Princess Diana died 25 years ago. Here’s how The Inquirer and Daily News covered her death.

Wednesday marks 25 years since the death of Diana, Princess of Wales, bringing a tragic end to a life that inspired — often to the point of obsession — millions around the world.

Diana Frances Spencer, known as Princess Diana, entered the public consciousness in 1981 when she married Prince Charles, heir to the British throne. The couple had two sons, William and Harry, before divorcing in 1996.

» READ MORE: Diana’s death 25 years ago stunned the world — and changed the British royal family

A year later, a vehicle carrying her and two others slammed into a tunnel wall in Paris as she attempted to avoid a throng of photographers looking for a million-dollar shot. Diana survived the initial crash, but died a short time later at Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital.

Her death shocked the world, and was doggedly covered in the media. Here is how The Inquirer and Daily News reported her death:

Princess Diana’s death garnered a massive, front-page spot on the Aug. 31, 1997, edition of The Inquirer. Reporter Fawn Vrazo wrote that Diana, “Britain’s beautiful and tragic Princess of Wales,” died in a car crash in Paris at age 36. Her boyfriend, Harrod’s department store heir Dodi Fayed, and driver Henri Paul also died. A bodyguard, Trevor Rees-Jones, was “pried from the wreckage hours later” and survived.

The crash that killed Diana, Fayed, and Paul occurred at about 6 p.m. Philadelphia time. Their vehicle, a Mercedes 600, crashed into a tunnel wall under the Pont de l’Alma bridge near the Eiffel Tower as the trio attempted to evade paparazzi who had followed the vehicle. Paul, French authorities later found, was intoxicated at the time of the crash, and was driving recklessly, reaching a speed of 121 mph, according to a Daily News report.

Before the crash, Diana and Fayed had been eating dinner at the Ritz Hotel in Paris, where they were staying in a $2,000-per-night room. The pair was to travel from the hotel to a private villa, and reportedly exited through the rear of the restaurant to avoid a group of roughly 30 photographers out front.

Diana’s last meal, according to a report from the Daily News, included mineral water, scrambled eggs with wild mushrooms and asparagus, lightly battered sole, and tea.

The Inquirer and Daily News’ coverage then shifted to those left behind, as well as the princess’ legacy.

A Sept. 1, 1997, Inquirer article called attention to her sons, noting that to the world, Diana was “beautiful, glamorous, a champion of common causes,” but to them, “she was simply mom.” The boys were reportedly close with Diana, who “often broke royal tradition by publicly displaying emotion toward them.”

“I believe that with a strong bond like that, kids do a better job of grieving,” psychiatrist Joseph Mobilio of Haddonfield told The Inquirer. But, he added, the boys might come to blame their father, as the pair had divorced a year before Diana’s death. Mobilio said William and Harry could think, “If none of this had happened, she wouldn’t have been there.”

Another Inquirer article recalled Diana as a fashion icon, noting that she “grew from a gangly, unsure-looking fashion frump into a great woman of style and poise.” Her style, reporter Roy H. Campbell wrote, went from loose, matronly looking suits to high fashion thanks to relationships with famed designers like Britain’s Catherine Walker and Italy’s Gianni Versace.

The Daily News recounted how Princess Diana came to be photographed in an Eagles jacket. It came from Eagles statistician Jack Edelstein, who met Diana at Grace Kelly’s funeral in 1982. The pair discussed the Birds, and Diana told Edelstein green and silver were her favorite colors. Edelstein had the team make her a jacket, and sent it over to England, along with some T-shirts and workout shorts. More than a decade later, it ended up on the cover of People magazine.

Diana’s death was a tragedy because she “never found her happily-ever-after,” wrote Inquirer reporter Tanya Barrientos, and instead “spent most of her adult life trapped in a troubled sea of loneliness and dissatisfaction.” As a result, Barrientos wrote, “in death, Diana is sure to become a cultural icon.”

The Daily News, meanwhile, offered a keepsake pullout called “Death of a Princess,” and a 12-page special section on her funeral. The Inquirer printed maps of Diana’s funeral route and a detailed breakdown of the service.

Inquirer columnist Melissa Dribben called Diana’s death “a blood sacrifice to the public’s insatiable desire to own every detail of her life” in a fiery write-up published the day after her death, adding that “the world literally loved her to death.”

“If someone so dazzling and extraordinary can die like that, leaving young children and unfulfilled dreams,” Jill Porter, a Daily News columnist, wondered, “what hope is there for the rest of us?”

Other Philadelphians, such as Charlotte Harvey, saw Diana as down-to-earth. Harvey spoke to The Inquirer on the day of the princess’s funeral from the Italian Market, saying she could visualize Diana shopping there, squeezing produce like anyone else, because “even though she was a princess, she didn’t come across as high and mighty.”

Others were upset that her death overshadowed the death of Mother Teresa, who died the same week. Carrie Paddock, then a 20-year-old college student, told The Inquirer the attention heaped on Diana was “repulsive” in comparison to the lack of attention for Mother Teresa. While Diana “was compassionate and had her own charities,” Paddock said, Mother Teresa “was Mother Teresa.”

In Philadelphia, there was a solemn memorial on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway.

That memorial appeared in the days following Diana’s death under the Union Jack flag near 22nd Street and the Parkway, according to an Inquirer report. Reporter Alan Sipress wrote that it had “become Philadelphia’s simple tribute to its love affair with Princess Diana,” and one of the only public ways the city had to mourn, as Philadelphia had no British consulate.

» READ MORE: How Grace Kelly led to Princess Diana's wearing Eagles gear

It collected a number of artifacts, including a painter’s palette of flowers, a balloon bearing the word “Goodbye,” a white teddy bearing with a sign reading “Diana. We’ll Miss You,” and cards and signs. One read “I know you will find peace in heaven that you didn’t find here. We’ll miss you very much.”

On the day of Diana’s funeral, about 100 people paid their final respects at the stone chapel at Valley Forge National Historical Park, The Inquirer reported. The event, sponsored by the British Officers Club of Philadelphia, featured a prayer from the Rev. Richard L. Stinson.

Diana, Stinson said, had a “radiant and vibrant personality, ability to community warmth and compassion,” and was able to “identify with those less fortunate in the world.”

The Inquirer’s Vrazo covered Diana’s funeral procession in England, calling it a “momentous end to a searing, incredible week.” A reported 1 million street mourners flooded London, and millions more watch the service on television around the world.

The procession, Vrazo reported, went “from Kensington Palace to Westminster Abbey, past women who envied and loved her and men who folder her in their dreams.” The coffin, topped with white lilies, was pulled by six horses as her sons, followed it behind on foot along the three-mile funeral route.

“Such a sad day, such a very said day,” Sheila Birch, a grandmother who watched the procession from a metal barricade two-thirds down its route. “It seems trite to say, but a light will go out. A real light will go out and Britain will become gray and miserable and boring again.”

Another mourner at the procession, Robert Necombe, said he was “numb.”

“I’ve never had a feeling like this before,” he told The Inquirer. “So overwhelming. So quiet. I’ll never forget this day. Ever.”