Princess Diana Hoped 1997 'Will Be an Easier Year for Us All' Just Eight Months Before Her Tragic Death

Neither Princess Diana nor any of her well-wishers predicted the 'people's princess' would die like she did. But just months before her tragic demise, Princess of Wales wrote a letter, hoping for an "easier" 1997. This poignant two-page letter, addressed to two of her closest friends, was part of a collection of her correspondence auctioned in 2023.

The late royal addressed to Susie and Tarek Kassem in a letter dated December 17, 1996, on the official Kensington Palace stationery. Diana sounded poignant and also fun in the note while sharing her plans for Christmas 1996 after her divorce from Prince Charles. She wrote that she intended to spend Christmas abroad "in the sunshine," before joking, "I will top myself if I remain here!" as per The Mirror. Her boys, Prince William and Prince Harry, followed the royal tradition and celebrated holidays at Sandringham with their father and grandparents.

Further, she wrote, "I hope '97 will be an easier year for us all." Well, on the surface, it somewhat did because she broke away from the chains of monarchy and found solace in a new relationship with Dr. Hasnat Khan, a heart surgeon from Pakistan. However, unfortunately, the couple called it quits by July that year. While she remained committed to her philanthropic endeavors, she found love again in the Egyptian billionaire Dodi Al Fayed which became her last romance since the couple died together in a tragic car crash in August 1997, enjoying only a brief relationship. 

The 32 letters were put on auction by owners Susie and Tarek Kassem who became very close to Diana two years prior to her death. A second letter showed Diana's happiness after discovering a new sense of freedom following her separation from Charles and the royal family. "I am more than happy to have my freedom & reckon that I'm very fortunate to have a second chance!" wrote Diana, feeling grateful for "lots of nice things" that came her way. 

Mimi Connell Lay of Lay Auctioneers of Penzanze said of the auction, "The Christmas 1996 letter is heartbreaking. We have the benefit of hindsight of course and we know what happened to her in the year 1997. It really is a tragic letter in that respect." She added that since it was a tradition to spend holidays at Sandringham House after Diana's marriage was over, she "really struggled with Christmas time." As for 1995, she spent it "with the Kassems." 

However, the letter she sent to Kassems in 1996 was full of joy and optimism since Diana was in a new relationship with Hasnat who she had called the 'love of my life.'" While the Kassems cherished and treasured the letters for 25 years, they felt a great responsibility for owning them and didn't want them to pass to their children or grandchildren. Hence, they decided to auction them and the letters were sold on February 16, 2023. 

Diana, who accompanied her alleged then-boyfriend Dodi Al-Fayed, died a sudden death in a car crash in Paris, France on August 31, 1997. They were reportedly heading to Al-Fayed's apartment when the driver Henri Paul lost control of the vehicle and all of them died except the bodyguard Trevor Rees-Jones, per Vanity Fair.