Through her mother's side (the Fermoys) Diana was related to Humphrey Bogart, Al Capone and Franklin D. Roosevelt; through the Spencers she was related to Winston Churchill. Diana's stepmother, Raine Spencer, was the daughter of Barbara Cartland, a bosom crony of the queen mother's - as was her grandmother, Lady Fermoy, the queen mother's confidante and official lady-in-waiting. Did this pair contrive the match of Charles and Di? The girl was snared.
Diana, supposedly not so bright, was asked to choose the stone to be set in her engagement ring. She was proffered a tray of sapphires and seemed predictably bemused. "I didn't know the first thing about it," she said. "So I simply chose the biggest." How's that for smart?
Spooky coincidence? Diana once referred to herself as "The Marilyn Monroe of the eighties," adding sweetly, "I loved every minute". She and Monroe both died at the age of 36. Elton John's tribute to Monroe, the plangent Goodbye Norma Jean, was revamped and sung at Diana's funeral, titled, Goodbye England's Rose.
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