I'm American. Her charity works made her a topic in homes all over the world. She was a bright light for all the papers and they followed her diligently from before her marriage to Prince Charles till after she died.. She was in a salacious relationship after her divorce as far as the rags were concerned so like sharks the photogs swarmed. Everyone knew about more of her life than they ever wanted to know if they walked near a television.

As a kid you didn't even listen when the news was on? They showed her wedding on tv.in the US.( live I think) They covered her extensively and she did a lot of charity work and every single appearance or ribbon cutting was a major filming and photo op. News station need to fill time with the news and she was easy. News about her was part of the regular news feed. She publicized about the plight of the landline use too. (I think she might have done an advert)

So in turn she herself was steadily in the public eye. The world heard about her and her works enough to be able to fall in love with her. And we did. I'm sure she was kind and I never met her.