Princess Diana made heartbreaking wish 8 months before her tragic death

As the 29th anniversary of Diana, Princess of Wales’s tragic death is marked today (31 August), a deeply personal letter she wrote just eight months before her death offers a poignant glimpse into her hopes for the year ahead.

Diana had only recently divorced then-Prince Charles when she penned the note to close friends Susie and Tarek Kassem in December 1996.

Looking ahead to 1997, the Princess of Wales wrote: "I hope '97 will be an easier year for us all," according to the letter via Vanity Fair, which later went up for auction.

Diana would lose her life just months later, aged 36, in a car crash in Paris on August 31, 1997, and her wish that 1997 would be 'an easier year for us all' would sadly never have the chance to come true.

The 29th anniversary of Diana, Princess of Wales’s death falls on Monday (Photo by Anwar Hussein/Getty Images)

The letter, dated December 17, 1996, was written on official Kensington Palace stationery. Diana was thanking the Kassems for flowers and a glass bowl they had sent her, while also sharing plans for Christmas.

She revealed she intended to spend the festive period abroad in 'the sunshine', adding: "As not being a lover of Christmas, I will top myself if I remain here!"

The remark was described as a throwaway, lighthearted comment by auctioneer Mimi Connell Lay, who noted that Diana had struggled with Christmas during her marriage and had previously spent the festive period with the Kassems per the Daily Mail.

The 29th anniversary of Princess Diana lands just days after her youngest son, the Duke of Sussex, returned home with his family to live in the UK (Julian Parker / Contributor / Getty Images)

But it is her simple hope for 1997 that makes the letter particularly difficult to read today.

"The Christmas 1996 letter is heartbreaking. We have the benefit of hindsight, of course, and we know what happened to her in the year of 1997," Lay said.

"It really is a tragic letter in that respect," she continued. "Diana did really struggle with Christmastime, as they always had to be spent at Sandringham House, and she found that really hard going later in the marriage."

The note was one of 32 personal letters from around the time of Diana's divorce that were eventually offered at auction.

Both Diana and her boyfriend Dodi Fayed were killed in the 1997 Paris crash (JOHN D MCHUGH / Staff / Getty Images)

Another letter to the Kassems, written in September 1996, paints a much more upbeat picture of Diana's life following the end of her marriage.

Just weeks after her divorce was finalised, she wrote: "I am more than happy to have my freedom & reckon that I'm very fortunate to have a second chance!"

She continued: "Lots of nice things have come my way, and it's fun…who'd have thought!"

At the time of the September letter, she was also in a relationship with heart surgeon Dr Hasnat Khan, whom she had reportedly described as the 'love of my life'. Their relationship ended in the summer of 1997.

Diana later began dating Dodi Fayed, who was also killed in the Paris crash.