William and Kate, along with Harry remembered their mother 20 years on since her death in 2017. Video / AP
Thursday, August 31, marks the 20th anniversary of the shocking death of Diana, Princess of Wales.
For many of us, we can still recall where we were on that day in 1997 when the news broke that the Princess had died following a car accident in Paris.
The death of the People's Princess at just 36 years of age shook the world and sparked an outpouring of grief that hadn't been seen before or since from the British public and beyond.
Here we've collected the memories of some well-known New Zealanders recalling where they were when they learned of Diana's death and why they believe her legacy has been so enduring.
"At the time I didn't really understand why, but I remember everyone being so upset - like they had lost someone really close."
WENDY PETRIE, Presenter, TVNZ
Wendy was a young reporter driving from Tauranga to Auckland when she heard the news. Photo / Supplied
"I was driving back from Tauranga as a new reporter and heard the news on the radio. I couldn't believe what I was hearing. I listened in shock to the breaking news in the car all the way home to Auckland.
"She was a real life Princess who captured the hearts of so many people with her down to earth charm and grace. It really is incredible how one person can do that. She had a very special quality that made people warm to her and she bucked the trend from the usual stiff upper lip of the royal family.
"Her enduring legacy lives on in her sons. It still breaks my heart to watch the video footage of the boys walking behind their mother's coffin."
PETA MATHIAS, chef, author, broadcaster
Peta Mathias says the English crew she was working with couldn't cope with the news. Photo / Supplied
"I was cooking on a barge in France and in those days there were no cell phones or internet. Most of the crew on the boat were English and someone's father had contacted us. I was very shocked because the death was so violent and Diana was so young.
"The English staff had a collective breakdown and went to bed and cried for three days while endlessly watching it on TV. They had to be replaced by French staff. I think her memory has endured because she was beautiful and in spite of her mistakes, was very very loved.
"People felt she had brought the Royal Family into the 21st century and had been treated very badly by that family. She was a tragic heroine really because she had a big heart but she was betrayed."
"I remember it well. I was on air on ZM in our Auckland studio. It was a pretty cold, miserable Sunday afternoon and the news started filtering through. Princess Di had been in a crash... wait, what? Princess Di was DEAD? It just seemed so impossibly tragic.
"I had to go on air, and break the news to listeners, as there was no Twitter, Facebook or any such thing. I kept the updates coming all afternoon and had so many phone calls from people in tears.
"It was the first time in my lifetime I think that people really felt that collective sorrow and loss about someone famous that we didn't even know.
"Seeing Wills and Harry walk behind the coffin during the funeral procession had me in tears. In fact I don't think anyone watched that without crying."
Denise L'Estrange-Corbert lived near the kindergarten where Diana taught in London. Photo / Supplied
"Francis, Pebbles, (seven at the time), and I had just walked into an antique shop in Remuera and the owner, whom we knew, had the radio on and said 'Princess Diana has been involved in a car crash in Paris.' There were no further details and I remember thinking she would be fine as she was Princess Diana and it was inconceivable that anything life threatening could happen to her.
"When we arrived home, Francis put on the TV and I went out to clean my car, and he came out and told me she had died, and I dropped everything, and was literally glued to the TV for days.
"Diana was the same age as me, and being brought up in London, i worked around the corner from the Kindergarten she worked at in Pimlico and had followed her from the time she became engaged to Prince Charles as I am a severe Royalist. I have a slight obsession, I have been told, with English History, it just fascinates me, the fact it has lasted so many centuries, when clearly some were frightfully bonkers!
"To passed generations, the event would have been on a par with the assassination of JFK, it was just too unbelievable, too shocking and too brutal that someone so young, so famous, so connected, had suddenly been killed. And the last image printed of them is the last image of them you will ever see, which I found so strange, as she was photographed every single day of her life from the day she became engaged to Prince Charles. Her life was in pictures, the world was fascinated with her, we could not get enough.
"Twenty years on, and we are now learning things which were not reported at the time, which was her intense loneliness and her incredible strength. That is what I shall remember her for, her fearlessness in the face of adversity."
MIKE MCROBERTS, Presenter, Newshub
Mike remembers the atmosphere of the newsroom being like "someone had sucked the oxygen out of the place." Photo / Supplied
"I was presenting the weekend that Princess Diana died. I have to be honest and say I've never been much of a royalist but there was something about the Princess. Yes, I guess she was flawed but her vulnerability provided such connection with ordinary people.
"I remember being in the newsroom when confirmation came through that she hadn't survived her injuries. It was like someone had sucked the oxygen out of the place. We ran an hour and a half special that night and the only thing I can recall about it was feeling very flat at the end.
"It dominated the news for weeks later and provided images many of us will never forget - the sea of flowers outside Kensington Palace and William and Harry walking behind her coffin."
The family walking behind Diana's coffin. Photo / Getty
RIA VANDERVIS, Shortland Street
Ria Vandervis was on a ski trip when she found out about Diana's death. Photo / Supplied
"I remember vividly where I was when the news of Diana's death broke; on a bus on the way up Coronet Peak in Queenstown at my 3rd form Ski Camp.
"I luckily had not had much experience with death at that point, but I remember feeling very strange about it all."
AMANDA GILLIES, Presenter, The AM Show
Amanda Gillies remembers the news of Diana's death not seeming real. Photo / Facebook
"I was - and still am - fascinated by Princess Diana, the effortlessly graceful and glamorous people's princess. I had just turned 21, and had started my first full-time job at Gisborne radio station 2ZGI when it was announced that Princess Diana had died, following a serious car accident.
"I was at work, I had just arrived to help judge a competition, and was truly stunned by the news. It was a surreal moment, nobody could - or wanted to - believe it. It just didn't seem real or possible.
"She had achieved so much in her 36 years - from helping to shatter the stigma around AIDS to giving hope to the homeless to fighting to ban landmines (who could forget THAT footage of her walking in an active landmine).
"But her greatest legacy is her children, William and Harry, two extraordinary princes who do their very best to be ordinary men. No airs or graces...she would be proud."
SAMANTHA HAYES, Presenter, Newshub
Sam remembers how Diana wasn't afraid to get close to those who were shunned by most. Photo / Supplied
"My greatest memories of Diana are around her humanitarian work with Aids sufferers and to end the use of landmines. She wasn't afraid to hold hands with people who were sick and dying, people who had been shunned by almost everyone else. The images of her in a white shirt and flak jacket walking through an active mine field in Angola stick in my mind. She brought a human side to the movement against landmines, giving comfort to those who had lost limbs and making them feel like they mattered.
"I was walking down the street in Milton with my friend when she told me Diana had died. I remember thinking, I'll never forget this moment. I know the exact spot we were standing. I was 13 years old and, to me, she was just too important, too famous to be killed in a car accident. It seemed implausible, impossible. The shock and sadness lingered for days.
"Princess Diana's legacy lives on in her sons and the charity work they have continued in her name. She also brought the royal family back down to earth, reconnected them with everyday people by reminding them that even princesses aren't perfect."
