1 Trick Princess Diana Used to Block the Paparazzi Goes Viral on TikTok
Royal family members always make headlines, but none seemed more at odds with the paparazzi than Princess Diana. She famously devised several tricks to outsmart photographers, and a new TikTok video has fans marveling at Diana’s creativity.
Princess Diana’s complicated relationship with the paparazzi
From the announcement of Diana’s engagement to Prince Charles in 1981 to her tragic death in 1997, photographers followed her everywhere she went. The princess tried everything to avoid them but wasn’t always successful.
Some critics, including her son Prince Harry, even blame the media for her death. Diana died in Paris as a result of injuries she sustained in a car accident. In the moments leading up to the crash, her driver was speeding to escape paparazzi chasing them.
Why Princess Diana walked backward to outsmart the paparazzi
Princess Diana tried many different methods to escape the press’ scrutiny, and a recent TikTok video shows one of the ways she messed with the photographers who followed her every move.
The video shows footage of Diana getting out of a car and strolling into a building — all without showing her face to the cameras. By walking backward and hiding her face, she ensured photos taken would not be worth as much as ones that showed her from the front.
The TikTok video has amassed over 2 million likes and more than 2,000 comments. Fans love the clip of Princess Diana outsmarting the paparazzi and filled the comments section.
“Literally obsessed with this woman,” one fan wrote. “She knew what she was doing, and I love it.”
“She said, ‘Not today,’” another TikTok user joked.
Another chimed in, “Me when a guy is behind me.”
Another commented, “What the paparazzi have done to her was unforgivable … rest in peace, angel.”
Other tricks Lady Di used to avoid photographers
Walking backward wasn’t the only way Princess Diana tricked the photographers who dogged her every move. She also wore the same outfit multiple days in a row. That meant media outlets wouldn’t pay for new photos because they looked like ones the outlets already had.
Another trick? Lady Di knew photographers would have loved to get a photo of her suffering a wardrobe malfunction or other compromising angle. To avoid embarrassing cleavage shots, Diana held her purse over her chest.
But some of her tricks were much more involved. According to Hannes Schneider, the owner of an Austrian ski lodge the princess frequented, Diana got other hotel guests in on the fun.
Schneider said the princess befriended two women at the hotel who looked like her. The three dressed up in the same outfits to fool the paparazzi, who wouldn’t know which woman to photograph.
“It was really good fun,” Schneider told Insider. “They had big fun leaving the house at the same time. The paparazzi in one out of three cases followed the wrong one. It was a big game.”
