Diana, Princess of Wales - We all know the story: On August 31 1997, British Royal, humanitarian and devoted mother Diana Spencer lost her life after the black Mercedes -Benz in which she was traveling attempted to elude paparazzi and crashed into the thirteenth pillar of the Pont de l'Alma tunnel in Paris. At 31, a lifetime of spirited restlessness and attempted reinvention was suddenly extinguished and the international community reacted with unmitigated grief. Her funeral on September 6, 1997 was watched by an estimated 2.5 billion people worldwide. As her former mother-in-law Queen Elizabeth II eulogized: "No one who knew Diana will ever forget her. Millions of others who never met her, but felt they knew her, will remember her." Truer words were never spoken.