THE Princess of Wales put on a public face yesterday and stepped back into the limelight for the first time since agreeing to divorce.
It was Princess Diana "Queen of Hearts", showing little sign of stress or strain, as she chatted to patients at a London hospital.
Dressed in pink, the princess smiled and shook hands in a businesslike fashion - but displayed tell tale signs that she was not on top form.
Gone was the usual vivacious, eye contact and girlish giggle.
And she chose not to linger for long outside the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery where a crowd of around 100 admirers gathered with nearly as many cameramen and reporters.
She spoke briefly to mothers with children but then turned to her waiting car, pausing only to wave to staff and patients at hospital windows.
Barely eight feet away from the royal visitor was Dr Klaus Wagner, the German physician who follows the princess and has been arrested twice by police. She did not glance in his direction as he held a placard and attempted to hand her leaflets condemning Queen, Elizabeth.
During her two hour visit to the hospital, the princess put on a brave face despite the rigours of her divorce wrangle.
The princess is no stranger to the neurology hospital for it was there that her father, Earl Spencer, underwent a life saving operation after suffering a cerebral haemorrhage.
The then Lady Diana Spencer kept a bedside vigil while her father, whose balance, speech and co ordination were impaired, made a recovery in time to walk her down the aisle at her wedding in July 1981.