But even at her lowest, notes pal William Shawcross, she never went on the offensive. “She’s always been discreet and she has never sought to answer back,” he told Dateline. “She has never sort of stooped, if you like to say, ‘I must have my day on the front of the tabloid press,’ and I think that’s a terrific sign of strength on her part.”
Her tack, instead, was to focus on charity (among her pet projects: The National Osteoporosis Society, literacy and preventing sexual violence) and slowly inching her way into the spotlight with Charles.
A year after Diana’s death, she met William and Harry. The following year, they pair formally went public, exiting her sister’s birthday party together as 200 photographers clamored to capture the moment.
By 2000, she had scaled her biggest hurdle yet. After years of refusing to attend the same events as Camilla—even blowing off Charles’ 50th birthday in 1998—the Queen deigned to be in the same room as her son’s girlfriend, RSVP’ing yes to a celebration for King Constantine of Greece.
