According to several reports, Princess Diana was buried with a rosary that Mother Teresa of Calcutta had given her.
Princess Diana and Mother Teresa came from very different worlds. Diana was an Anglican princess whose life unfolded under global media attention, while Mother Teresa was a Catholic nun who devoted her life to serving the poor.
Yet their friendship became one of the most memorable of the 1990s.
When Diana was buried in September 1997, reports said she was laid to rest holding a rosary Mother Teresa had given her—a small but powerful reminder of the affection and spiritual bond shared by the Princess of Wales and the future Catholic saint.
A Rosary From Mother Teresa
In 2017, marking the 20th anniversary of Diana’s death, author and journalist Jonathan Mayo reported that the princess was buried with a rosary given to her by Mother Teresa, as well as a photograph of her sons, Prince William and Prince Harry.
Mayo reported that Diana’s former butler, Paul Burrell, retrieved the rosary from her apartment after her death. The beads were reportedly draped over a small statue of the Virgin Mary.
Burrell had been asked to bring meaningful personal items to the hospital. Among them was the rosary Mother Teresa had given Diana.
According to the report, Diana’s driver, Colin Tebbutt, gave the rosary to a nurse and asked that it be placed in the princess’s hands. A photograph of her sons was also reportedly placed with her.
While Diana was not Catholic—she belonged to the Church of England—the gesture reflected her close friendship with Mother Teresa and her evident appreciation for the Catholic nun’s faith and mission.
A Friendship Across Differences
Diana and Mother Teresa first met in Rome in February 1992 at a Missionaries of Charity convent. A previously planned meeting in Calcutta had not taken place because Mother Teresa was ill. During their first encounter, the two women prayed together.
They met again in London in September 1992, and their friendship continued in the years that followed. Although they lived very different lives, both women became known for their concern for people who were poor, sick, suffering, or marginalized.
Diana used her public platform to draw attention to people living with HIV/AIDS, victims of land mines, children in need, and others often overlooked by society. Mother Teresa, the founder of the Missionaries of Charity, spent her life serving what she called “the poorest of the poor.”
Their shared compassion helped create a genuine bond.
Their Final Meeting
Their final known meeting took place on June 18, 1997, at a Missionaries of Charity house in the Bronx, New York.
Reports described the two women praying together and greeting one another with hugs and kisses. Mother Teresa blessed Diana, and the princess reportedly helped the frail nun down the convent steps after their visit.
The meeting lasted only about 40 minutes, but it became one of the most enduring images of their friendship: two of the world’s most beloved women, united by compassion and prayer.
Two Women Mourned by the World
Princess Diana died on Aug. 31, 1997, at age 36, after sustaining critical injuries in a car crash in Paris. Her funeral took place at Westminster Abbey on Sept. 6, 1997, drawing an extraordinary outpouring of grief around the world.
Mother Teresa died in Calcutta on Sept. 5, 1997, at age 87—just six days after Diana’s death and on the eve of Diana’s funeral. She had endured years of serious health problems, including heart difficulties.
The timing was striking. As much of the world prepared to say goodbye to Diana, news came that Mother Teresa had also died.
One was a princess. The other was a nun.
But their friendship—and the rosary reportedly placed in Diana’s hands at her burial—remains a moving reminder that compassion, prayer, and love can unite people across even the widest differences.