Princess Diana’s ‘Shy Di’ Nickname ‘Inaccurate’ Said Former Royal Press Secretary: ‘Nothing Shy About Her’
Princess Diana‘s introduction to the press in 1980 was dominated by headlines calling her “Shy Di.” The former Lady Diana Spencer was only 19 years old when she was thrust into the media spotlight as then-Prince Charles’ girlfriend. However, Queen Elizabeth’s former press secretary had a different view of the soon-to-be Princess of Wales. He claimed there was “nothing shy about her.”
In one year, Princess Diana went from meeting then-Prince Charles to marrying him
While Princess Diana had met then-Prince Charles informally when she was 16, just three years later, her demeanor sparked his romantic interest. The meeting took place at Philip de Pass’s house in Sussex.
“He’d just broken up with his girlfriend, and his friend Mountbatten had just been killed. I said it would be nice to see him.” Diana said on a tape in the documentary Diana: In Her Own Words.
“We were talking about Mountbatten and his girlfriend, and I said, ‘You must be so lonely.’ I said, ‘It’s pathetic watching you walking up the aisle with Mountbatten’s coffin in front. Ghastly, you need someone beside you.’”
Diana continued, “Whereupon he leaped upon me and started kissing me. I thought, urgh, this is not what people do. And he was all over me for the rest of the evening, following me around like a puppy.”
They began dating shortly after. However, most of Charles and Diana’s courtship took place over the phone. The couple reportedly only met in person 13 times before Charles proposed marriage.
Diana was thrust into the public spotlight without having time to prepare for the media onslaught that would follow her for the rest of her life. One of her first nicknames was “Shy Di,” but that was wildly off base, claims a former royal press secretary.
Princess Diana’s ‘Shy Di’ nickname was ‘inaccurate’
In an interview with Vogue, Queen Elizabeth II’s former press secretary Dickie Arbiter revealed that Princess Diana’s “Shy Di” nickname was “inaccurate.” He admitted that while Diana may have been overwhelmed by press attention, the nickname stuck more for how she spoke to others than her demeanor.
“I first met her about three or four days before the wedding. She just turned 20,” Arbiter said.
“People used to call her “Shy Di,” because she kept her head down when she talked to you. But there was nothing shy about her,” he admitted.
Arbiter continued, “She was conscious of her height—5 foot 10. She used to keep her head down when talking to people not to make them feel uncomfortable and to talk to them at their level.”
He spoke of one royal visit to a residential home for the blind. Arbiter told the story of a lady and gentleman sitting in the entrance hall, both partially sighted.
Diana stopped to talk to them, but the man couldn’t see her. She immediately squatted down, took his hand, and put it on her face, because blind people can sense through touch. Arbiter noted, “She had this capacity to react instinctively. You can’t teach anybody to do that.”
She was an asset to the royal family in many ways. Her journey began via a marriage Diana thought was “hysterical.”
Diana thought it was ‘hysterical’ to marry Charles
In the National Geographic documentary Diana: In Her Own Words, the Princess of Wales said it was “hysterical” getting married to Prince Charles. She was just 19 when she accepted Charles’ proposal.
“I thought the whole thing was hysterical getting married,” she admitted. “It seemed so grown up. Here was Diana, a kindergarten teacher. I mean, the whole thing was ridiculous.”
Diana’s trust in Charles was irreparably broken when she learned of his ongoing affair with Camilla Parker Bowles. She said in the documentary, “I once heard him on the telephone saying, ‘whatever happens I’ll always love you.'”
She continued, “And I told him I’d listened at the door. We had a filthy row.” The couple’s relationship would be forever damaged by Charles’ relationship with Camilla, and that, along with other issues, led to the couple’s divorce in 1996. By 1997, Diana would be dead after a tragic car crash in Paris, France.
