An estimated 750 million people tuned in, eager to watch Lady Diana Spencer become the Princess of Wales.
Our infatuation hasnt let up since.
She didnt just influence us she left behind a legacy that changed us forever.
Credit: Pete Souza/AP Photo
The residents of Buckingham Palace lived squarely in the realm of homework, not entertainment.
That changed in 1980 when Diana burst onto the scene as Prince Charles soon-to-be wife.
She was beautiful, charismatic, and yet still relatable and accessible a natural star.
Everyone, especially in America, was transfixed by her.
While Diana modernized the monarchys image, she also became a phenomenon all her own.
By the time she attended a White House gala in 1985, Americans were mesmerized.
Along the way, she redefined the nature of celebrity itself.
Almost nothing Diana did was ever really private, of course.
The press hounded her relentlessly, turning every personal detail and intimate moment into a tabloid headline.
She was a human being, and people responded to that, Morton notes.
People responded to the vulnerabilities and the virtues.
Britons protested the Queens initial refusal to publicly comment on Dianas death.
The song became the highest-selling single of the modern era.
People may not know who their state representatives are, but Dianas sons are household names.
And, because we are Americans, we make TV shows about them.
Our public perceptions of all these people are so interesting to me, Murphy told EW in March.
She was an ordinary person put in an extraordinary circumstance.
These shows surely wont be the last ones to revisit the late princess.
