Princess Diana would have turned 64 on Tuesday, July 1, and as the world reflects on what her life might have been like today, one royal expert is sharing a meeting she had with the late royal just before her tragic 1997 death. Tina Brown, author of The Diana Chronicles, wrote in Tatler that Diana was planning a strategy not unlike that of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle.
In the piece, which was originally published on Diana's 60th birthday, Brown wrote that the royal "had come to New York for the charity auction of her iconic 1980s dresses at Christie’s – Prince William’s idea – and was focused on repositioning herself as a woman of substance." The royal expert added that Diana, who had finalized her divorce from Prince Charles in 1996, "knew she was in a unique position to leverage her global celebrity for humanitarian causes."
During their lunch, Brown said Diana laid out a plan for her future that was "very like" the one the Duke and Duchess of Sussex are carrying out today. Harry and Meghan have signed major deals with Netflix and Spotify since stepping down as senior royals—and it sounds like Diana had a similar, yet more charity-focused plan.
"At lunch that day, I was struck by the clarity of her vision," Brown wrote. The author explained that the late princess "outlined what would now be considered a broad media content deal," with her plan to release "a film every two years" that would be centered around a "humanitarian campaign."
"First, she said, she would raise awareness of the issue, then produce a documentary in partnership with a television channel, and ultimately leave a structure in place to maintain her involvement with the cause," Brown wrote, revealing that "the issue she wanted to start with was illiteracy." Ironically, it's a passion Diana shared with Queen Camilla, who would later go on to launch The Queen's Reading Room charity.
Brown added that Diana might have joked that she was "thick as a plank," but the late royal "was always ahead of the curve." The biographer noted, "Her plan sounds very like the one Meghan and Harry have in mind, but with one central difference: it was better thought out."
