Today marks 20 years since the death of Princess Diana, mother of Princes William and Harry. Diana was beloved by everyone who ever met her. Marrying into the most famous family on the world was a huge challenge for her and while she tried to conform, every now and again, the cheeky smile would emerge and she would shake things up just a smigdgen. Diana was always driven by her heart, and not her head, a fact which got her into trouble every now and again. Her death was a massive loss to the world.

Here are a few reasons that Diana will always be remembered as a royal badass.

1.  When she got married to the future King in 1981, Diana left out the word “obey” from her vows, which were read from a prayer book. She was the first Royal to buck the trend. When her son William married Kate Middleton 30 years later, Kate too, removed the word. Atta Girl Kate.
2. In an interview in 1995, Diana was open and honest about her struggles with depression, eating disorders and self harm. She spoke about “hurting her arms and legs” and throwing up food as a cry for help.”It was a symptom of what was going on in my marriage,” she said. Diana’s honesty obviously rubbed off on her sons, who have also ignored the “stiff upper lip” attitude of previous royals and are very involved in mental health charities. 
3. In the same interview Diana was asked if she ever saw herself being queen. She said no, but that she hoped to be “a queen of peoples hearts”. “I don’t think many people would want me to be queen, and when I say many people, I mean the establishment that I’m married into,” she said. “They’ve decided that I’m a nonstarter, because I do things different, because I don’t go by a rule book, because I lead from the heart and not the head. And albeit that’s gotten me into trouble in my work, but someone’s gotta go out there and love people.” Ohhh burn.
4. In ye olden Royal days of yore, royal babies were born at home, or at palace, if you will. Diana decided to have her babies in a hospital, and both her sons were born at St Marys in London. Williams two babies were born in that same hospital in 2013 and 2015.
5. Generally, Royal kids were educated at home by a governess. Diana insisted that William and Harry would become the first heir and spare to attend public school. This probably explains why the boys are so grounded, kind and generally sound.
6. On the very night that her ex-husband planned to declare his love for Camilla on national TV, Diana made a public appearance in what would become known as her “revenge dress”. The dress had been given to Diana 3 years earlier but she had thought it too daring. That night though? All bets were off… 
7. Just 2 months before her death, Diana auctioned off 79 of her most famous outfits to raise money for Aids and Cancer charities. The auction was 15 year old Williams idea, and in the auction book, she wrote “The inspiration for this wonderful sale comes from just one person; our son William.”
8. Diana was known for her warmth and love for people who were suffering. In 1987, she became the first member of the Royal family to become in contact with a person suffering from HIV/AIDS. At a hospital, she shook the hand of a dying person without wearing gloves.”HIV does not make people dangerous to know,” she said. “You can shake their hands and give them a hug. Heaven knows they need it.”
9. Diana said that even though she felt that the royal family had waged a campaign to make her look bad, she wasn’t going to take it lying down.”[I] won’t go quietly, that’s the problem,” she said, adding, “I’ll fight till the end.” She decided to take a break from public life in 1993 and said that the royal family didn’t see it coming. “I’m a great believer that you should always confuse the enemy,” she said. “They were undermining me out of fear, because this is a strong woman doing her bit, and where is she getting her strength from to continue?”
10. Having discovered that her husband was having an affair with Camilla in 1989, Diana confronted the “other woman” at a party, as you do. She turned up at the party unannounced and remained”deathly calm” even though she was terrified.. “The voice inside me had said, ‘just go for it,'” she explained. “I said, ‘I know what’s going on between you and Charles and I just want you to know that.'” Camilla then gave her a “very interesting” reply: “She said to me, ‘You’ve got everything you ever wanted. You’ve got all the men in the world fall in love with you and you’ve got two beautiful children, what more do you want?'” Diana recalled. “So I said, ‘I want my husband.’ I said to Camilla, ‘I’m sorry I’m in the way . . . and it must be hell for both of you. But I do know what’s going on. Don’t treat me like an idiot.'”

Watch her famous interview below….