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"It feels amazing": Princess Diana's goddaughter celebrates her first pay cheque.

 

Princess Diana‘s goddaughter, Domenica Lawson, is celebrating her first pay cheque after starting a job at her local cafe.

Her mum Rosa Monckton, who was close friends with the late Princess of Wales, has shared how proud she is.

Rosa posted to her Twitter with a photo of her daughter, who has Down syndrome, holding up her “very first paypacket”.

“What a journey we have been on, and what a result. #removingbarrierstowork,” Rosa captioned the post.

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After a two-week trial with the Pavilion Gardens Cafe in Brighton, England, the bosses were impressed with Domenica’s skills and hired her to work two shifts a week.

“It feels amazing really and I feel very important to have money,” said Domenica after receiving her pay cheque, according to The Sun.

“I love working there, and the people are lovely.”​

The 24-year-old’s mum is a businesswoman and also the founder of the charity Team Domenica, which assists people living with disabilities find employment.

Domenica’s dad, English journalist Dominic Lawson, noted that the Team Domenica charity has been transformative for his daughter’s “life and prospects”. More importantly, he added, it has “made her happier”.

Rosa’s friendship with Princess Diana

Rosa Monckton
Princess Diana with her dear friend, Rosa Monckton. Image: Getty.
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Rosa Monckton and Princess Diana were extremely close friends before the Royal's death in 1997.

In 1994, Diana provided support when Monckton gave birth to a stillborn child, offering Rosa the chance to bury her daughter in the gardens at Kensington Palace.

Talking to Melissa Doyle on Channel 7 current affairs program Sunday Night in 2017, Monckton said of her late friend: "What an extraordinary thing to do.

"We had a very, very moving ceremony and she gave me a key to the garden. She said 'You come in whenever you want, policemen at the gate will know'. I still have the key."

"She just completely understood," Rosa continued. "She understood what I was feeling, she understood what I had to do, she understood that I needed to rant and rage and cry and she gave me space to do all of those things and she carved her diary out so that she could come and see me.

"She was amazing, I was very, very lucky to have her as a friend."

A year later when Domenica was born in 1995, the late Princess of Wales provided the family great support and was the first person to visit Rosa and Domenica in the hospital.

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"She said, ‘You just have to believe in her,’" Monckton told People in 2016, recalling what Princess Diana said to her. "She said, ‘Believe in her, love her and I’ll be there every step of the way.’ She already had that vision of what Domenica could become, which I simply couldn’t see."

To mark the 21st anniversary of Princess Diana's death last year, Rosa posted this rare picture of Princess Diana casually laughing in an aeroplane.

"Diana as I remember her. Not enough is written about her sense of fun and zest for life. Friend and wonderful godmother to Domenica. RIP," Rosa Monckton wrote in the caption to the picture.

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More recently, Rosa said of raising her child with Down syndrome: "When Domenica was born... no one ever warned us how the state can prevent you from exercising the care you know your child needs."

"Diana, who had more empathy and emotional understanding than anyone I have ever met, got it absolutely right when she said, 'A mother's arms are more comforting than anyone else's."