USA: CHICAGO: BRITAIN'S PRINCESS DIANA VISITS HOSPITAL

(5 Jun 1996) English/Nat Britain's Princess of Wales has continued her second day of official engagements in Chicago with a visit to Cook County Hospital. The self-styled Queen of Hearts brought smiles to the faces of the patients she visited - and the staff as well. Princess Diana is in Chicago as part of a fund-raising tour for cancer research and care. Having spent the first part of the day at a conference on breast cancer at Chicago's Northwestern University, Princess Diana's next port of call was Cook County Hospital. "Diana-mania" did not seem to have died down - her fans and well-wishers were following the Princess' every move. True to her role as "Queen of Hearts", Princess Diana brought smiles of joy to each of the patients who received a bedside visit. The visit to the hospital was just one of many stops for the Princess on her three-day visit to the Windy City. She is here to raise money for London's Royal Marsden Cancer Appeal, Gilda's Club - a support network for women with ovarian cancer - and the Robert H. Lurie Cancer Centre at Northwestern University. The Committee for the Royal Visit expects to raise one point two (m) million US dollar from Diana's visit. But a face-to-face meeting with the Princess turned out to be just as valuable for many of the patients. SOUNDBITE: "It was an honour to meet her and I'm thankful that she came to see my dad because I see that he is much better now." SUPER CAPTION: Erma Jean Williams, Daughter of Patient SOUNDBITE: "There's a lot of patients here who feel a lot better than they did about 15 minutes ago, that's for sure. A lot of smiles." Q: Do you think that can have an impact on getting well? "Oh, no doubt about it. The psychological part of getting well is every bit as important as the physical - you should have seen the patients' faces when she came in, shook their hands, sat down on the side of their bed - she was both upbeat and down to Earth at the same time. She was just great." SUPER CAPTION: Doctor Brendan Reilly The Princess said that she hoped to maintain a public role after her divorce goes through as a goodwill ambassador for her country. As well as her highly-publicised visits, she has reportedly been known to slip out of her home and make late-night visits to cancer patients in Britain. Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter:   / ap_archive   Facebook:   / aparchives   ​​ Instagram:   / apnews   You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...