LAHORE:
“Carry out a random act of kindness, with no expectation of reward, safe in the knowledge that one day someone might do the same for you.” Regarded as the most photographed woman on the planet and a veritable fashion icon, Diana Spencer, Princess of Wales, was killed in a brutal car crash in Paris on August 31, 1997 at the young age of 36. Her death cascaded a wave of shock and grief around the world. An estimated 2.5 billion people watched her funeral worldwide. The roads outside of Buckingham Palace flooded with flowers and pictures. An estimated one million people went out on the streets to join Diana’s funeral procession. The British Prime Minister, Tony Blair, called Diana “the people’s princess”.
Twenty-five years have passed since Lady Diana left this world but to this day her legacy of social work continues to inspire millions. She was outstandingly active in charitable work, and visited Pakistan on three times different occasions in 1991, 1996 and 1997 to promote funds for the Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital. In Africa, she walked through active minefields with minimal protection to call for an international ban on landmines. Diana openly shook hands with AIDS patients to dispel the stigma surrounding HIV AIDS at a time when people would detest being in the same room as them. She was also a patron of the Leprosy Mission who brought the predicament of leprosy-affected people to the world’s attention, making physical contact with them and debunking the myth that leprosy could be contracted by touch. Her list of charitable work goes on.
Diana’s legacy teaches us that with privilege comes great responsibility, to be the voice of the oppressed, the unheard, and those stigmatised because of natural ailments. Diana Spencer used her fame for the betterment of the world and became the reverberating voice of the underprivileged and mistreated population. We can also put our privilege to good use and do the same.
Published in The Express Tribune, August 22nd, 2022.
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