Camilla Attended Princess Diana's Wedding And 10 Other Facts

Princess Diana captivated the world until her tragic death from a car accident in Paris. Thursday marks the 20th anniversary of that tragic day.

Diana, born into nobility, married Charles, Prince of Wales and heir to the British throne. As Charles’ wife, Diana was Princess of Wales, Duchess of Cornwall, Duchess of Rothesay, and Countess of Chester. The pair had two children, William and Harry, before going through a sensationalized break-up devoured by the media.

There's a lot to know about Princess Diana when reflecting on her legacy.

1. Princess Diana was homeschooled until she was 9 years old. Her parents divorced when she was 7 years old, and Diana was sent to boarding and prep schools after that.

2. Diana’s older sister, Sarah, dated Charles first. Diana and Charles met when she was 16 in 1977. The pair both attended a country weekend in 1980 when they began to take an interest in each other.

3. Diana and Charles’ courtship was very short. He proposed Feb. 6, 1981, and they were married in July. They were together in person only 12 times before they wed. Diana was 19 when they were married, and Charles was 33.

4. The television audience for their wedding was massive — an estimated 750 million people tuning in, according to the BBC at the time. Adding in the audience that listened on the radio, the number that followed the event could have reached at least 1 billion. The wedding was such a media frenzy that Princess Diana’s dress designers had to order dummy fabrics to throw reporters off of what the dress would look like. The reporters would search through their trash.

5. Camilla Parker Bowles, Charles’ current wife, was at the wedding. Charles had a relationship with her prior to Diana and had an affair with her during the marriage.

6. There were three choirs and three orchestras at the wedding which took place at St. Paul’s Cathedral in London.

7. During their tumultuous marriage, British tabloids stopped at nothing to get scoops an information about the royal couple. Butlers and delivery people were paid to gather information. Secret telephone recordings between Diana and a lover, and Charles and Parker Bowles, were both acquired by newspapers. Britain’s parliament had to meet with the publishers of several tabloids in 1993 to discuss privacy.

8. On Nov. 20, 1996, Princess Diana was interviewed by BBC’s Martin Bashir in which she said “There were three of us in this marriage, so it was a bit crowded,” about Parker Bowles. Charles and Diana divorced Aug. 28, 1996.

9. After the divorce, Diana lost the title Her Royal Highness but kept the title of Princess of Wales.

10. Diana was in a relationship with Hasnat Khan, a heart surgeon whom she called "Mr. Wonderful," for two years after the divorce.

11. Princess Diana died in a high-speed car crash in Paris on Aug. 31, 1997, with billionaire Dodi Fayed with whom she was in a relationship. A security manager of the hotel Fayed’s father owned was driving the car, he was drunk and trying to outrun paparazzi. Diana was 36 years old.