A Hello! retrospective lists eight ways Princess Diana departed from royal convention, including her hands-on parenting, public fashion choices and advocacy for HIV/AIDS causes.
The examples include Diana's sapphire engagement ring, which reportedly reminded her of her mother's band; the article says royal rings had traditionally been custom-made and passed down. She gave birth to William and Harry at St Mary's Hospital's Lindo Wing. William, the article says, became the first royal educated entirely in the public-school sector. It also describes Diana as opposed to having a nanny raise her sons; friend Lana Marks recalled that she would drop other commitments when they came home from school.
Other examples include backless or strapless dresses, the “revenge” dress (worn after Diana was no longer a royal), and appearing bare-handed despite gloves being expected on public engagements to prevent germs spreading. In 1987, she opened an HIV/AIDS ward at London Middlesex Hospital and shook patients' hands, when people thought the illness could spread through skin contact. Former protection officer Ken Wharfe recalled Diana telling him the Queen objected to her AIDS work. Makeup artist Mary Greenwell convinced Diana to stop wearing blue eyeliner.
