The Sun Royal Photographer recalls how Princess Diana destroyed Aids stigma with visits to the sick and says the royal had more time for the needy than anyone else
DIANA was different to any royal I have worked with before or since.
Dying patients in hospices would stay alive just to see this remarkable young woman.
Within minutes of arriving, she would have the sick and weary laughing and happy.
I saw her power first-hand on a visit to India, when Diana went to Mother Teresa’s hospice in Calcutta.
There were around 60 men lying on stretchers in a dark room, all facing the last days or hours of their lives.
Some of them would have died before she even left.
Diana went to each of them individually with one of the nuns to hand out food and she was intent on not missing a single person.
At the end, the nuns sang a hymn to her. It was very moving.
When she came out of the room I noticed her dress was covered in dirt, which didn’t bother her at all.
I remember after Diana died, I saw that dress in an exhibition at the Spencer family home Althorp and it had been dry-cleaned so it was immaculate.
Mother Teresa wasn’t there during that visit but later, the two women got to know each other very well.
What this humble nun did, taking poor kids off the streets so they could be fed and educated, was remarkable.
Diana had the looks of Cindy Crawford and the compassion of Mother Teresa.
The princess and the saintly nun were two of greatest women of the 20th century and they died within days of each other.
She had more time for the needy than anyone else
The Sun's Royal Photographer on Princess Diana
They made a huge difference to the world. I was fortunate to meet them both.
In Nigeria, Diana held hands with lepers, looked into their eyes and made them feel they were the most important people in the world.
This was new. Royal princesses didn’t do this.
I once went with Princess Anne to Africa on a Save the Children tour.
Medics were immunising 5,000 children in Swaziland.
During that whole tour of Africa, I did not have one image of Princess Anne with an African child. Nor did anybody else.
One day I got a call saying Diana was going to go and open Britain’s first Aids ward at the Middlesex Hospital in London.
Like many people back then, I was nervous because Aids was the disease everyone feared.
The doctors were only just getting on top of the condition.
But Diana walked in and shook hands vigorously with the first patient she saw and gave him a big smile.
She then went round to speak to all the patients, some of whom were very ill.
Diana listened to their stories intently. She was literally face to face with them, just inches apart.
I realised she was showing everybody there was nothing to be scared of. Then and there, she took the fear out of Aids.
She went on to hold HIV babies in New York and in Sao Paulo in Brazil.
I’m convinced, to this day, that Diana single-handedly took the stigma out of Aids in our country.
People realised that if a princess can do that, then we also have to feel nothing but compassion for the people who have contracted this terrible virus.
She did this against all the advice from the grey suits at the palace, who told her that a princess should not get involved.
Diana knew these people needed this help and she couldn’t turn her back on them.
Through her work to rid Aids of its stigma, she became great friends with Elton John and they raised money for charity together.
During a visit to Great Ormond Street Hospital, she was extremely troubled by some of the sick children there and asked the press to leave the room.
We had no pictures. But on the way out, a couple of workmen opposite the hospital gave her a wolf whistle.
She looked up and gave them the biggest smile and I had my picture.
Diana was unique in her approach to sick people, looking at them with her big eyes, rubbing their brow or holding the wrinkled hands of old people.
She wouldn’t interrupt people as they told their stories, she would nod and agree sympathetically.
Diana gave more time to the needy than anyone else.
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She would also joke with the nurses so people felt more comfortable around her.
A little bit of happiness was brought into so many lives through her visits.
After she had left, you would hear the patients saying excitedly to each other, “What did she say to you?” and “Did she tell you about William?”
They were no longer depressed about where they were and the circumstances they were in.
As we can see, this caring manner has rubbed off on Prince William and Harry, who are a shining example of their mother’s values.
Diana introduced them to the finer things in life, but also to the not-so-nice side of this world.
Every time I look at William, I see Diana
It is because of her compassion, the princes are aware that thousands of people face a daily struggle.
I did a trip with Prince William to Lake Windermere with a group of very sick children and by the end of the day, they were laughing, joking and playing with him.
William injected love into the day, making even the shy ones smile.
The experience was unreal, because it was just like watching Diana at work again.
Every time I look at William, I see Diana — the big eyes, the complexion, the way he blushes.
He is Diana’s son.
For Prince Charles, who had been Britain’s most eligible bachelor, he suddenly found himself as Diana’s partner.
Because all the dignitaries on these trips would greet Charles first, all the public wanted was Diana.
This was a time before selfies so rather than just having her photo taken with people, she would high-five them or talk to them.
She received so many flowers it was like a production line with the blooms being passed back to a Lady In Waiting to place them in a car.
To her credit, Diana threw herself into her work.
She gave one hundred per cent and never once backed off.
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