Crowds remember Princess Diana on her 50th birthday

Princess Diana, the "People's Princess," still fascinates millions of people worldwide. Diana was killed on Aug. 31, 1997, at the age of 36, when the limousine she was riding in with her lover, Dodi al-Fayed, smashed into a pillar in a Paris tunnel. July 1, 2011, marks what would have been Diana’s 50th birthday.

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A young Lady Diana Spencer is pictured here circa 1965. She would later become the wife of Prince Charles and the princess of Wales. She would have turned 50 on July 1, 2011.

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Lady Diana Spencer poses during a summer vacation in Itchenor, West Sussex in the U.K. in 1971.

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Princess Diana wears the Queen Mary tiara at a British Embassy dinner in 1985.

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Prince Charles and his fiancee, Lady Diana Spencer, pose with Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace on March 7, 1981.

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Britain's prince of Wales and then-fiancee Lady Diana Spencer arrive for their first official engagement together, a charity event at Goldsmith's Hall in London on March 9, 1981.

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Prince Charles and Princess Diana, seen on the balcony of Buckingham Palace, were married on July 29, 1981.

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Princess Diana and Prince Charles are shown with their son Prince William during a photo shoot at Kensington Palace in London in December 1982.

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Actor John Travolta dances with Princess Diana at a White House dinner in Washington, D.C., in 1985.

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Diana, princess of Wales, enjoys a ride on the Maid of Mist in Niagara Falls, Ontario, in October 1991 with her sons Prince Harry, then 7, and Prince William, then 9.

Hans Dderyk / AP

Princess Diana flashes a smile at a charity dinner at the New York Hilton in 1995.

Mark Lennihan / AP

Diana talks with pediatric nurses during a visit to the Tushinskaya Children's Hospital in Moscow in 1995. The day after divorce proceedings began that would strip part of her royal title, Princess Diana resigned as patron of nearly 100 charities.

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Diana holds an Angolan amputee child on her lap in Luanda, Angola, on Jan. 15, 1997, during a visit to help a Red Cross campaign outlaw landmines worldwide. Diana and her millionaire companion Dodi al-Fayed were killed in a car crash on Aug. 31, 1997.

Jose Manuel Ribeiro / Reuters

Diana and her companion Dodi al-Fayed at the French Riviera resort of St. Tropez on Aug. 22, 1997. Diana, al-Fayed and their chauffeur died in a car crash after being pursued at high-speed by photographers on motorcycles.

Patrick Bar / AP

Princess Diana's funeral procession passes through London's Horse Guard's Parade on its way to Westminster Abbey on Sept. 6, 1997. Following the gun carriage, from left, are the Duke of Edinburgh, Prince William, Earl Spencer, Prince Harry and Prince Charles.

Kevin Capon / AP

Prince Charles and his sons follow the hearse as Diana's coffin makes its way from Saint James's Palace to Kensington Palace, Diana's former home.

Thomas Coex / AFP

An aerial view showes a large pile of flowers at the gates of Kensington Palace in London, as crowds continue to arrive to pay their respects to the late Princess Diana on Sept. 4, 1997.

Adrian Dennis / AP

A man waits in line to lay a wreath in memory of Princess Diana at Buckingham Palace on Sept. 2, 1997. Thousands of mourners from Britain and around the world lined up to say goodbye to Princess Diana, killed two days before in a car crash.

Paul Hackett / Reuters

Prince William, left, and Prince Harry speak on stage at a concert at Wembley Stadium on July 1, 2007, in London. The concert fell on what would have been Diana's 46th birthday. Sir Elton John sits at the piano in the background.

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Britain's Prince Charles, left, Princes William, right, and Prince Harry, center, arrive for a memorial service at the Guards' Chapel at Wellington Barracks in London on Aug. 31, 2007, the 10th anniversay of Diana's death.

/ Reuters

Princess Diana supporter John Loughrey, 56, of London, poses for a portrait with "Diana 50" written on his face outside Kensington Palace in London, the former residence of the princess, on July 1, 2011. Admirers of the late Princess Diana gathered outside Kensington Palace on a bright sunny Friday that would have been Diana's 50th birthday. Cards, a cake, a collage and other mementoes were among the gifts left near the gates of Kensington Palace, an echo of the massive, makeshift memorial set up there following her 1997 death in a Paris car crash.

Matt Dunham / AP

Admirers of Princess Diana gather on what would have been her 50th birthday outside Kensington Palace in London, on July 1, 2011.

Matt Dunham / AP

A montage of images in the shape of a number 50 was made and placed on a fence outside Kensington Palace by Princess Diana admirer Kathy Martin from Australia.

Matt Dunham / AP

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