Princess Diana was the world’s most glamorous woman, but nothing made her happier than being with her boys
While Prince Charles introduced the princes to Shakespeare and the opera, their mother took them to McDonald’s, the cinema and night shelters to meet the homeless
SHE was easily the world’s most glamorous woman but nothing made Diana happier than being at home with her boys.
Prince Charles introduced the princes to Shakespeare and the opera. Diana took them to McDonald’s, the cinema and night shelters to meet the homeless.
She had the magic touch with her boys. When Harry told her he wanted to be a soldier, she took him to an army base where he dressed up in uniform and rode with the troops in an army personnel carrier.
I remember once at the polo in Windsor, William got too close to the rails. The nanny scolded him and he burst into tears.
Diana saw this and ran over. She put him on her lap, rubbed his hair gently, said soft words and he stopped crying immediately.
She took them go-karting, taught them to ski, she just got them involved in everything.
And they had the best toys in the world — electric motor bikes, electric cars, the best treehouse any kid could ever want, every uniform from every regiment.
I was there on the quayside in Toronto as the boys waited for their parents on the Royal Yacht Britannia. Charles and Diana had been touring Canada without them.
Most read in news
Diana was so pleased to see them, she rushed past the admiral and up the gangway to embrace them. She was so excited.
It showed how much she was devoted to them. It was such a touching moment.
In August 1993 Diana took the boys to Disney World in Florida. Every kid wants to go. You could see the delight on the boys’ faces.
At the same time as juggling motherhood, Diana was a fashion icon — she looked good in everything.
She stunned in ballgowns but looked great in jeans and a T-shirt, too.
The princess was also very clever at wearing the right thing for the right occasion to make sure she got the right sort of headlines.
I remember in June 1994, when Prince Charles made his TV confession to Jonathan Dimbleby about his adultery with Camilla.
Of course, this was going to be the main story in the paper the next day.
Diana was not to be outdone. That evening, she was going to the Serpentine Gallery’s summer party. It wasn’t until eight at night but I was there at six o’clock in the morning to get a front-row position. Normally she had her car park right beside the entrance when she was attending a function. This time she had her driver park 100m away. And it soon became clear why.
What a dress! It was a little black off-the-shoulder number by Greek fashion designer Christina Stambolian, and immediately had everybody gasping.
She was showing the world what Charles was going to miss.
Another of her famous gowns, a midnight blue off-the-shoulder evening dress, became known simply as “the Travolta Dress”.
Diana wore it at a White House gala dinner in November 1985 when she danced with Grease star John Travolta.
I had the press pool pass that day but was kicked out when the dancing started. The next day, we heard that the President’s wife Nancy Reagan had taken a picture of the two of them dancing.
I begged — begged — for that picture but I think she only gave it to two people, Diana and Travolta. Years later, the pictures surfaced.
We doorstepped Travolta at his hotel and managed to get a good quote out of him.
“She’s a great little mover,” he said.
In 1997, William came up with the idea that Diana should auction some of her dresses to raise money for charity.
I was at the auction at Christie’s in New York where people were bidding from Paris, Rome and LA. The phone lines were red hot and the dresses were going for amazing prices. The Travolta Dress sold for £100,000.
One of the reasons I never missed a Diana engagement if I could help it was because you might never see the same look again.
But things didn’t always go to plan. Another time, when I was waiting for “the dress” picture with the paper holding the page, was in Milan in 1985.
But when she got out of the car, it was an old dress she had worn a few days earlier. I rang the paper and they said: “Don’t worry, we’ll go with what we’ve got.”
Another time, in Hungary, she had quite a low-cut dress on.
I said: “You can see an awful lot in that dress, Ma’am.”
Diana shot back: “You cheeky thing!”
But Charles had long been used to Diana stealing the spotlight.
I remember their first tour to Australia in 1983. There were maybe 20 of us snapping Diana but nobody photographing the prince.
The press secretary said: “Will someone please photograph the prince?”
But that was what it was like. He was the Prince of Wales, the heir to the throne, and yet in many ways he was sidelined.
Listen to Arthur Edwards live on Penny Smith from 8am
On DAB, the talkRADIO app or
'THE DIANA I KNEW': READ MORE FROM SUN ROYAL PHOTOGRAPHER ARTHUR EDWARDS
'Excuse me, are you Lady Diana Spencer': how Arthur first got Diana to pose for him in the first of thousands of photographs
From warzones laced with landmines to cruising the Med, Diana was the main attraction
How Diana destroyed Aids stigma with visits to the sick
Prince's pride: how newly engaged Prince Charles beamed as he introduced Diana