When Others Wouldn’t

Princess Diana

In 1987, the rhetoric around AIDS was fear-inducing and alarmist. The public were unsure about the nature of the disease, how dangerous it was and how it could be transmitted. When Princess Diana visited a hospital in London, she was photographed shaking, without gloves, the hand of a patient suffering from AIDS. This single moment of compassion changed the dialogue around AIDS, challenged the false belief that the disease could be transmitted by touch, and demonstrated Diana’s unwavering kindness for other people.

As one nurse noted, “This was Diana, the Princess of Wales, coming in gloveless and shaking our patients’ hands as well as ours. That was very moving.”