AIDS Hospital Visited by Princess Diana Set for Demolition

The AIDS hospital in London where the late Princess Diana reassured an uninformed public by shaking hands with a patient at the height of panic around the epidemic in the 1980s will be demolished this summer.

According to Pink Paper, "The hospital, on Hackney Rd in Shoreditch, will be demolished to make way for a new development including a 24-bed new Mildmay Hospital, which will continue to meet the needs of people living with HIV."

The new and improved hospital, focused on rehabilitation for people living with HIV-related neurocognitive impairment, will be the only hospital of its kind in Europe.

Pink Paper reviews how Princess Diana, who died in a car crash in 1997, helped change public perception with her visit.

"The venue was made famous following a visit by the Princess of Wales in 1989. In front of national television cameras during one of several visits, she was presented with a bunch of flowers by a 34-year-old AIDS patient named Simon. Within 30 minutes of the story airing on the evening news, Simon's family -- from which he had long been estranged -- contacted him. They stayed with him until he died at Mildmay just ten days later."