Diana's humanitarian and charity legacy: from landmines to leprosy

'Her overall effect on charity is probably more significant than any other person's in the 20th century'

Diana listens to a young disabled boy on 13 November, 1992 during her visit to a home in Paris (Joel Robine/AFP)

Dubbed “the people’s princess” by Tony Blair, Diana became a global icon, famous for her beauty, her fashion choices and, of course, her marriage to the prince. But quite aside from these, the most profound and lasting difference she made was down to her philanthropic force.

Diana was at some point patron of over 100 charities across the globe. Honing her efforts onto helping others after her divorce from Charles, she developed a reputation for working tirelessly on behalf of charitable causes, using her fame to raise awareness of a number of highly important humanitarian issues of the day.

“Her overall effect on charity,” according to Stephen Lee, director of the UK Institute of Charity Fundraising Managers, speaking a year after her death, “is probably more significant than any other person's in the 20th century.”

It became commonplace to see photos of Diana holding sick young children, hugging vulnerable homeless people and shaking hands with AIDS and HIV sufferers. The sick and vulnerable warmed to her presence, drawn in by her natural compassion.

“Nothing brings me more happiness than trying to help the most vulnerable people in society,” Diana told the BBC’s Martin Bashir in his 1995. “It is a goal and an essential part of my life, a kind of destiny.”

From landmines, to leprosy, Diana was a figurehead in bringing a flood of causes into the spotlight.

Landmines

The image of Diana in white shirt, beige trousers and brown leather loafers and wearing a plastic vizor while standing in an only partially cleared minefield in Angola did more to highlight the issue of landmines than any previous campaign on the issue.

Following that trip, the representatives of 122 governments met in Ottawa, and agreed a ban on the use of anti-personnel landmines. When Foreign Secretary of the time Robin Cook brought the second reading of the landmines bill to the house in 1998, he made a point of paying tribute to Diana's contribution.

Decades after she mounted her commitment to mine clearance work, pulling the public’s attention onto the issue, the support for the cause continues. Her son Prince Harry, who is now patron of leading landmine charity, The HALO Trust, recently called for the world to become free of the weapons by 2025.

Sick children

As patron of Great Ormand Street Hospital for Children and The Royal Marsden Hospital, known for treating cancerous children, Diana was often pictured comforting sick youngsters.

Speaking about her work with the Royal Brompton Hospital, London, she said: “I make the trips at least three times a week, and spend up to four hours at a time with patients holding their hands and talking to them. Some of them will live and some will die, but they all need to be loved while they are here. I try to be there for them.”

Prince William continues the legacy today, as president of the Royal Marsden Hospital, the same renowned cancer institution his mother represented from 1989 until her death in 1997.

AIDS and HIV

Princess Diana was a crucial figurehead in lifting the stigma once associated with AIDS and HIV victims. In April 1987, she opened the UK's first purpose built HIV/Aids unit that exclusively cared for patients infected with the virus, at London Middlesex Hospital.

A famous image from the event of her shaking the hand of a sufferer without gloves, despite widespread caution at that time about how the disease was transmitted, played a revolutionary role in convincing the public that touching sufferers was alright.

“HIV does not make people dangerous to know. You can shake their hands and give them hug heaven knows they need it,” she told cameras at the time.

Her HIV/AIDS activism continued beyond that moment, but the historic photo taken at Casey House will go down in history as one of the key factors that helped change the world’s view of those living with the diseases.

Leprosy

Similar to her AIDS efforts, Diana travelled to countries with a high leprosy rate in a bid to remove the stigma surrounding the disease.

As patron of The Leprosy Mission, she visited hospitals in India, Nepal and Zimbabwe, where she was pictured and filmed spending time with patients, holding their hands and dispelling the myth that the illness can be passed on by touch.

“It has always been my concern to touch people with leprosy, trying to show in a simple action that they are not reviled, nor are we repulsed," she said of the disease.

Homeless young people

Diana was patron and a regular visitor to the charity Centrepoint up until her death in 1997. Despite her royal lifestyle, she was not afraid to meet those directly affected, and is even known to have gone onto the streets one night and spoken to rough sleepers.

When William and Harry were children, she would take them to meet homeless people to give them a grounding in life beyond the palace walls.

During a return visit to Centrepoint last year, William said the visits had left a "deep and lasting impression" on him about the importance of ensuring that everyone in society is "given the opportunities to fulfil their potential in life.”