Diana was initially home-schooled under the supervision of her governess, Gertrude Allen. She began her formal education at Silfield Private School in Gayton, Norfolk, and moved to Riddlesworth Hall School, an all-girls boarding school near Thetford, when she was nine. She joined her sisters at West Heath Girls' School in Sevenoaks, Kent, in 1973.

Diana Spencer was born on the first of July 1968 at Park House in Sandringham Nordfolk. Diana was the fourth of five children of John Spencer, Viscount Althorp, and Frances Spencer, Viscountess Althorp.