Emma Corrin's depiction of Princess Diana hugging a child with AIDS, challenging the stigma attached to the disease, is being widely shared on Tiktok on the 25th anniversary of her death.
The Princess of Wales was killed in a car crash in Paris on August 31, 1997, sending people all over the world into mourning.
Twenty-five years later, some of the key moments of her life have been recreated by Netflix drama The Crown.
Season 4, which was released in November 2020, showed Diana's 1989 tour of New York, when she visited HIV-positive children at Harlem Hospital.
In the real-life visit, The New York Times reported that Diana "paused to stroke five babies... the Princess noticed a 7-year-old boy in blue pajamas. 'Are you heavy?' she asked, scooping him up and cuddling him."
According to the newspaper, Dr. Margaret Heagarty, the hospital's pediatric director, told the princess: "Your presence here and in Great Britain has shown that folks with this disease can be hugged, can be cared for."
In The Crown's depiction, Episode 10 shows Corrin as Diana saying "hello" as she approaches the bed of a boy wearing a hospital dressing gown.
A doctor tells Diana: "Many of the children have been abandoned or have parents who are addicts or sick with the virus. They desperately need foster carers but people are too afraid to take them."
Diana asks, "Why?" and the doctor replies: "Because of the stigma, the fear of the disease." The princess then bends down to hug the boy.
In reality, Princess Diana's work to tackle the stigma surrounding HIV/AIDS—one of the most famous aspects of her legacy—had begun a few years before the trip to New York.
In 1987, the princess visited London Middlesex Hospital to open Britain's first purpose-built HIV/AIDS unit, at a time when many people still believed the virus could be transmitted through close contact.
With the media watching on, Diana shook the hand of a man with AIDS.
It marked a change in British society's attitude to the disease, but also in Diana's development as a royal who occupied a unique space in the monarchy's history.
She was known for her compassion and empathy—characteristics that her sons Prince William and Prince Harry have tried to continue in their own work.
As recently as February 2022, Harry told a podcast for the Tackle HIV campaign: "What my mum started all those years ago was creating empathy and understanding, but also curiosity, and I think that was really powerful to be able to create that curiosity.
"'Hang on, we know nothing about this virus. Can we at least learn some more rather than be so critical and so judgmental right from the beginning?' So, in that respect I've seen huge change."
Discussing the stigma around the disease, he said: "I think what my mum did and so many people did at that time was to smash that wall down, to kick the door open and say 'no.' When people are suffering then we need to learn more."
Uncommon Knowledge
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
About the writer
Jack Royston is Newsweek's Chief Royal Correspondent based in London, U.K. He reports on the British royal family—including King Charles ... Read more
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