It was at midnight when my husband called me to the family room. I had been getting ready for bed. We stayed up until well past 2 a.m. At the same time, my sister/brother-in-law left for London the next day. They were in London for a few days before going to another destination. And, their hotel was very close to where Diana lived…I forget the name, but you know where all the flowers were laid. Sue said that you could hear a pin drop, the city was so very quiet. I know she will never forget being in London at that time.

My son came in and told me she had been in an accident, he would have been 15 at the time. I turned on the tv and was glued to it all night. It was shocking news. She had her first son a month after I had mine and I cut the photo out of the paper and put it in my son’s baby book. When she and Charles got married I woke up in the wee hours to watch the whole thing. I loved that stuff back then. When all the scandals started, the interviews, divorce, tabloid frenzy… I ignored all that and pretty much stopped paying attention. So when she died I really still had her in my mind as that young bride and young mother she was when I was paying attention to her.

I think I first heard it listening to talk radio while in bed, then made a dash for the TV. It was dawn London time and many citizens did not know what had happened. I watched the coverage into the wee hours of the morning. I am not usually star struck, but Diana was someone I truly respected not just for her humanitarian efforts, but she was also a great mom. The footage of her and her sons on the water slide was heartwarming. She would also take her sons to clinics and shelters so that they would learn to open their hearts too and change the way royalty relates to the public. No white gloves for her when she shook the hands of Aids patients.

August 31st is my birthday. I think I was glued to the television watching tennis all day. I don’t think I heard about it until we returned home from dinner. The rest is a blurrr.

Yes, I was at WOOD radio that Sunday morning, preparing to do the morning news. I had to scramble to get all the audio from our network news-channel feeds dubbed onto cart, write up the newscasts and do the news. Skip Essick, who was the operations director, called up, demanding to know why didn’t have national breaking-news reports on every 15 minutes, because the national networks usually have optional break-in reports you can play on the radio during major crises. But, given the early time in the morning that the news broke, there were no national, live break-in reports available to us yet from the CBS radio feeds. It was hectic putting it all together into quality newscasts. I remember feeling saddened and a bit stunned, because I really liked Princess Di. The worse thing I ever had to do was read a report about the death of a childhood friend in a car accident.

Friends of mine from UCLA and I were so into the wedding at the time (we were young) that we got up at 2-3 AM to watch everything. I am not a huge fan of the royal family and had more sympathy for Diana. Although she definitely went too far with the Panorama interview, etc. But she had a lot of kindness, was the first to make AIDs a big issue and to draw attention to landmines etc. She didn’t have good direction as a child and couldn’t deal with the strictures of Buckingham Palace and her cold/cheating husband. I lived near the Fairmount Hotel on Nob Hill and a few of us had walked over to The Big Four restaurant at the Huntington Hotel for dinner. I remember very well because it was the first time I had Stag’s Leap wine. Delicious! When we came out D.W., one of the popular doormen who’d been there 25 years, and who I knew from walks at night in the nightborhood/Huntington Park across the street, said she’d been in a terrible accident. I immediately thought of Princess Grace and how first it was a broken leg, and then worse, and finally her death. I prayed that wouldn’t be the case again. But within an hour, it was. San Francisco had a candlelight march for her (she was of course, very popular with the gay men and I think it originated in the Castro) and the British Museum had a guest book to sign, there were memorial masses, there was quite a to do. Her funeral was truly magnificent. Poor Pavarotti. He loved her and had to be supported to walk. I remember the entire thing. Her brother was right. She was named for the huntress Diana and became the most hunted person on Earth. I loved her looks, style and reading about her. She had a rare affirmative ability for others that she couldn’t manage for herself or her marriage. She was such a mixed bag, and that made her so fascinating. She’ll always be remembered as being young, beautiful and tragic. Can’t believe it has been 11 years. Sheesh, my life has changed so much since then. It’s almost like looking back at a film of another person.

PS, Liz “…I had lost a glamorous creature who would have been grist for the gossip mill for eons to come. This secret, really low attitude wasn’t very nice, I suppose, but I’m trying to be honest.” I don’t think it’s low at all! People are gregarious beings and love to know about glammy people…..and she was that. Someone has to report it…and you’re the best. What would life be without all those secret little thrills.

I recall staying up all night watching her funeral. I think it was her youth and all her good works that made it so sad. I never gave much thought to the royal family before she came on the scene.

I received a voice mail telling me “Diana is dead!” I have a sister of the same name so there was great confusion at first, to say the least. All that said, Princess Diana was so very human. I loved her smile and the fact she cared about others so deeply. She was a special person in her own right and she changed the world in her way. I stayed up for the funeral, too. I think she would be oh, so very proud of the young men her sons have turned out to be. She was lost to them at an early age for all concerned, but her touch is on them and she would be proud at how human they are, as well.

I was very young at the time, and was spending the night at a friend’s house in my neighborhood. We were playing Monopoly with her older sister while her mom had the TV on. I remember looking up and seeing the breaking news that interrupted the program. None of us thought it was real, there must have been some sort of terrible mistake… Then I remember the funeral procession. I was enjoying my grilled cheese and french fries at a restaurant with my parents and brother on that lovely warm and sunny day. The manager walked up to the TV and changed the channel from sports to the coverage and I remember watching silently with the other patrons. When the camera zoomed in on those lilies with the card adorned with little Harry’s writing, I just broke down and cried. It struck me for the first time that not only had the world lost a wonderful woman, but that those boys lost an incredible mother. My heart hurt for them so much in that moment.

We had just come home from the bowling alley, turned on the TV to catch the local 10pm news cast. It was being reported that she had been in a horrific car cash in Paris; what struck me was the tone in the news anchors’ voice …. he too, was in disbelief. In the hours that followed, the confirmation came, that indeed Princess Diana had died. I’ve not been so affected by the death of someone that I’ve never met; not before her passing or since.

Yes, I remember quite clearly. I was in Arkansas on the river in our family cabin. We don’t have television there so it’s not easy to get news unless you happen to see a story on the raffle TV in the grocery store. So, anyhow I was sitting on the dock with a few friends and a canoe pulled up. One of my friends knew the two adults paddling. As we were chatting, the young boy in the middle of their canoe wanted to tell us something. I believe he had cerebral palsy so it was a bit hard to understand what he was trying to say. We all leaned forward and focused our attention on him. He started with “Princess Diana was in a car”… we all started to smile because we thought he was attempting to tell us a joke. It was no joke and his parents had to translate for us. They told us the news and we all sat back in unison as our faces changed expressions. It was sad news that came to us that day by way of the river. As I think about it, I was also there when 9/11 happened and when Little John went down in the plane. It got to the point that some of my friends told me to warn them before I go to the river. I just can’t believe it’s been 11 years since Diana was killed. I can hear time flying all around me.

I was driving home in the afternoon with my husband and 2 kids from our annual Labor Day vacation in Oak Creek Canyon (Arizona) … it was 2 days after Diana’s death. During our vacation we hadn’t had access to computers or TV or radio or phones. When we turned on the car radio, the news about Diana hit us like an earthquake. Total shock and disbelief. “How can this be?” we just kept asking over and over. What a profound sadness for our world community.