The photo that reveals the REAL Diana: TV's Natasha Kaplinsky says picture of Princess with young Wills and Harry is her favourite of eight iconic photos in radio series looking at Diana's life and death

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A single mother and her two sons laugh after coming in for a soaking on a theme park water ride. 

It is the sort of picture that could sit on the mantelpiece of any home in the country.

But instead, the photo has been printed and reprinted by magazines and newspapers around the world for more than 20 years.

For the woman in the picture is Princess Diana and the two boys are the Princes William and Harry, aged ten and eight.

The photo has been chosen as one of eight pictures used to represent Diana's life and death in a new Radio 5 Live series by former newsreader and Strictly contestant Natasha Kaplinsky.

And for Ms Kaplinsky, herself a mother of two, it is the one from which she felt the most empathy with Diana.

This famous picture of Princess Diana with sons Prince Harry and Prince William on a water ride at Thorpe Park in April 1993 was one of eight selected to examine the Princess's life in a new radio series presented by Natasha Kaplinksy

The first photo look at in the radio show Images of Diana is this one, which shows a young Lady Diana Spencer emerging from her London home in 1980, soon after news of her relationship with Prince Charles began to reach the public. Aged just 19 at the time the photo was taken, her engagement to the Prince of Wales would be announced the following year. Ms Kaplinsky, says the picture brought home to her just how young Diana was when she entered the Monarchy

Ms Kaplinsky told MailOnline: 'There are eight iconic photos we look at. The one that touched me most is of her at Thorpe Park with William and Harry.

'I was able to speak to the gentleman who was involved in the day for them and he explained to me what was happening behind the scenes.

'I expected a great deal of security but she actually insisted it was part of her time with the boys and to prepare them for what was to come. She made them queue up with everybody else and made them pay with real money.

'Just hearing what it was like, a family, her and two boys enjoying themselves at Thorpe Park. Being a mother myself I knew what that feels like just to be with your children and wanting them to be happy and free.' 

The series also reveals the reason the young Princes are so amused. The photographer who took the picture said that the Royals' security team, a group of burly royal protection officers, came down the water ride after Diana and the boys and, due to their weight, caused a huge splash at the bottom.

The boys were grinning at the soaked policemen following them in another boat. 

By far the most glamorous photo looked at in the Radio 5 is of Diana dancing with actor John Travolta at a White House reception in 1985. She also danced with actors Clint Eastwood and Tom Selleck at the party, but the photos of her with Travolta went around the world. Those close to the Princess at the time said it drove Princes Charles wild, but cemented the then only 24-year-old's place as the most famous woman in the world at the time

Perhaps the most famous of Princess Diana is that taken at the Taj Mahal in 1992. Though on a trip with Prince Charles, she sat totally alone in the photo, with barely another human being visible in the picture. The couple's relationship had seriously broken down at this point and many said the picture was symbolic of Diana position. In December that year, their separation was announced

Eight photos were selected to represent the life of Diana for the series beginning this Sunday on Radio Five Live.

They reveal the transformation of Diana from the shy 'Sloaner' who married a prince, to the international icon whose death would rock the world.

The first programme looks at an image, taken in 1980, of a young Lady Spencer, dressed in green jumper, white blouse and a sensible skirt as the rumours of her relationship which Prince Charles first swirled around Britain.

It shows the quiet, unassuming girl who was about to be thrust into the public spotlight and its photographer told how Diana would keep her head down and offer a polite 'good morning' as she left her home before her engagement to the Prince was announced.

Ms Kaplinsky said of the series: 'Princess Diana touched all of us and it was the most amazing opportunity to revisit everything that I thought I knew about her.

'I was like everybody else. I read all the tabloid newspaper stories, following everything she went through.

'Being much older and having had my own children. I appreciated just how young she was and how difficult that must have been to have so much responsibility.'

Other crucial images explored in the series include Diana visiting a minefield in Angola in 1997 (left), shortly before her death. The series also looks at an image from CCTV footage showing Diana, with her lover Dodi Fayed, smiling at the camera inside the lift at the Ritz Hotel in Paris (right) in her final hours

In the aftermath of the unexpected death, the whole nation came together in grief and marked their loss, in part, by laying flowers outside Kensington Palace, the former residence of Princess Diana. The final image in the series shows the path to the palace covered in thousands of bouquets of flowers on September 8, 1997

From Diana's shy the beginnings, the photos chosen by the series show how she quickly matured into an outwardly confident and glamorous woman.

The main image analysed in the next show is of her dancing with actor John Travolta at a White House reception in 1985. 

She also danced with actors Clint Eastwood and Tom Selleck at the party, but the photos of her with Travolta went around the world. Those close to the Princess at the time said it drove Prince Charles wild, but cemented the 24-year-old's place as the most famous woman in the world at the time.

Other crucial images explored in the series include Diana visiting a minefield in Angola in 1997, shortly before her death. A passionate campaigner, Diana went on to call for an international ban on landmines to help prevent the suffering of future landmine victims.

The series also looks at an image from CCTV footage showing Diana, with her lover Dodi Fayed, smiling at the camera inside the lift at the Ritz Hotel in Paris in her final hours. Later that night, she was tragically killed in the Pont d'Alma tunnel sending shockwaves around the world.

In the aftermath of the unexpected death, the whole nation came together in grief and marked their loss, in part, by laying flowers outside Kensington Palace, the former residence of Princess Diana. 

The penultimate image in the series shows the path to the palace covered in thousands of bouquets of flowers on September 8, 1997.

Ms Kaplinsky added: 'One of the most touching interviews I had was with Colin Tebbut, Diana's driver, and he was going to pick her up from France [on the day after she died].

Prince William, Duke of Cambridge and Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge pose in front of the Taj Mahal on April 16, 2016 in Agra, India. Ms Kaplinsky said: 'She and Catherine have an extremely unique experience. Nobody attracts that much attention. I don't suppose anybody can compare or ever will'

Ms Kaplinsky said of the series: 'Princess Diana touched all of us and it was the most amazing opportunity to revisit everything that I thought I knew about her'

'He hasn't done many interviews and he was extremely emotional throughout our interview. He went with police to the hospital to receive her body before the Prince was there and he spoke about this special responsibility he had to perform for his "boss" as he called her.

'He set up fans to cool her because it was the summer and she was not in a mortuary and he turned around at one point and the fans had made her hair blow and her eyelashes flutter and he thought she was alive.

'It was extremely touching... that was one of the moments of which I was immensely privileged to speak to somebody like Colin. He and Paul Burrell were the only two non-family members at the private service and burial.'

The final image in the series shows the future of the monarchy, Prince Williams and the Duchess of Cambridge, sitting together in front of the Taj Mahal, where his mother once looked so lonely. 

Ms Kaplinsky said she couldn't imagine how Diana would have coped with the modern world of social media and 24-hour news but that Kate was now receiving the same level of interest Diana once did.

Ms Kaplinsky added: 'She and Catherine have an extremely unique experience. Nobody attracts that much attention. I don't suppose anybody can compare or ever will.' 

Images of Diana is broadcast on BBC Radio 5 Live, starting this Sunday at 11am. The episodes are also available online.