and think  about her often.  I really  liked her "  I bet  it  is just  a subject many  do not  approach the princes about. YES,  their  first cousins  do ask, perhaps,  in just general conversation. Sarah Fergs has  said, as she would  to the media, she des  not  see or hear from them  ever ...years....years.... and we know  PW and PH  are close to PB and PE.
That  would be an outrage  for Camila , PC,  Windsors  to attend  any  memorials.  Silly  outrage.

People  fighting. Section of D  supporters, you lost me there. As if  the public matters.  No supporters of PD  are fighting here  or there, in the media. She is long gone dead.  Nothing to  fight about  about.  Her story ended. She  has  no  present and no future.

[sandy]

She die not expect to die at age 36. People do update their wills it has been known to happen. In any case DIana's charity auction bought big bucks to charities. Those gowns did not sell cheap

true it was probably a holder will, sicne she was young and did not expect to die so soon. Possibly had she lived longer she would have changed things.  but it does not alter the fact that she didn't leave anything to charity in that will.

She did not die at age 95. She died at age 36, her post divorce life was just beginning. I think  she would have changed the will a few times and yes, given money to charity. At this point she was regrouping not set in her ways. It is also known that people often get new financial advisers as they get older.

[royalanthropologist]

I agree with @Duch_Luver_4ever that nobody really experts to die that young, particularly if they appear to have the world at their feet with all the trappings of modern royalty. Like I said, Diana was more into the PR side of things and engaging with people rather than direct giving. That is not a criticism of her since a charity calls for all sorts of help from different people.

As for the "facts and opinions" debate, that is for the forum owners to decide. Typically people are allowed to share views and opinions about matters that are in the public domain. Those may be facts or non-facts. It is a bit presumptuous to demand that people do not express opinions because they do not chime with what one person considers to be "facts-facts". One man's facts could be another man's speculative musings and misinterpretations of reality.

Likewise, those who know me on this forum can testify to the fact that I do not take orders from anybody (no matter how politely or impolitely they are disguised); so I will continue expressing my opinions. If you do not like it, tough.

[FanDianaFancy]

Again....
my opinion, yours, hers, his,   everyone's  opinion, FINE!!

Lets not try to  make our opinions  as FACTS.  That  is  all!!!

PD  was on the PR side  of her charities. YES.  That is a FACT.
I will fix  it for you. 
The BRF  is  PR for the  causes and charities they  support.
None of them. They  do  not cut  a check.  LOL!!
They  do  not have a foundation  like Bill and Melinda Gates  Foundation or  Bono and his wife.
It is does not work that  way  for them. They  lend their  image,  time, efforts, in supporting cause  by showing up.  Reading a speech. Cutting some ribbons. Calling attention to the cause. Being a guest  of honor  at  a  dinner  for  a  cause. Having a reception  at  KP  or BP  r CH  or  something.

Double post auto-merged: July 03, 2017, 06:30:22 PM

Yes Dutch, sandy  amabel, the young  and full of life do not expect to die  , but it can happen. JFK,Jr.  PD.

She left a  will  or trusts  or both  with  parts set  up her sons, charities, godchildren.
It  was reported that  the Spencer sisters  and mother did  not follow  through  on PD's requests...whatever.

Sad.

[sandy]

Nobody gives orders on the board but I don't like how some opinions are rather huffily dismissed. This is a discussion of events and posters interpret events as they see fit.