In her own words: Princess Diana on comforting the sick and dying

Princess Diana comforts a young cancer patient during her 1996 trip to Pakistan. Source: Getty Images.

"I had always wanted to hug people in hospital beds. A visit to an AIDS hospice in 1991, with Mrs. Bush, was a stepping stone for me. This particular man, who was so ill, started crying when I sat on his bed, and he held my hand, and I thought 'Diana, do it, just do it,' and I gave him an enormous hug. It was just so touching because he clung to me and he cried. I thought, 'Wonderful!'
On the other side of the room, a very young man, who I can only describe as beautiful, lying in his bed, told me he was going to die about Christmas. His friend, a man sitting in a chair by his bed, was crying his eyes out. 'Why not me?' he said. I put my hand out to him and said: 'It’s not supposed to be easy, all this. Isn’t it extraordinary, wherever I go, it’s always those like you, sitting in a chair, who have to go through such hell, whereas those who accept they are going to die are calm?'

He said: 'I didn’t know that happened.' And I said: 'Well, it does; you’re not the only one. It’s wonderful that you’re actually by his bed. You’ll learn so much from watching your friend.'
He was crying and clung on to my hand, and I felt so comfortable in there. I just hated being taken away.

When I go into the Palace for a garden party or summit meeting dinner, I am a very different person. I conform to what’s expected of me; but when I come to the hospice, I know when I turn my light off at night, I did my best."

-Source: "How does Princess Diana do?," Pink for October anticancer blog

"I remember when I used to sit on hospital beds and hold people's hands, people used to be sort of shocked because they said they'd never seen this before, and to me it was quite a normal thing to do. And when I saw the reassurance that an action like that gave, I did it everywhere, and will always do that."

-Source: Diana's 1995 Panorama interview