Details About Princess Diana's Pre-Royal Resume

Princess Diana may forever be cemented in people's minds as "the people's princess," but she had a more down-to-earth life before entering the royal family. It would, of course, be disingenuous to say that Diana was ever a commoner. In fact, she was born The Honourable Diana Frances Spencer on July 1, 1961. By 1975, at the age of 14, she became Lady Diana Spencer, thanks to her father, John Spencer, receiving his Earldom.

Still, being a part of the aristocracy didn't keep Diana from mucking in and working hard for her money. In fact, her very first job at the age of 18 was as a nanny, a job she applied for two months before she was a legal adult (and for which she lied about her age and skills!). The application for the position, a copy of which was auctioned by Auctioneum in 2024, saw Diana change her date of birth by a year, as well as claiming basic cooking skills. The latter ability was clearly false, we now know — especially as formal royal chef Darren McGrady told Us Weekly that Diana was so bad at cooking that she rarely did it while living in Kensington Palace. 

"The princess was an awful cook," McGrady claimed. "She didn't like to cook at all in the kitchen."

Before she met Prince Charles, Diana Spencer was happy to work "normal" jobs, especially ones that involved working with children. According to The U.S. Sun, following her nannying gig, Diana was hired as a nursery teacher's assistant.

Diana worked at the Young England Kindergarten in South West London for only a year or so — she was employed there when she and Charles first laid eyes on one another, and she left when she got married and joined the royal family.

Even today, the nursery looks back on the period in which Diana worked at Young England with fondness, writing on its website: "Some may recall the name of this nursery as the place where Princess Diana was working when she was engaged to Prince Charles, but many know Young England Kindergarten (YEK) as the nursery that's all on one level, the children play in the very large communal gardens next door and also have access to their own private outside space."

Working with children was something that came naturally to Diana, and it was something she always envisioned herself doing long-term. "I absolutely adore children, that's really why... I just love children," she said of her decision to enter the world of teaching (via YouTube). Had she not meet and married Prince Charles, she might have continued in that field for the rest of her life.

While Princess Diana wasn't allowed to hold a "normal" job after becoming a royal, her role as mother to Prince Harry and Prince William brought her immense joy. She doted on her sons, and was even named godmother of 17 children, from a Greek royal to the daughter of a childhood friend. 

She also used her position as part of the royal family to bring meaningful change into the lives of children in the U.K., serving as President of the Hospital for Sick Children, the Royal Marsden Hospital, and Great Ormond Street.