Princess Diana
With this bathing look, she annoyed the paparazzi
© Getty Images
Princess Diana gave intrusive photographers a lesson in the summer of 1997. Your tool: a swimsuit.
In July 1997, Princess Diana, 36, went on vacation with her sons Prince William, 15, and Prince Harry, 12, at the invitation of Mohammed Al Fayed, 68, in a villa on the Côte d’Azur. The businessman’s son, Dodi Al Fayed, 42, also joins them after a few days. The company sunbathes on a yacht, goes jet skiing and enjoys the sun on the beach. Always there: the paparazzi. Diana has been an absolute mega-star for sixteen years and, just under a year after finalizing her divorce with Prince Charles, 48, is also one of the most sought-after bachelors in the world. Killing her and a new man is worth a fortune. But conventional family photos also pay off.
Princess Diana and the young princes are besieged
The royals are so forced during their stay in the south of France that the annoyed princess tries to talk to the photographers and asks how long they intend to lie in wait. This is what her ex-butler Paul Burrell (now 68) reports in his book “In the service of my queen”. The complaint did not improve the situation. Where there is enough money, privacy is irrelevant. As Burrell writes, the Princess of Wales therefore “wanted to show” the press in another way – with the help of her wardrobe.
Princess Diana becomes a big cat
The clever idea: Diana wore the same leopard-patterned swimsuit every day until the end of her vacation. Every picture that was printed looked like it had been shot on the same day. The trick didn’t deter the paparazzi because, as Burrell notes, Diana still made it into the newspapers every day. However, the 36-year-old was considered a fashion icon at the time. So it can be assumed that the constant view of the leopard swimsuit annoyed the photographers at least a little …
Source used: “In the service of my queen” by Paul Burrell, published in 2004 by Knaur Taschenbuch Verlag
This article originally appeared on gala.de.