In recent years, productions such as Spencer and The Crown have earned critical acclaim for their dramatizing of Princess Diana’s life, which isn’t a surprise given the viewers’ interest in her story. This year marks an especially poignant occasion: the 25th anniversary of the beloved royal’s death.
Since the death of Princess Diana in a car accident in 1997, many documentaries have been produced to analyze the circumstances prior to the incident. Others highlight her charitable work, relationship with Prince Charles, or a combination of both, with contributions from her sons, Prince William and Prince Harry, as well as Princess Diana herself. No matter what aspect of her life you would like to understand better, there is certainly a documentary about Princess Diana that can be viewed.
The Top 10 Princess Diana documentaries until 2022 are listed below.
1. The Princess
The latest addition to this collection is The Princess, a brand new HBO production acclaimed by Rolling Stone as “the ultimate Diana, Princess of Wales documentary”. What makes it so extraordinary? To begin with, this movie portrays Diana’s life through recordings of actual events from her lifetime, allowing viewers to experience it as it happened in the news, rather than viewing it from a modern perspective.
2. Becoming Princess Diana
The main focus of Becoming Princess Diana is on Princess Diana and Prince Charles’ courtship and marriage, finding the origin of this iconic figure’s profile when she initially joined the royal family and became a public figure. For the book’s research, an ex-member of the royal family who was personally part of the events was interviewed.
3. Charles & Diana: 1983
If you love watching The Crown on Netflix, you might remember Prince Charles and Princess Diana’s trip to Australia and New Zealand in 1983. It was a great success publicly, but Prince Charles wasn’t too pleased about all the attention given to his wife. Princess Diana spoke about the difficulties caused by the jealousy it sparked in a BBC interview, according to Vogue. The documentary, Charles and Diana: 1983, provides a deeper look into their journey as well as their first year of parenthood and other memories from that year.
4. Diana, Our Mother: Her Life & Legacy
When Prince William was an infant during the years of Charles and Diana’s marriage, he was too young to understand. Nearly four decades later, he and Prince Harry both made an appearance in the documentary Diana, Our Mother: Her Life and Legacy, which was released two decades after Princess Diana passed away. Prince Harry mentioned how difficult it was to talk about their beloved mother, and that it was too “raw” up until then.
5. Diana, 7 Days
Diana, 7 Days is a 2017 documentary which includes the participation of family members and recounts the aftermath of Princess Diana’s death. This Princess Diana documentary captures the sorrowful moments when she had her final conversations with her two sons, Prince William and Prince Harry.
6. Diana: The Interview That Shocked the World
Prince William and Prince Harry have been vocal in their involvement with projects about their mother’s life and death, but they have refused to back any project which strives to raise awareness of the BBC’s 1995 interview with Princess Diana, in which she discussed her separation from Prince Charles, their respective affairs, and the royal family’s treatment of her. The interview is the focus of a 2020 documentary which contains interviews from journalists, royal commentators, and a former royal family worker, discussing the context of the interview and the effect it had on Diana in her last years.
7. The Princes and the Press
The focus of The Princes and the Press is mainly on Prince William and Prince Harry, but this 2022 BBC project also serves as a tribute to Princess Diana as it examines the princes’ current relationship with the media in comparison to their firsthand experience watching their mother deal with its challenges.
8. Princess Diana: Tragedy or Treason?
This documentary from 2017 focuses on Princess Diana’s life in her last years and her association with Prince Charles, and the events following her tragic 1997 car crash. Two decades later, it looks at some of the conjectures concerning her death, and also pays tribute to the late Princess’ legacy which lives on today.
9. The Story of Diana
For those who would rather get an overview of the Princess Diana’s life, The Story of Diana is the perfect choice. It takes a broad look at her life, from her childhood to her charity work to her death and its aftermath, as well as an interview with her brother, Charles Spencer.
10. The Royal House of Windsor
The Royal House of Windsor first aired in 2017, twenty years after the passing of Princess Diana. Even though it isn’t focused specifically on Diana, the documentary offers a great insight into the family that Diana Spencer married into over four decades ago.
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