Diana - In Their Own Words

Diana was an international figure, a face as familiar on the newstands of Buenos Aires as those of Birmingham.

It was her ambition, she'd said, to be an ambassador for Britain. And, by the time of her death, she'd begun to carve out such a role - as Britain's most popular unofficial ambassador, on issues as diverse as HIV and the banning of landmines.

Diana is being remembered mainly for her charity work yet she had become a forceful presence and an experienced global performer in her own right. From the beginning of her marriage to Prince Charles she was an object of fascination for the world's media but there were parts of the world where people were less obsessed by her private life and more interested in why she had chosen to visit their countries.

Here three BBC foreign correspondents recall their experiences of watching her at work.

Elizabeth Blunt, as the BBC's West Africa correspondent, covered one of Diana's first forays away from the glamour of cities like Paris and New York, when she accompanied Prince Charles on a visit to Nigeria and Cameroon.

After her separation from Prince Charles, Diana began to carve out a unique international role. She did it to characteristic effect, choosing powerful humanitarian issues, and exploiting her enduring appeal for the world's photographers to bring home the importance of these causes. Recently, she visited Bosnia to meet landmine victims. David Loyn was there and remembers the Diana effect.

Behind her glamorous facade, Princess Diana had over the years begun to develop her own brand of foreign policy. She rarely stood on ceremony, she preferred to go straight to the heart. John Simpson, the BBC's Foreign Affairs editor, considers the impact she made.