Princess Diana's Friend Shares Rare Photo Showing How "Fun" She Was and Her "Zest for Life" | It Showed In Her Smile

We are aware of the deeply painful married life Princess Diana had experienced but we are not always aware of how much she loved her life. Her divorce has been a storied one but the good parts of her life, such as her relationship with her friends and how supportive she was, get overlooked.

We know of Diana, the persona, the larger-than-life princess, the philanthrope, and the royal rebel. The stories about the fun person get easily lost behind the legends, her marriage, and her death.

The Princess of Wales' friend had once shared a photo of her that showed an unseen side of her. The rare photo was shared on the 21st anniversary of the Paris car crash that led to her death and the deaths of her romantic companion Dodi Fayed and driver Henri Paul.

Businessperson Rosa Monckton honored her dear friend in a heartfelt tribute on Twitter. In the photo, the princess looks comfortable in loose clothes, calm, but also in a great mood. She seems to be laughing from her soul. "Diana as I remember her," Monckton captioned the rare image. "Not enough is written about her sense of fun and zest for life. Friend and wonderful godmother to Domenica. RIP." 

The two women were so close that Diana was the godmother to Monckton's daughter Domenica, who was born with Down Syndrome in 1995. The people's princess supported her friend through the complicated phase of accepting her child.

"She said, 'You just have to believe in her,'" the British jewelry executive, who met Diana through a mutual friend, told PEOPLE in 2016. "She said, 'Believe in her, love her, and I’ll be there every step of the way.’ She already had that vision of what Domenica could become, which I simply couldn’t see." She added that the princess offered "huge encouragement" after daughter’s birth. "She came with me to appointments. She was very much by my side," she added.

And, she was right. In June 2019, Domenica earned her first paycheck. The proud mom shared her daughter's photo on Twitter with the caption, "It is such a credit to her, and to all ⁦@TeamDomenica . What a journey we have been on, and what a result. #removingbarrierstowork." Monckton started a charity called Team Domenica that is meant to help young people with disabilities to reach their full potential.

According to PEOPLE, Monckton said that Diana "would be so proud of Domenica and what she’s achieved and of this."

About Diana, TV presenter Jennie Bond added that she agrees with what Rosa said in her tweet about the princess. "You knew her so much better than I, but when people ask me about my memories of Diana, I always think of her throwing her head back and laughing joyously," said she on Twitter.

Her friends had previously opened up to Daily Mail about their friend. Diana's holistic health practitioner Nish Joshi said, "We'd watch EastEnders together at Kensington Palace — Diana would sit there in her dressing gown and tell me funny stories. One time Harry told me he thought his mother was bonkers." She said that Diana said to Harry, "Tell Nish what happened and ask him what he would have done."

Young Harry went on to narrate a hilarious story about his mother. They had been asked to evacuate their apartment in the middle of the night since a fire alarm had gone off. Harry went looking for his mother and found her applying mascara in the bathroom.

"Come on Mummy, we are going to be burnt," he said. She replied, "'I'm coming in a minute.' It makes sense to me, I told Harry.'" He said, "But she's barmy." Diana then said, "Harry, within a few minutes I was going to have two dozen firemen in my front garden. I was not going outside in my nightie without my mascara."

The princess was also a prankster and her children learned that from her. "She never usually sent them cakes but once she ordered a cake for William. When I came in for the evening shift I found there was a cake in the fridge in the shape of a huge pair of boobs with huge nipples on. I ran through to the butler and asked who ordered it and it was the princess for William's 13th birthday — he'd just got into his teens.  He had a super crush on Christy Turlington and Claudia Schiffer, and her hairdresser, Sam McKnight, knew them and got them to come to KP and have an afternoon birthday tea with William and his big cake!" said Darren McGrady.

References:

https://people.com/royals/princess-diana-friend-shares-rare-photo-diana-laughing-death-anniversary/
https://people.com/royals/the-heartfelt-story-of-princess-dianas-goddaughter-with-down-syndrome/
https://twitter.com/jenniebond1/status/1035431189157433344
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7199053/Princess-Dianas-friends-movingly-recall-joyful-times-boys.html