In the interview, Diana dispelled any illusion that the royal marriage had a chance of survival, questioning Charles’ fitness to rule and giving her view on his relationship with Parker Bowles, whom she obviously disliked. She also admitted to having committed adultery herself and to suffering from bulimia. Finally, Diana expressed her desire to be known as a “queen of people’s hearts,” despite her tarnished royal marriage, a goal that, judging from the show’s audience—21.1 million viewers out of a total British population of 57 million, and the largest viewing audience in the program’s history—she had already achieved.

Shortly after Diana’s appearance on Panorama, Queen Elizabeth II made an unprecedented decision, asking the couple to consider a divorce. Diana gave her consent on February 29, 1996, violating official protocol by not informing the queen of her decision first. Under the terms of an agreement reached between Diana and the royal family, Diana was barred from ever succeeding to the throne and forced to drop the prefix HRH (or Her Royal Highness) from her name, becoming known simply as Diana, Princess of Wales. She shared custody of William and Harry with Charles and was to be involved in all decisions regarding them, was able to continue living in Kensington Palace, and received a lump-sum alimony payment of $20 million.

After her separation and divorce, Diana cut back the number of charities she actively supported—which had at one time been as high as 110—to a modest six, including AIDS, breast cancer, and the banning of land mines. She continued to work tirelessly in support of these causes, however, keeping up a hectic schedule of travel and public appearances. In June 1997, Diana auctioned off 79 of her evening gowns at Christie’s in New York, an event that made a total of more than $5.7 million for AIDS and cancer funds. As part of her crusade to increase public awareness about the dangers of land mines, Diana traveled to such conflict-ridden areas as Angola and the former Yugoslavia on behalf of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines (the recipient of the 1997 Nobel Peace Prize).

By the summer of 1997, Diana had begun a much-talked about relationship with Emad (Dodi) al-Fayed, the debonair son of the owner of the famous Harrod’s department store in London as well as the Ritz Hotel in Paris. Though she was rumored to have been involved with a number of men in the years since her marriage to Charles disintegrated, her romance with Fayed was widely believed to have been her first serious attachment.

In the early morning of August 31, 1997, after leaving the Ritz in Paris, Diana and Fayed were involved in a fatal car accident.