I’ve found my life’s direction
Diana in her own words: How Mother Teresa led her to new calling
UNSEEN letters penned by Princess Diana today reveal how Mother Teresa changed her life forever.
A moving note and a prayer show how the saint and her nuns gave Diana a spiritual awakening and hope in her darkest hour.
The Princess of Wales visited the missionary’s home and an orphanage in Calcutta in February 1992 – as her marriage to Prince Charles was fading.
She met some of the sick children Mother Teresa cared for.
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And on her return, Diana wrote the prayer and sent it to confidante butler Paul Burrell.
An accompanying note said: “Today, something very profound touched my life. I went to Mother Teresa’s home and found the direction I’ve been searching for all these years.
“The sisters sang to me, a deeply spiritual experience and I soared to such heights in my spirit. The light shone from within these ladies, saints for want of a better word, such love came from their eyes and their touch was full of warmth.
“I was then taken by Sister Federica to the chapel to pray with the novices and sisters.
“They sang the Lord’s Prayers and with our shoes off we prayed together on our knees.” Mother Teresa was too ill to see Diana but they met up weeks later at her convent in Rome.
Burrell, 59, said: “Diana was very, very spiritual. Her experience of praying with the sisters and seeing sick and dying children set her on a new path.
“She now had a mission and she found a deep spirituality with Mother Teresa. They were so close. There’s no doubt that this was the inspiration for all of the princess’s wonderful humanitarian work.”
It was during Diana’s visit to
India that she was famously pictured sitting alone at the Taj Mahal. She separated from Charles 10 months later. But while her personal life was in turmoil, Burrell says the visit sparked a “calling” to help the needy.
He added: “She said it did change her life forever. She told me the nuns were angels sent to Earth to do God’s work.
“She said she wasn’t worthy to even walk in Mother Teresa’s footsteps. Diana she could at
least try to follow her example.” Weeks before her death Burrell accompanied Diana, 36, on a trip to war-torn Bosnia.
He said: “We visited a shanty town in Sarajevo. We found a baby curled up on a mat. She picked it up and cuddled it. The baby opened his eyes and we could see he was blind. I was witnessing something very special. I realised that teaching had come from Mother Teresa. The parallels were astounding. It was Mother Teresa’s work flowing through the Princess.”
Burrell also told how Mother Teresa, 87 – made a saint last year – gave Diana a treasured set of rosary beads. And he revealed that when he saw Diana in hospital after she died in a Paris car crash on August 31, 1997 he wound the rosary beads between her fingers.
“They are still there to this day. I think that’s very appropriate,” he said.
Mother Teresa died just five days later. Burrell, who tells of his battle to deal with Diana’s passing on Channel 5 show In Therapy tomorrow, says the Princess spoke about death.
And he added: “Maybe she waited on Mother Teresa and they went off to Heaven together. I’d like to think so.” geraldine.mckelvie@trinitymirror.com