Princess Diana Paid Homage to Queen Elizabeth With Risqué Dress, Former Royal Butler Reveals
When they were alive both Queen Elizabeth II and Princess Diana were considered fashion icons.
The late monarch, who reigned for 70 years, had a style all her own that was bold, elegant, and full of colors. And her daughter-in-law donned plenty of showstoppers in the ’80s and ’90s from her iconic wedding dress to the “Travolta dress” to her “revenge dress.” While their styles were quite different Diana decided to pay homage to the queen early on in her relationship with Charles but the dress she wore was dubbed as risqué on the princess.
The dress Diana wore similar to one the queen wore was risqué on the princess
Paul Burrell, who was once one of Queen Elizabeth’s personal footmen until he was moved to Charles and Diana’s household in the ’80s, remembered the gown the princess wore and the reaction to it.
Speaking on behalf of Slingo, Burrell said: “The Prince of Wales [now King Charles], he still had official duties to do and [Diana] was not involved in many engagement duties before they were married except the really famous one where she wore the black taffeta dress … She stepped out of the car a little too low and people could see her cleavage.”
Burrell continued: “That black taffeta dress was meant to be an homage to the queen because when the queen was Princess Elizabeth she wore a dress very similar to that and Diana thought it would be a nod to her future mother-in-law which was, I think, overlooked at the time. [The press] just thought that she was rather daring with these bare shoulders and too much cleavage. The press were very critical of this young girl from day one and it’s a shame because she was only trying to find her way. She said to me ‘I was pushed in the deep end, into a shark pool and I learned to swim very fast.'”
The trick Princess Diana used later to avoid showing too much cleavage
Following that incident, Diana adopted a trick to make sure she didn’t spill out of her dress and the paparazzi didn’t see too much as she got out of cars. She started placing her clutch bags in front of her chest when she exited vehicles.
Designer Anya Hindmarch, who worked with Diana for years after opening a store in the Chelsea neighborhood, revealed what the princess used to call her handbags.
“She was a very loyal customer and a lot of fun,” Hindmarch told The Telegraph. “She would come and see us with no bodyguards or any fuss. We used to laugh when we designed what she called her ‘cleavage bags,’ little satin clutches which she would cover her cleavage with when she stepped out of cars.”
