Princess Diana
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50 free Princess Diana trivia questions with answers — history quiz, new questions added Oct 2026.
Few public figures of the twentieth century were watched as closely as Diana, Princess of Wales. She went from a shy teenager at the edge of the court to the most photographed woman in the world, and her story keeps drawing new readers, viewers and quiz players decades after her death. This quiz follows her whole life: a childhood among the English aristocracy, the engagement and the wedding watched by hundreds of millions, her two sons, the unravelling of the marriage, the campaigns on AIDS, landmines and homelessness, the outfits that made headlines, and the films and series that have told her story since. The questions start with the moments most people remember and move on to details that reward devoted fans. Each answer comes with a short explanation, so you will finish knowing more about her than when you started.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Which traditional promise to her husband did Diana leave out of her wedding vows, at the couple's own request?
To obey him
Diana never promised to obey him: the vow was dropped at the couple's request, which caused comment at the time. At the altar she also muddled the order of Charles's first two names.
Q 02Which Hollywood actor danced with Diana at a White House gala dinner in 1985, giving her velvet gown its nickname?
John Travolta
John Travolta led her around the Entrance Hall to music from Saturday Night Fever, and the pictures went around the world. The midnight blue gown later became the top lot at an auction of her dresses.
Q 03Which gemstone forms the centre of Diana's engagement ring, later worn by her daughter-in-law Catherine?
Sapphire
A 12-carat oval Ceylon sapphire is the centrepiece, circled by 14 diamonds. The ring was not custom-made: the design was in the jeweller's collection for anyone to buy.
Q 04Who was Prince Charles dating in November 1977 when he first met Diana, then aged 16?
Her older sister
Her older sister Sarah was the Spencer the 29-year-old prince was seeing at the time. Diana later said she had met Charles just 13 times before they got engaged.
Q 05Which friend of Diana performed a rewritten version of one of his 1970s hits at her funeral in 1997?
Elton John
Elton John sang Candle in the Wind 1997 at Westminster Abbey, the only time he has performed that version live. Proceeds from the single went to Diana's charities.
Q 06In which African country did Diana tour a minefield in a ballistic helmet and flak jacket in January 1997?
Angola
Angola was where Diana visited a minefield being cleared by the HALO Trust, and the pictures were seen worldwide. A Ministry of Defence official called her a loose cannon for the campaign.
Q 07What did Charles and Diana do on the Buckingham Palace balcony in 1981 that started a royal wedding tradition?
Kissed each other
They kissed each other in front of a delighted crowd, and later royal couples have repeated the balcony moment. About 600,000 people lined the streets of London that day.
Q 08In front of which famous landmark was Diana photographed alone in 1992, on one of her last tours with Charles?
The Taj Mahal
The Taj Mahal was built by an emperor in memory of his wife, which made the solo pictures headline news. Charles and Diana's separation was announced that December.
Q 09What nickname stuck to the black gown Diana wore on the night in 1994 that Charles admitted adultery on television?
The revenge dress
The revenge dress was a black silk gown by Christina Stambolian that Diana picked over a planned Valentino. She wore it to a Vanity Fair dinner at the Serpentine Gallery.
Q 10Which British prime minister described Diana as the people's princess in a speech shortly after her death in 1997?
Tony Blair
Tony Blair, then only months into the job, had been discussing a special role for Diana that would have had her promoting Britain's interests overseas.
Q 11In which London church did Diana marry Prince Charles in 1981, chosen because it offered more seating?
St Paul's Cathedral
St Paul's Cathedral beat the usual royal wedding church because it seated more guests and allowed a longer procession through London. A congregation of 3,500 watched inside.
Q 12Which royal residence in London was Diana's home from the first year of her marriage until her death in 1997?
Kensington Palace
Kensington Palace was where Diana kept a double apartment on the north side after the divorce. Mourners left flowers, candles and messages outside for months after she died.
Q 13From which luxury Paris hotel did Diana leave by a rear entrance shortly before the fatal crash in August 1997?
Q 21Which actor won a Golden Globe for playing the young Diana in the fourth season of The Crown?
Emma Corrin
Emma Corrin landed the part after first being brought in only to read Diana's lines while another role was being cast. Six months later came an offer of the role on the spot.
Q 22Which style did Diana have to give up under her 1996 divorce settlement, though she stayed Princess of Wales?
Her Royal Highness
Her Royal Highness was removed at Charles's insistence, although the Queen reportedly wanted Diana to keep it. Prince William is said to have promised to give it back once he was king.
Q 23Which disease did Diana work to destigmatise by touching patients at hospitals in Indonesia, Nepal and Zimbabwe?
Leprosy
The Ritz
The Ritz belonged to the father of her companion, and its deputy head of security took the wheel. A decoy car left first from the main entrance to draw the photographers away.
Q 14Which film producer, an executive producer of Chariots of Fire, died in the 1997 Paris crash alongside Diana?
Dodi Fayed
Dodi Fayed had been seeing Diana for only a few weeks, after she spent part of the summer with his family in the south of France. His father owned Harrods at the time.
Q 15Whose gift of rosary beads did Diana hold when she was buried in September 1997?
Mother Teresa
Mother Teresa met Diana in Rome in 1992 and the two formed a personal bond. The nun died on 5 September 1997, the day before Diana's funeral.
Q 16What job did Diana give up after her engagement to Prince Charles in February 1981?
Nursery assistant
Diana was a nursery assistant at the Young England School in Pimlico, helping the teachers with the children. She had also worked as a nanny and cleaned for friends.
Q 17Which relative of Diana gave the eulogy at her funeral, rebuking the press for its treatment of her?
Her brother
Her brother, Earl Spencer, delivered the address and then had Diana buried on the family estate, where her sons could visit the grave in privacy.
Q 18What simple gesture did Diana make towards an AIDS patient in 1987 that no British royal had made before?
Held hands
Diana held hands with the patient to challenge the stigma surrounding the illness, and went on to hug patients in public. The Queen reportedly suggested she take up something more pleasant.
Q 19Which Nobel Peace Prize winner, whom Diana met in South Africa in March 1997, later praised her work on AIDS?
Nelson Mandela
Nelson Mandela said Diana had used her fame to fight the stigma around the illness. His children's fund later teamed up with her memorial fund to help people living with it.
Q 20Which actress earned an Oscar nomination for playing Diana in the 2021 film Spencer, directed by Pablo Larraín?
Kristen Stewart
Kristen Stewart was nominated for Best Actress for the role. The film imagines a royal holiday in 1991 during which Diana weighs up leaving her marriage.
Leprosy was widely believed to spread through casual contact, so Diana made a point of touching the people she met. She became patron of the Leprosy Mission after a hospital visit in 1989.
Q 24The song rewritten for Diana's funeral in 1997 was first written in 1973 as a tribute to which film star?
Marilyn Monroe
Marilyn Monroe had died 11 years before lyricist Bernie Taupin wrote the original words. He rewrote them for Diana when the singer asked him to in the days before the funeral.
Q 25Diana took baby Prince William on her first major overseas tour in 1983, to New Zealand and which other country?
Australia
Australia's prime minister, Malcolm Fraser, was the one who suggested bringing the baby along. Immense crowds turned out, and the press coined the word Dianamania.
Q 26Where in London did the Queen open the Diana memorial fountain, an oval stream of Cornish granite, in 2004?
Hyde Park
Hyde Park's fountain is built from 545 pieces of Cornish granite, with water flowing down both sides of a sloping oval. Its designer wanted it to reflect Diana's inclusive personality.
Q 27On which BBC current affairs programme did Diana give her famous 1995 television interview about her marriage?
Panorama
Panorama drew nearly 23 million British viewers that night. The 54-minute interview was filmed in Diana's own sitting room, which later became a playroom for her sons.
Q 28Diana came third in the BBC's 2002 public poll of the 100 Greatest Britons; who finished in first place?
Winston Churchill
Winston Churchill overtook the engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel with a late surge in the final week of voting. Diana finished above the Queen and every other British monarch.
Q 29On which royal estate was Diana born in 1961, in a house her family leased from the Queen?
Sandringham
Sandringham was where Diana grew up at Park House, playing with Princes Andrew and Edward when the royal family holidayed next door. She called the Queen Aunt Lilibet.
Q 30On an island at which Spencer family estate in Northamptonshire is Diana buried?
Althorp
Althorp has belonged to the Spencers for more than 500 years, and the grave lies in an ornamental lake called the Round Oval. The first plan had been the family vault in a nearby church.