I’ve always been a city girl. I was born in Kuala Lumpur, grew up in Houston, and upon moving to L.A., lived comfortably east of the 405 for years. But a California hazard they don’t warn you about is that you might meet a cute surfer who eventually lures you all the way west. After some cajoling, I gave in to my inner Pisces, packed up my gray Tabby, and moved us across town to the sun-dappled, salty-aired streets of Venice Beach.
It’s been six years since, and while I may not yet be a bona fide beach babe (I still prefer reading on the sand to roaring waves), it’s home. My hair is blonder, my mornings slower, and I love the neighborhood’s walkability and proximity to the Pacific Ocean. Every time I catch another glorious pink sunset, it does feel a little like living in a fantasy.
If you’ve ever experienced L.A. traffic, you know how vast and sprawling the city is. Different zip codes mean different dress codes, and the attitude in Venice is very relaxed. Denim and comfy shoes reign supreme, and a knit is a must to combat the almost-always-present marine layer. Most of my bolder pieces have been relegated to the back of my closet, awaiting invites for martinis at Tower Bar, dancing at A Club Called Rhonda, and too much pasta at Little Dom’s. So while my highlights may not be low-maintenance, my approach to daily dressing is.
Keep reading for three of my tried-and-true outfits for your next trip to the beach.
For the last few weeks, Charles Spencer, the 9th Earl Spencer, has been posting photos on social media showing his ancestral estate, Althorp House, as the seasons change. On Tuesday, he shared an image showing a recent visit to the property’s memorial honoring his late sister, Princess Diana.
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After her death in 1997, Diana was buried on a small island inside the Oval, a lake on the grounds of her family home, about 250 yards away from the main house. An existing Doric temple on the grounds was turned into a memorial for the late princess, and it features her silhouette in marble alongside two quotations and a metal bench. Thirty-six oak trees were planted alongside the lake, one for each year of her life. In 2017, Prince William, Princess Kate, and Prince Harry joined the Spencer family at Althorp for a ceremony to rededicate the gravesite after an extensive renovation.
In his January memoir Spare, Harry said he took wife Meghan Markle for her first visit to the island, which can only be accessed by rowboat, during a 2022 trip to the UK. “Uncle Charles came down to the water’s edge, gave us a little shove. We waved to him, and to my two aunts. Bye. See you in a bit,” he wrote of the trip. “Gliding across the pond, I gazed around at Althorp’s rolling fields and ancient trees, the thousands of green acres where my mother grew up, and where, though things weren’t perfect, she’d known some peace.”
On Thanksgiving, Spencer shared a picture of a recent visit to Malibu with the caption, “Happy Thanksgiving to all Americans – from Manhattan to Malibu (both of which I’ve visited in the past few weeks)” and a turkey emoji. No word on if he visited Harry and Meghan, who live an hour’s drive north in Montecito, a small Santa Barbara enclave.
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Despite what you may have read, Prince Harry will apparently not be tuning into the final season of The Crown. Per Deadline, the Duke of Sussex is sitting out this season of The Crown due to the “sensitive nature” of its subject matter, which follows the last days in the life of his mother, Princess Diana.
On Thursday, British newspaper The Daily Telegraph reported that Prince Harry would be watching the final season of The Crown, with the Telegraph’s royals editor Victoria Ward adding that a friend of Harry’s may pre-watch The Crown to “save him any unnecessary trauma.” However, a source close to Harry told Deadline that contrary to prior reports, the Duke of Sussex will not be tuning in for the final season of Peter Morgan’s Netflix series. A source confirmed Deadline’s report to Vanity Fair.
Prince Harry was just twelve years old when his mother and Dodi Fayed died in a fatal car crash in Paris on August 31, 1997. The first half of the show’s sixth season follows the people’s princess in the last weeks of her life and features the spectral presence of Princess Diana, played by Elizabeth Debicki, having conversations with both Charles (Dominic West) and Queen Elizabeth (Imelda Staunton) from beyond the grave.
A source close to Harry told Vanity Fair that neither Harry nor his wife, Meghan Markle, were consulted on this season of The Crown, which features a young Prince Harry, played by Fflyn Edwards. Morgan has said previously that he did not read Harry’s memoir, Spare, while writing the season, and Netflix chief Ted Sarandostold Variety that he has never discussed The Crown with Harry, who has a development deal with the streamer. While Harry is opting not to watch this season, Vanity Fair’s source says that he harbors no ill will towards Morgan or Netflix. (Prince Harry and Archewell Media declined to comment.)
The same apparently can’t be said for his older brother, Prince William. After it was reported that the final season of The Crown would include an apparition of Princess Diana, a source close to William, who was just fifteen when Diana died, told the Daily Beast that the heir to the throne “won’t watch it” but will be “totally sickened by it.”
“It’s incredibly hurtful to have his mother exploited over and over again in this tawdry fashion by Netflix,” the source added.
A source close to William and Harry’s father, King Charles, and his wife, Queen Camilla,told the Daily Beast that the royal couple is reportedly unconcerned by ghost Diana’s presence on The Crown. They “don’t really care,” said the source. “It’s pretty ridiculous at this stage anyway. I think the program has lost the credibility it had in the early years.”
Prince Harry has watched and enjoyed previous seasons of The Crown. In 2021, he told James Corden on The Late Late Show that he was “way more comfortable with The Crown than I am seeing stories written about my family or my wife,” and that the series is “is obviously fiction.” More recently, Harry appeared on The Late Show and joked to host Stephen Colbert that he fact-checks episodes with a pen and paper while watching.
Since her death, there’s been an interest in Princess Diana‘s net worth and how much she left her sons, Prince William and Prince Harry, after her divorce from Prince Charles.
Diana, whose full name is Diana Frances Spencer, married Prince Charles in July 1981. The two separated in 1992 before officially divorcing in August 1996. On August 31, 1997, Diana was killed after her car crashed in the Pont de l’Alma tunnel in Paris, France, following a chase from the paparazzi. She was 36 years old. Her rumored boyfriend, Egyptian businessman Emad “Dodi” Fayed, and the driver of the Mercedes-Benz W140, Henri Paul, were also pronounced dead at the scene. Diana’s bodyguard, Trevor Rees-Jones, survived the crash with serious injuries. Diana, who was still alive at the scene of the crash but was in critical condition, was rushed to the Pitie-Salpetriere Hospital where she died.
In Tina Brown’s book, The Diana Chronicles , Dr. Frederic Mailliez, an EMT who had been driving through the tunnel at the time of the crash, told her that Diana woke up in pain from the crash. “She kept saying how much she hurt,” Mailliez told Brown. Brown also reported on Diana’s last moments awake after the crash: “She turned her head and saw the lifeless Dodi just in front of her, then turned her head again toward the front where the bodyguard was writhing and where Henri Paul lay dead. She became agitated, then lowered her head and closed her eyes.” In an interview with The Independent in 2018, Sergeant Xavier Gourmelon, who led the response team in Paris, revealed that Diana’s last words were: “My God, what’s happened?”
Since her death, Diana has been remembered by people across the world. In 2021, a statue of Diana was erected at the Sunken Garden in Kensington Palace. The statue was unveiled by her sons, Prince William and Prince Harry. Read on ahead for how much Princess Diana‘s net worth at the time of her death was, and how much money she left for Prince Harry and Prince William.
Kent Gavin /Mirrorpix/Newscom/The Mega Agency.
How much money did Princess Diana leave Prince Harry and Prince William?
So…how much money did Princess Diana leave Prince Harry and Prince William? According to Forbes, Harry and William inherited part of their mother’s estate on their 25th birthdays, which was around $10 million each. In a CBS interview with Oprah Winfrey and his wife, Meghan Markle, in March 2021, Harry revealed that he used his trust from his mother to support him and his family after his father, Prince Charles, cut him off financially at the start of 2020 following Harry and Meghan’s exit from the British royal family and move to the United States. “I had to afford security for us,” Harry said at the time. “[I was cut off] in the first quarter of 2020. But I’ve got what my mom left me and without that, we would not have been able to do this.”
According to Us Weekly, though Diana’s will stated that her estate would be distributed to William and Harry when they turned 25, the funds were held until they were 30. Despite the hold, the brothers were still able to receive interest on their trust funds earlier. While Harry and William were the chief heirs of Diana’s estate, the People’s Princess’ will also listed others whom she wanted to share her wealth, including her butler, Paul Burrell, as well as 17 of her godchildren, according to Worthy.
What was Princess Diana’s net worth?
So…what was Princess Diana’s net worth at the time of her death? Princess Diana’s net worth was $25 million, according to Celebrity Net Worth. The New York Times reported in 1996 that Princess Diana received $22.5 million in cash after she and Prince Charles divorced in August 1996 after five years of marriage. The number is less than a third of the $75 million she asked for in their divorce. The newspaper also reported that Diana’s divorce settlement included $600,000 per to maintain her office.
Before her divorce, Diana’s money would come from her marriage. As the Duke of Cornwall, Charles’ income comes from the Duchy of Cornwall, a trust that was founded by Edward III in the 14th century to keep his first-born son—Edward, the Black Prince—occupied as he waited to become king, according to Forbes. The magazine reports that the duchy, which is worth almost $1.3 billion, has a staff of 150 people, who manage more than 130,000 acres of property across southwest England. Charles also can’t sell assets belonging to the Duchy of Cornwall, however, he can earn money from them. Forbes reports that the Duchy brought in $50 million in 2020 by renting out property to retailers, farmers and residents—$30 of which went to Prince Charles and his descendants.
Charles also receives money from the Sovereign Grant, a.k.a. the Crown Estate, which brought in $700 million in 2019 and more than $475 million in profits, according to Forbes. The British royal family receives 25 percent of the Sovereign Grant, which came out to around $120 million to the royals in 2020, according to Forbes. That money is used for official expenses, such as payroll, security, travel, housekeeping, maintenance costs and IT expenses. Forbes reports that the Sovereign Grant paid Charles less than $2.5 million in 2020.
Courtesy of: Random House
For more about Prince Harry, read his upcoming memoir, Spare. Told for the first time in his own words, the book takes readers through the Duke of Sussex’s life with the British royal family, from the death of his mother, Diana, Princess of Wales, in 1997 to how the moment led to his decision decades later to move to America with his wife, Meghan Markle, and leave Buckingham Palace for good in 2020. “With its raw, unflinching honesty, Spare is a landmark publication full of insight, revelation, self-examination, and hard-won wisdom about the eternal power of love over grief,” the publisher’s description reads.
How did Princess Diana die?
Princess Diana died in the early hours of August 31, 1997, after her car crashed in the Pont de l’Alma tunnel in Paris, France, following a chase from the paparazzi. She was 36 years old. Her rumored boyfriend, Egyptian businessman Emad “Dodi” Fayed, and the driver of the Mercedes-Benz W140, Henri Paul, were pronounced dead at the scene. Diana’s bodyguard, Trevor Rees-Jones, survived the crash with serious injuries. Diana, who was still alive at the scene of the crash but was in critical condition, was rushed to the Pitie-Salpetriere Hospital where she died. According to Oprah magazine, Diana suffered from a concussion, a broken arm, a cut thigh and massive chest injuries. After a two-hour operation to save her, the doctors failed to get Diana’s heart to beat properly and she never regained consciousness. She died from internal bleeding at 4:53 a.m. on August 31, 1997.
Diana and Fayed, who arrived in Paris after a 10-day getaway on the French Riviera, got into Paul’s car a few minutes after midnight on August 31, 1997, before their car crashed. It’s believed that Diana and Fayed planned to travel to Fayed’s private estate in Paris. According to Oprah magazine, the posted speed limit for the road for 30 miles per hour, however, Paul approached the entrance of the tunnel at around 70 miles per hour, which led him to lose control of the car and collide with a pillar in the middle of the highway. According to a report by the Telegraph at the time, a French investigation found that Paul, who was the deputy head of security at the Hôtel Ritz, had been intoxicated by alcohol and under the effects of prescription drugs, including anti-depressants and anti-psychotic drugs, at the time of the crash. The investigation found that he was solely responsible for the accident. Investigations also revealed that Rees-Jones survived because he was wearing a seatbelt, while no one else in the car was wearing one.
Image: Courtesy of Thorndike Press.
For more about Princess Diana, read Andrew Morton’s biography, Diana: Her True Story — In Her Words. The New York Times bestseller, which was first published in 1992, is the only authorized biography about Princess Diana. The book, which Diana collaborated on, includes raw and unfiltered quotes from the Princess of Wales about her unhappy marriage to Prince Charles, her relationship with Queen Elizabeth II, her life in the House of Windsor, and her hopes, dreams and fears for her children, Prince William and Prince Harry, before her death in 1997. The biography, which has been described as the “closest we will ever come” to a Princess Diana autobiography, was republished with new material in 2017 to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the People’s Princess’ death.
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SPOILER ALERT: This news story features details from Season 6 of The Crown
EXCLUSIVE: Netflix series The Crown has been accused of fabricating Mohamed Al-Fayed’s role in playing matchmaker to Princess Diana and Dodi Fayed.
Season 6 has dropped on Netflix and the opening episodes chronicle the burgeoning romance between Diana and Dodi in the sun-soaked surroundings of the Mediterranean.
Peter Morgan‘s lavish royal drama repeatedly implies that the relationship was engineered by Al-Fayed, the late Egyptian business mogul, as part of his ambition to obtain British citizenship.
This allegation was refuted in 1997 and Michael Cole, Al-Fayed’s former spokesperson, has gone on record again to deny that his ex-boss was involved in Diana and Dodi’s fateful romance.
Cole told Deadline that he never witnessed or had knowledge of Al-Fayed engineering the relationship, or playing a role in making the tryst known to the entire world by commissioning photos of the couple.
“Netflix and the production company describe The Crown as ‘dramatized fiction’ and I am not going to disagree with that characterization. That means it is made up,” he said.
The opening episode of the final season of The Crown features Al-Fayed (Salim Dau) re-introducing Diana (Elizabeth Debicki) and Dodi (Khalid Abdalla) on his yacht, Jonikal.
Al-Fayed did indeed invite Diana and her sons, Princes William and Harry, to his St. Tropez villa in the summer of 1997 and it was reported at the time that Dodi joined them on Jonikal.
But the boat provides a precinct for The Crown writer Morgan to apply some creative license, according to Cole, Al-Fayed’s former press secretary.
In one scene, Al-Fayed instructs Dodi to woo Diana, saying that he has put “her on a plate” and that a relationship between the two would “finally make me proud of you.”
In Episode 2, Al-Fayed orders a maid on his yacht to tell him if Dodi and Diana are “intimate.” After being informed that they are sharing a bed, the Netflix drama suggests that Al-Fayed commissioned Italian photographer Mario Brenna to take the famous photos of Diana and Dodi in a private clinch on Jonikal.
“How do I find a good paparazzi photographer,” Dau’s Al-Fayed asks his assistant. “Not just any idiot with a long lens. I want the best photographer on the Mediterranean.”
In reality, there are conflicting accounts about how Brenna managed to snap the images, from which he reportedly earned $5M.
Last year, British journalist Tina Brown wrote in her book, The Palace Papers, that Diana herself tipped off Brenna to “send a taunting message” to her lover Hasnat Khan.
In 1997, The Independent newspaper reported that Brenna happened to spot Al-Fayed’s boat off the coast of Sardinia as he was in the area on other assignments.
Cole said the suggestion of Al-Fayed’s involvement in the relationship was “total nonsense.” He added: “Mohamed was a remarkable man in many ways. He was delighted that his eldest son and his family’s dear friend Diana were together. But making two people fall in love with each other? That was beyond even his great talents.”
Al-Fayed died in August at the age of 94. Cole said he suspects that his former boss, who was known for speaking his mind, would have had “quite a lot to say” about The Crown‘s version of events.
Diana and Dodi died in a car accident weeks after romance blossomed between the duo. The crash is depicted off-camera in the opening moments of The Crown’s first Season 6 episode.
Princess Diana’s relationships with the press, the paparazzi and Camilla Parker Bowles (now Queen Camilla) filled pages of news reports in the weeks before her untimely death in 1997, a period that has now been dramatized in the newly released episodes of Netflix‘s hit royal show, The Crown.
In the show, Diana tells her elder son, Prince William (Rufus Kampa), that she wanted to take the vacation to St. Tropez to be out of England while Prince Charles (Dominic West) hosted a lavish 50th birthday party for Camilla (Olivia Williams).
Elizabeth Debicki as Princess Diana in St. Tropez in Season 6 of “The Crown,” 2023, and (inset) Camilla in England on June 13, 1996. Camilla’s 50th birthday party is included in “The Crown.” Netflix/Dave Benett/Getty Images
In one scene, Diana is shown on Camilla’s birthday sailing out on a speedboat to speak to the press and pose for the paparazzi, who had rented vessels to stake out the villa at which she was staying.
The show then depicts Charles being angered that his ex-wife’s display pushed coverage of Camilla’s birthday off the front pages.
Newsweek looks at the real story behind The Crown‘s portrayal of Princess Diana‘s summer vacation while Camilla turned 50.
Was Princess Diana on Vacation for Camilla’s 50th Birthday Celebrations?
Princess Diana took a summer vacation with Prince William and Prince Harry from July 11-20, 1997, at the home of billionaire Harrods department store owner Mohamed Al Fayed in St. Tropez, France.
The royals were closely followed by members of the press and paparazzi for the length of their stay at the private villa, known as the Castle St. Therese. The villa looked out to sea, where photographers had rented boats to capture images of the royals, which appeared in British and world newspapers.
Camilla Parker Bowles turned 50 on July 17, while Diana and the princes were on vacation. Camilla had been romantically linked to Charles for a number of years and was widely accepted to be his long-term partner at this point.
In 1995, Diana publicly commented on her then-husband’s affair with Camilla, saying: “There were three of us in this marriage, so it was a bit crowded.”
The prince and princess formally divorced in the summer of 1996.
For Camilla’s 50th birthday, Charles hosted a lavish birthday party for her at his Highgrove country estate in Gloucestershire. No members of the royal family attended.
Dominic West as Prince Charles and Olivia Williams as Camilla Parker Bowles in Season 6 of “The Crown.” On July 18, 1997, Charles threw Camilla a 50th birthday party at Highgrove, while Princess Diana was on vacation. NETFLIX
Did Princess Diana Show Off to Paparazzi on Camilla’s Birthday?
While on vacation, Princess Diana was accused in the press of attempting to steal attention from Camilla’s birthday by courting the paparazzi.
During her time at the Al Fayed villa, Diana was photographed wearing a series of striking swimsuits on the private beach and taking part in jet ski races with her sons in front of the paparazzi, who had rented boats moored to watch the royals.
On July 14, three days before Camilla’s birthday and four days before the party hosted by Charles, Diana shocked the press by appearing in a speedboat that approached them, passing the paparazzi to stop by a yacht on which tabloid reporters from Rupert Murdoch‘s Mirror Group Newspapers were stationed.
The princess was wearing a leopard-print swimsuit and was photographed speaking to the journalists, images of which ran alongside the news scoops they were given in the next day’s papers.
According to the reports filed by the reporters she spoke to, Diana asked for privacy while on vacation, revealing that William and Harry had encouraged her to move away from Britain to escape the press intrusion into her life. She also said she couldn’t be expected stay behind locked doors at Kensington Palace.
She also famously told the journalists that she was passionately working on her landmines charity work and that: “You will get a big surprise with the next thing I do.”
Contrary to The Crown‘s portrayal of the interaction, it didn’t take place on Camilla’s birthday or the day of her birthday party.
Princess Diana in a leopard-print swimsuit in St. Tropez, France, in July 1997. The paparazzi photographed the royals from boats moored near the Al Fayed villa. Anwar Hussein/Getty Images
Diana did, however, make a media splash on Camilla’s birthday. On July 17, the princess was once again photographed wearing her leopard-print swimsuit in St. Tropez.
On the day of Camilla’s party hosted by Charles, July 18, the Daily Mirror in Britain published the revealing images of Diana by the water with a satirical headline, reading: “Dear Camilla, This will keep you off the front page. Happy Birthday & Breast Wishes love Diana.”
The Crown Season 6 Part 1 is available to stream on Netflix now.
Do you have a question about King Charles III, William and Kate, Meghan and Harry, or their family that you would like our experienced royal correspondents to answer? Email royals@newsweek.com. We’d love to hear from you.
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
DODI AL-FAYED and Princess Diana’s romance is one of the most famous, and highly-publicised, in recent history.
What some may not know, however, is that Al-Fayed was involved with another woman shortly before news of his relationship with Diana broke – and they were reportedly even set to wed.
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Former model Kelly Fisher was heartbroken when she found out her fiance Dodi Al-Fayed was dating Princess Diana
Who is Kelly Fisher?
Kelly Fisher is a property developer and former model who worked for major brands like Armani and Calvin Klein.
She was born in 1967 and was raised in Louisville, Kentucky, in the US, for the first eight years of her life.
Her family relocated often due to her father’s work as the vice president of an international company.
As a teen, Kelly moved to Toronto, Ontario, and at the age 16 she started modelling.
How did she meet Dodi Al-Fayed and how long were they together?
The pair became engaged in February 1997 and were set to move into a Malibu mansion that Dodi had purchased for them, according to Kelly.
The wedding date was set for August 9, 1997, and Kelly was so committed to her future with Dodi that she claims she was convinced by her future husband to give up her career, receiving a £2,000-a-day allowance in return.
The former couple never made it down the aisle however as Kelly, who was 30 at the time, claims that Dodi dumped her by phone on August 7, 1997 – the day his relationship with Princess Diana first hit the news.
The snap, taken by an Italian paparazzo using a telephoto lens, showed Dodi and Diana embracing on a yacht Jonikal off St Tropez.
It was bought for £300,000 by a Sunday newspaper but, in total, images from the holiday were sold for more than £3 million around the world.
Kelly had actually been in St Tropez at the time the kiss picture was taken, staying aboard another of the Fayed family’s yachts.
After the pictures were released she returned to California and gave a tearful appearance at a press conference where her attorney announced plans to sue Dodi for “emotionally leaving her at the altar”.
The lawyer held up one of two sapphire and diamond rings Kelly claimed Dodi had bought for her, the other of which Kelly was still wearing.
Kelly later gave a tell-all newspaper interview claiming Dodi was a dud in bed who one gave her a cheque for £100,000 which bounced.
The ex-model has spoken about the impact the 1997 situation had on her, saying: “You go in the course of three weeks from being engaged to Dodi to being left for the most famous, gorgeous woman in the world, to them all dying.
“In three weeks. That was just terrible. I was pretty young. It was pretty bad.”
She has also said that her pain was made worse by Dodi’s father, Mohamed Al-Fayed, who died in September 2023, denying his son had ever been engaged to her, and accusing her of being a “gold-digger”.
She explained: “He was talking about the lawsuit but I had stopped working – I put my life on hold.”
Kelly has also said that she has left all the grievances in the past, despite the controversy and the drama that surrounded her, Dodi, and Diana.
She told The Sun: “I was heartbroken to see the pictures of Diana and Dodi together but the most heartbroken I ever, ever was – ever – was when he died.
“That was too much for me, it was incredibly difficult.”
She also revealed that she kept the engagement ring from Dodi as a memento of their time together.
Expressing sympathy for Diana’s sons, Prince William and Prince Harry, she said: “I have a daughter now and cannot imagine what would have happened if I was suddenly gone. I can’t imagine what those boys must have felt.”
What does Kelly Fisher do for a living?
Fisher has left behind her career as a model and now works as a property developer.
Since the summer of 1997, and the tragic events that unfolded, she has largely stayed out of the spotlight.
Who is Kelly Fisher’s husband Mikhail Movshina?
Kelly’s husband, Mikhail Movshina, is a pilot.
The couple met in 2007 while they were both on a safari in the Central African Republic.
After stints living together in Paris and the Swiss Alps, Kelly and Mikhail moved to South Carolina to start a family.
Does Kelly Fisher have any children?
Kelly shares one daughter, Alexandra Grace, with her husband.
ONCE dubbed ‘Acid Raine’ by the late Princess of Wales, the two endured a bitter feud that lasted two decades.
Here’s everything you need to know about Princess Diana’s “wicked” stepmother Raine Spencer.
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Raine pictured with Princess Diana outside The Connaught Hotel in Mayfair, LondonCredit: Getty – Contributor
Who was Princess Diana’s stepmother Raine Spencer?
Raine was born on September 9, 1929, and was the daughter of romantic novelist and socialite Dame Barbara Cartland.
Her mum held the longest entry in Who’s Who, due to every one of her 723 books being included.
Her father was Alexander McCorquodale, an Army officer who was also the heir to a printing fortune but her parents divorced and her mother married his cousin Hugh and had two sons.
She spent time in Canada and was “always top of the class” at school, and was described as an excellent dancer.
Read More on Princess Diana
Raine was married three times which gave her five titles including the Honourable Mrs. Gerald Legge, Viscountess Lewisham, Countess of Dartmouth, Countess Spencer and Comtesse de Chambrun.
After entering London high society aged 18, she became engaged to Hon Gerald Humphry Legge, who was heir to earl of Dartmouth and they wed in 1948.
They had four children but their marriage broke down after she began a relationship with John Spencer in 1973.
Raine married Princess Diana’s father John in 1976 after her mother Frances Shand Kydd left.
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After John’s death in 1992, she left the family seat of Althorp due to her strained relationship with her stepson Charles.
She went on to marry her third husband, Count Jean-François Pineton de Chambrun in 1993, after a 33-day courtship but they divorced just two years later.
What was her relationship with Diana?
Diana and her siblings did not like their stepmother and referred to her as “Acid Raine” and often sang “Raine, Raine, go away!”
The Daily Mail reported that “as the Princess was coming to terms with the breakdown of her marriage — while estranged from her own mother — Raine had provided a no-nonsense shoulder to cry on”. In a rare public appearance at Diana’s inquest, she said: “She (Diana) always said I had no hidden agenda.
“So many people, because she was so popular and so world famous, wanted something out of her. It was a very draining life.”
The pair shared a passion for horoscopes and Raine quipped at the inquest “we all want the dark, handsome gentleman to walk through the door”.
The BBC reported Raine said to the Judge Lord Justice Scott Baker: “I beg you to do your utmost to solve this mystery, to tear aside anything that could be a cover up and sift everything possible and indeed impossible in order to allow poor Diana and poor Dodi [Al Fayed] to at last, truly, rest in peace.”
What was her career in politics and role at Harrods?
Raine publicly cautioned women on the dangers of work in the 1950s and 1960s, while pursuing a political career.
She hit the headlines for complaints about dirty cups and ashtrays on the table at London Airport which she branded a “disgrace to Britain”, the Telegraph reported.
In 1967 she was elected to the Greater London Council (now the Greater London Authority) as a councillor for Richmond borough.
Raine won praise for resigning from a committee overseeing a large development in Covent Garden because of the lack of public support.
She later was involved with the British Tourist Authority.
In 1996, she became a member of the boards of directors at Harrods and occasionally worked in the store.
She said: “Ironically, I never went shopping in Harrods.
“It was my husband [Earl Spencer] who practically lived there.”
In 1989 a big falling out is said to have taken place between Raine and Diana, who was then 27 years old.
According a Channel 4 documentary, entitled Diana’s Wicked Stepmother, Diana pushed Raine down some stairs.
Raine’s personal assistant, Sue Howe, told the documentary how Diana grew a strong dislike for her stepmother as she felt she was not paying enough attention to her mother, Frances Shand Kydd, during Charles Spencer’s wedding.
Ms Howe said: “[Raine] was badly bruised and dreadfully upset. It was not justified at all, it was a cruel heartless thing to do and I think it was Diana’s perception of how Raine was treating Mrs Shand Kidd. I think Diana was very stressed. This sounds really wrong but she wasn’t centre of attention on this occasion.”
What was Raine Spencer’s cause of death?
The stepmother of Diana, Princess of Wales, died aged 87 on October 21, 2016.
She died on Friday morning at her London home, her son William Legge, the Earl of Dartmouth and a Ukip MEP, confirmed.
In a short statement the family said: “Raine, Countess Spencer, died peacefully at her home in London on 21st October, 2016, after a short illness.”
The tunnel is located in the heart of the French capital next to the River Seine.
The Sandringham-born Princess was being chauffeured after staying at the Hotel Ritz Paris, and according to reports, she was travelling to an apartment in Rue Arsène Houssaye.
She was making the journey with companion, Dodi Al Fayed.
In 2008, a lengthy inquest officially concluded those involved in the crash were unlawfully killed by the grossly negligent driving of chauffeur Henri Paul, who had high levels of alcohol in his system, and paparazzi photographers pursuing their limousine.
The forewoman read: “The crash was caused or contributed to by the speed and manner of the driving of the Mercedes, the speed and manner of driving of the following vehicles, the impairment of the judgment of the driver of the Mercedes through alcohol, and there are nine of us who agree on those conclusions.
“In addition, the death of the deceased was caused or contributed to by the fact that the deceased [were] not wearing seatbelt(s), the fact that the Mercedes struck the pillar in the Alma Tunnel rather than colliding with something else, and we are unanimous on that, sir.”
Forensic Collision Investigator Tony Read was one of the experts drafted in to the Met’s Operation Paget team to investigate conspiracy theories surrounding the crash.
Speaking for the first time about the high-profile case to The Sun, the former traffic cop said: ”I’m firmly convinced that if both of the occupants had been wearing seatbelts they almost certainly would have survived – I have almost no doubt in my mind.
“The collision was survivable because [bodyguard] Trevor Rees-Jones survived.”
What happened to Dodi Al Fayed, Princess Diana’s lover?
Princess Diana’s companion, Dodi Al-Fayed died almost instantly at the scene of the crash.
The pair spent time in the South of France and Sardinia before flying to Paris where they later died.
Following his death, Al Fayed’s body was flown to Britain, for a funeral service in line with Muslim customs – where a small Islamic funeral was held at a mosque in central London.
His coffin was escorted by police and a number of well-wishers lined the streets to pay their respects.
He was then buried in a London cemetery – but was later transported to his father, Mohamed Al-Fayed‘s property in Surrey, for his final resting place.
Once Dodi’s death was confirmed, the 11,000 electric bulbs which usually light up the facade of the Harrods store were switched off – which at the time was owned by his father.
The department store also honoured the late couple with miniature shrines – and in 2005 a bronze statue of the couple dancing was erected.
However, in 2018 it was announced that the statue would be removed and returned to Dodi’s father. Mohammed reportedly spends 300 days a year sitting beside his son’s body for hours at his mausoleum in the grounds of his mansion in Surrey.
What happened to Princess Diana’s bodyguard, Trevor Rees-Jones?
Trevor Rees-Jones was the only survivor of the tragic car crash, but suffered life-changing injuries.
He spent 10 days in a coma, sustained severe brain and chest injuries and every bone in his face was broken.
Surgeons used 150 pieces of titanium to rebuild his face, using family photos as a guide.
Everything you need to know about Princess Diana’s final years
In 1997, Princess Diana spent her summer in the south of France and Italy. During August, she visited Sarajevo, Bosnia, to highlight the fight against landmines.
By the end of the month, the Princess of Wales and Dodi Al-Fayed travelled to Paris together.
Her funeral was held on September 6, 1997. As her coffin made the journey from Kensington Palace to Westminister Abbey, Prince William and Prince Harry walked behind their late mother.
Due to him suffering from a serious head injury – Trevor Rees-Jones does not recall any details from the night of the fatal crash.
Trevor reportedly travelled back to Britain and quit his job as Mohammed Al-Fayed’s bodyguard the following year.
The grief-stricken bodyguard later published a book called The Bodyguard’s Story: Diana, The Crash, And The Sole Survivor, which earned him a rumoured £1million in 2000.
What happened to Henri Paul, Princess Diana’s driver?
Driver and French bodyguard Henri Paul was pronounced dead at the scene of the crash.
The 41-year-old had a reputation as a “macho action man” who loved being around celebrities.
Blood analysis results from Paul’s post-mortem suggest he spent the early evening drinking – he was found to be three-times over the French drink-drive limit.
An inquest into Diana’s death heard he had been privately treated for alcoholism but his family denied he had a drinking problem.
Evidence from a Ritz bar bill shows he had two Ricards – a French aniseed spirit – while waiting for Diana and Dodi to leave the hotel.
As mentioned above, after 22 hours of deliberations, an inquest jury ruled Diana had been unlawfully killed as a result of Paul’s drinking driving, and chasing photographers.
Dodi attended schools in Paris, the exclusive Le Rosey in Switzerland and had a brief stint at Sandhurst military academy, which Princes William and Harry also attended.
He split his time between the Khashoggi homes in Paris, the Riviera, Cairo, and his father’s home in Alexandria, Egypt.
Read more on Dodi Al Fayed
When he was 15, Dodi moved to London and became a familiar face on the nightclub scene.
He worked as a junior officer in the United Arab Emirates air force, stationed in London, but he soon moved into the film industry.
Did Dodi Al Fayed produce Chariots Of Fire and did he win an Oscar for it?
Dodi won an Academy Award as part of the production team, along with David Puttnam, on the 1981 film Chariots Of Fire.
The legendary movie actually won a total of four Oscars, which also included Best Picture.
The film is based on the true story of two British athletes competing in the 1924 Summer Olympics in Paris.
What other films did Dodi Al Fayed produce?
Through his family’s production company, Allied Stars, Dodi was an executive producer on a number of successful films.
This included Hook, Breaking Glass, and The Scarlet Letter.
He was also executive creative consultant for F/X: The Series.
Who did Dodi Al Fayed date before Princess Diana?
The Playboy was linked to a string of famous women – including rumours he dated actresses Brooke Shields, Winona Ryder and Nancy Sinatra.
He married model Suzanne Gregard in 1986 but they divorced after just eight months together.
In 1997, he got engaged to American model Kelly Fisher and bought a house in Malibu for themselves using money from his dad.
She later claimed Dodi had dumped her for Princess Diana and tried suing him for $500,000 because she said she had sacrificed her modelling career to marry him.
The Royal Family was initially just told Diana had a broken arm, and Charles was even making plans to visit her in hospital after the crash.
But he was informed at 3.45am UK time that the Princess had died of her injuries.
An inquest held in London concluded in 2008 that the Princess had been unlawfully killed, blaming the crash on grossly negligent driving by Paul and the pursuing paparazzi.
Paul was speeding and over the drink-drive limit at the time of the smash.
He was the go-between for the Princess of Wales and biographer Andrew Morton for the famous tell-all book, Diana: Her True Story, which was published in 1992.
Dr Colthurst took Morton’s questions to the palace and then made secret recordings with Diana.
He told Daily Mail Australia how he remembered listening back to the tapes in a working man’s cafe.
Read more on Princess Diana
Colthurst said: “All around everyone’s eating bacon and eggs chatting away, and I put these headphones on and turn on the tape recorder and listen to Diana talking about bulimia nervosa, which I’d never heard of, talking about her suicide attempts, talking about this woman called Camilla Parker Bowles.
“It was like entering a parallel universe, I walked out of that café thinking, ‘wow what on Earth have I heard’.”
He added: “It was the most incredible outburst of really innermost pain, rage, frustration, anger – you were swept away with it.
“It was very compelling.”
Born in March 1957, Dr Colthurst married Dominique Coles in 1990.
The couple have two daughters, Cicely and Leah.
He was educated at Eton College in Windsor, before training as a surgeon at St Thomas Hospital in London.
His family in Ireland live in the medieval Blarney Castle near Cork.
How did Dr James Colthurst and Princess Diana become friends?
The two met in Val Claret in France when Diana hurt her ankle on a ski trip and needed a doctor.
On what would have been Diana’s 60th birthday, he wrote: “She knew several of the friends I was with [on the trip], and they brought her back to our apartment when she twisted her ankle, telling her I would look at it as I was a medical student at the time.
“Good fun, bright and mischievous, it was hard not to hit it off with Diana straight away, and so began the friendship she and I maintained for the rest of her short, eventful life.”
He also added how he supported her when she became a member of the Royal Family.
He added: “Perhaps one of the toughest features of being her friend was trying to encourage her to limit her task list as well as coaxing her over the many bumpy moments which she found almost overwhelming.
“But she was so happy to feel she had something to give that she took on a daunting number of patronages and these all took time and effort.
“She was interested in such a wide range of subjects that it balances what seemed an unhappy life at Kensington Palace with daily encounters with happy, smiling faces.”
How did Dr James Colthurst help Princess Diana?
Dr Colthurst was a person that Princess Diana could always speak to about difficult topics, especially when it came to life as a royal.
The doctor claimed that Princess Diana feared that palace officials wanted to undermine her because of her media popularity compared to Charles and separate her from William and Harry.
In a documentary Dr Colthurst said: “There was a great deal of jealousy from the grey men who sat behind Prince Charles, not wanting him to be living in her shadow.
“Her character was being written down – as she saw it, a campaign to sideline her and remove her from the boys.
“That was her worry, that she was going to lose the boys – overriding, above everything else, that was the concern – and that they were using a character run-down as a means of making that happen, an understandable next step.”
He also believed that Diana’s suffering with bulimia was a “reaction to her circumstances” and that “all staff” knew about Prince Charles’ affair with Camilla.
One year since the death of Queen Elizabeth II sparked weeks of global mourning, it’s time for the fictional series about her reign to say goodbye. The Crown returns to Netflix for its sixth and final season in November, and thanks to some set photos, trailers, and a lot of history, we have a pretty good sense of what’s in store. Here’s everything we know so far.
What isThe Crownabout again?
You may have heard of this world leader named Elizabeth II, who became the Queen of England at the age of 25, in 1952, and reigned until her death in 2022. Creator Peter Morgan has spent decades depicting her in fiction, first with the film The Queen and the stage play The Audience.The Crown is his most ambitious effort yet, spanning 60 years from the beginning of Queen Elizabeth’s reign (when she was played by Claire Foy and then Olivia Colman) to the early years of the 21st century.
IsThe Crownseason six the show’s final season?
It sure is! The final season of The Crown, with Imelda Staunton now playing the queen, starts after the full dissolution of PrinceCharles and Diana’s relationship, with Dominic West returning as Prince Charles and Elizabeth Debicki returning as Princess Diana, who is no longer the Princess of Wales. Four episodes of the final season will premiere on Netflix on November 16, with the final six episodes following on December 14.
Who is in the cast ofThe Crownseason six?
In addition to Staunton, Debicki, and West, Olivia Williams returns as Camilla Parker Bowles, as the complex relationship between Charles and Camilla continues to play out onscreen. The role of Prince Philip, played by Matt Smith and Tobias Menzies in earlier seasons, is now played by Jonathan Pryce, with Lesley Manville playing Princess Margaret, the sister of the queen previously played by Vanessa Kirby and Helena Bonham Carter. (If you need some refreshing on that royal family tree, we’ve got you covered.) Salim Daw and Khalid Abdalla will also return as Mohamed Al Fayed and Dodi Al Fayed, respectively.
And even with The Crown drawing to a close, there’s a little more recasting still in store. In part one of the new season, Rufus Kampa will play Prince WIlliam and Fflyn Edwards will play Prince Harry. In part two, which takes place when the princes are older, Luther Ford will play Harry, with Ed McVey playing William as he meets future princess Kate Middleton (played by Meg Bellamy).
What happens inThe Crownseason six?
A whole lot! Season five ended with Diana and the boys en route to a Mediterranean vacation hosted by Mohamed Al Fayed, who would eventually invite his son Dodi to join. That trip happened in July 1997, just one month before Dodi and Diana died in the infamous Paris car crash. Last year there were reports that some of the crew were “slightly on edge” about filming the scenes surrounding Diana’s death, and even a rumor that there was a shot that required Elizabeth Debicki to climb into a coffin.
Based on the ages of the actors playing Harry and William, part two will jump forward in time, with William in college at St. Andrews where he meets Kate. Peter Morgan has said in the past he has no intention of including Harry’s relationship with Meghan Markle on the show, so it’s unclear where we’ll leave Harry when the series ends.
Sophia Bush is taking a page right outta Princess Diana‘s book!
The One Tree Hill alum stepped out of the LAX airport on Wednesday wearing a VERY noteworthy sweater amid her divorce and her new romance (plus subsequent cheating allegations) with Ashlyn Harris.
What was she wearing that was sooo eye-catching?? Only an iconic Princess Diana reference!
In pics obtained by TMZ on Thursday, the Chicago P.D. alum was seen rocking a bright red sweater with white sheep and one black sheep on it. It’s made by Warm & Wonderful and will only put you out $248. Prince William and Prince Harry‘s momma first wore the OG piece in the ’80s, seemingly as a sign to the public that she didn’t fit into the royal family. Oof!
The original sweater sold for $1.1 million at an auction last month, but tons of knockoffs have kept the design popular over the years. Other stars who have rocked a lookalike are Harry Styles and John Legend. Regardless of all that, though, we can’t help wondering what message Soph’s trying to send by wearing it now!
Sophia Bush Spotted for First Time Since Dating USWNT Star Ashlyn Harris https://t.co/rv4X5Lr3XS
As we mentioned, she divorced her husband of one year, Grant Hughes, earlier this year. They supposedly just fell out of love — but, the more we learn, the more skeptical about the past we get!
In a truly shocking plot twist, it was then announced earlier this month that the Drama Queens podcaster is dating the soccer star, who is also going through a fresh divorce from her wife Ali Krieger. And Ali’s not holding back when it comes to shading the duo for allegedly cheating!
So, as everyone’s trying to get to the bottom of just what happened here, Sophia stepping out in a “black sheep” sweater definitely seems like a cryptic nod to all the drama — and maybe even an acknowledgment that she (just like Di) is feeling like the odd woman out in her personal life!
Thoughts?! Do you think her wearing this piece was just a coincidence? Or is she trying to tell us all something? Sound OFF (below)!
Though Princess Diana’s famous style looked effortless from a distance, she did have some help in achieving her look from a team of beauty professionals, including hairstylist Richard Dalton, who worked with her for more than a decade. According to cosmetic chemist Sheree Ladove Funsch, Dalton took great pains to ensure Diana’s hair looked great, and that meant requesting a custom hairspray formula.
Now the CEO of her family-owned cosmetics manufacturing company, LaDove Inc, Ladove Funsch was in her early 20s when Dalton reached out with Diana’s specifications. “She didn’t want anything that would make her hair look glued down because she was so young and so beautiful,” she told Page Six. “She didn’t want … a helmet-head kind of look.”
Diana, Dalton, and Ladove Funsch wanted to design something with strong hold that would leave a light finish in her feathered hair, and it required a bit of scientific ingenuity. “We found this gum resin from a tree and that’s how we were able to create this formula,” she said. “I was literally in [the lab] formulating myself, figuring out what’s the melting point of this resin, how do we get it so that it’s not so sticky and tacky? How do we get it so that it doesn’t harden?” After some “trials and tribulations,” the trio called the finished product her “Helicopter Hairspray”—because the gust from the blades wouldn’t ruin her style.
Ladove Funsch would go on to make another version of the hairspray for the princess, this one specially formulated to avoid leaving residue on jewelry, including the tiaras she might wear for a special occasion. “When she would wear a tiara, you’re talking about millions and millions of dollars of jewels on her head,” she said. “We had to create something that wasn’t as potent as a hairspray but that would still give her a bit of hold.”
Ladove Fusnch also told Page Six about the one meeting that she and Diana had at Kensington Palace. “It was in England and it was incredible. I got a big hug from her and it was just magical. And there was no press, so it was just a beautiful moment,” she said. “The first time, you feel so intimidated. Here’s this, like, American business girl … coming into [her career] and she was just so welcoming and so calming and loving and just very kind.”
Hairstylist Dalton, one of three who worked with Diana during her time in the public eye, has also opened up about his approach to working with the princess and her famous hair in a 2018 interview with Town & Country. “Whatever I did to her hair became front page news,” he said of his decision to cut her hair very slowly. “We had to be very careful. We had to do it one-fourth of an inch at a time over several weeks.”
Princess Diana was certainly not the first person to wear bike shorts with an oversized sweatshirt, running shoes, and high socks, but she was definitely the most memorable celebrity to do so. When I saw Taylor Swift in a similar outfit combo in New York City today, it immediately reminded me of the late royal’s iconic style.
Photographed outside the Electric Lady Studios today, Swift wore a baggy Daydreamer tee with bike shorts, New Balance running shoes, a Louis Vuitton bag, and FP Movement ruffled socks. This also happens to be my preferred outfit for running errands, working out, or just lounging around my house. Scroll down to see how Taylor Swift and Princess Diana styled bike shorts and shop the look for yourself.
One princess’s trash is another auction-goer’s $1.143 million treasure, as it turns out.
The iconic “Black Sheep” sweater worn by the late Princess Diana sold at auction at Sotheby’s New York Thursday for an eye-popping sum, breaking the record for the highest price fetched for an item worn by Diana. Previously, the record was $604,800 for an aubergine evening gown Diana wore, designed by Victor Edelstein. The sweater was originally estimated to sell for somewhere between $50,000 and $80,000.
The sweater depicts a flock of white sheep set off against a red background, with one black sheep standing out among them. Diana wore the sweater out and about with jeans in 1981, just a month before she married now-King Charles III. She was just 19 years old, and the sweater made an instant impression.
The sweater, designed by Warm and Wonderful and available in reproduction today due to its lasting popularity, is one of at least two that Diana owned—and was the original. The designers of Warm and Wonderful, Sally Muir and Joanna Osborne, recalled getting a letter from Buckingham Palace shortly after Diana made headlines in the attention-grabbing sweater. She’d damaged it, and was hoping to replace or repair the jumper. The company sent a new sweater to her, and the old one was tucked away and forgotten about—until recently.
“I was in the attic in February searching for a pattern, and I just happen to notice this old wine box in a corner—and there was a red sheep jumper wrapped in a cotton bedspread,” Osborne told People. “It was well preserved, and I had a kind of Groundhog Day moment and thought, ‘Could this be the one?’ I looked at the cuff which had obviously been sewn back on, and I called Sal and said, ‘I think I’ve found the actual real Diana jumper!’”
“We had just sort of forgotten about it,” Muir said.
After looking at photos of Diana in the original, Osborne said, “we both felt certain that it was the actual one. We just knew because every jumper is different, so it was easy to see. So we called Sotheby’s!”
Diana wore the design again, her replacement version, in 1983.
Last week, three of Princess Diana’s gowns sold at auction for a total of $1.62 million.
New audio has been released of Princess Diana talking about how Britain’s Prince Charles – now King Charles III – was disappointed that they were having a boy, not a girl, when Prince Harry was born.
The late princess recorded a series of audio tapes in the 1990s and had them secretly delivered to author Andrew Morton before her death in a high-speed car crash in 1997.
Some of the audio is being heard for the first time ahead of a documentary coming out next year called, “Diana: The Rest of Her Story.”
Thursday marked 26 years since Diana’s death.
ABC’s Good Morning America got an exclusive listen to the tapes in which Diana says her husband wouldn’t even talk to her stepmother Raine Spencer.
“Because at Harry’s Christening, Charles went up to mummy and said, ‘You know we were so disappointed, we thought it would be a girl,’” she said.
“And mummy snapped his head off and said, ‘You should realize how lucky you are to have a child that’s normal,’” she recalled.
Diana said ever since that day, “a shutter’s come down, and that’s what he does when he gets somebody answering back at him.”
Prince Harry and his wife Meghan announced in January, 2020 that they were stepping back from their roles as senior members of the British royal family and planned to split their time between the United Kingdom and North America, as they worked towards becoming financially independent.
In response, late Queen Elizabeth II said in a statement then that they would no longer be performing work duties and would cease receiving public funds for royal duties.
Since then, they have been featured in a Netflix docuseries critical of how the media and the royal family treated them, while Harry recounted his past in his memoir Spare.
In the newly released recordings, Diana also discusses the troubled relationship she had with her stepmother.
“And I said, ‘I hate you so much. If you only knew how much we all hated you for what you’ve done. You’ve ruined the house. You’ve spent Daddy’s money.’ I said everything I possibly could,” she said.
She recalled Spencer reacting by saying she had “no idea how much pain your mother put your father through.”
The late Princess responded: ‘Pain, Raine? That’s one word you don’t even know how to relate to. In my job and in my role, I see people suffer like you’ve never seen. And you call that pain? I said, you’ve got a lot to learn.’ I remember really going for her gullet.”
Her biographer Andrew Morton told ABC’s Good Morning America Friday that there is a real “poignancy” in hearing her voice and first-hand views of the monarchy.
“She never thought for a second that Camilla would become queen, so we have a very different perspective on unfolding history,” Morton said.
There are seven hours of tapes in total. When asked if he would release more audio, Morton said, “There is global interest, but we’ll have to see what happens.”
Prince Harry is opening up about the difficulties of coming home.
In Netflix’s new documentary series “Heart of Invictus”, the Duke of Sussex shares how his return from military service in Afghanistan triggered “trauma” related to his mom’s death.
“From my personal experience, my tour of Afghanistan in 2012, flying Apaches, somewhere after that there was an unravelling,” he recalls in the series’ second episode. “And the trigger to me was returning to Afghanistan, but the stuff that was coming up was from the age of from 1992 from the age of 12.”
Princess Diana was killed in a car accident in Paris in 1997.
He continues, “Losing my mum at such a young age, the trauma that I had I was never really aware of. It was never discussed. I never really talked about it and I suppressed it like most youngsters would have done.”
Harry goes on to talk about what that unravelling felt like, and how it helped him realize he needed to seek help.
“But when it all came fizzing out I was bouncing off the walls. Like what is going on here, I’m now feeling everything as opposed to being numb,” he says. “The biggest struggle for me was no one around me really could help. I didn’t have that support structure, that network, or that expert advice to identify what was actually going on with me.”
The royal adds, “Unfortunately like most of us the first time you really consider therapy is when you’re lying on the floor in the fetal position probably wishing you had dealt with some of this stuff previously. That’s what I really want to change.”
Referring to founding the Invictus Games, the sporting event for wounded, injured and sick servicemen and women, Harry says, “I’ve always wanted the Invictus Games and the support that comes with that all year round to be a net to catch those individuals.”
Harry first started his military career by entering the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst in 2004.
In 2007, he was secretly deployed on a tour of duty in Afghanistan, though after it was reportedly publicly, he pulled out for the safety of himself and his fellow soldiers, given his status as a high value target.
The Duke of Sussex was the first member of the British Royal Family to serve in a war zone since his uncle, Prince Andrew, flew helicopters during the Falklands War.
In 2008, Harry began training to flew helicopters himself, and in 2012 served a second tour of duty in Afghanistan. He returned home early the following year.
The producers of The Crown have promised they’ve “delicately” depicted the death of Princess Diana in an episode in the show’s upcoming season.
Speaking onstage at the Edinburgh TV Festival, executive producer Suzanne Mackie said the show’s crew have done their best to handle the portrayal in a caring manner.
“The show might be big and noisy, but we’re not,” Mackie told the crowd, as reported by the BBC. “We’re thoughtful people and we’re sensitive people.”
The upcoming season marks the sixth and final for the show, and Variety reports that the late royal’s 1997 death will be depicted in the early episodes of the season.
“There were very careful, long conversations about how we were going to do it,” Mackie said of their approach to the sensitive subject matter.
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She added that actress Elizabeth Debicki, who took over the role as the princess in season 5, “loved Diana.”
Dominic West and Elizabeth Debicki in ‘The Crown.’.
Courtesy / Netflix
“Elizabeth Debicki is an extraordinary actress and she was so thoughtful and considerate…There’s a huge amount of respect from us all, I hope that’s evident.”
Deadline reports that the scenes were shot over a two-week period last October and that there was “anxiety behind the scenes” about the extremely sensitive nature of the material.
The Crown, especially in recent years, isn’t without its critics. As the dramatized royal story pushes closer and closer to modern times, some have complained the production is too sensationalized.
‘The Crown’ follows the early days of Queen Elizabeth’s reign
“Indeed, the closer the drama comes to our present times, the more freely it seems willing to blur the lines between historical accuracy and crude sensationalism,” wrote Dench.
She worried audiences, particularly overseas, may take the show as truth.
At the time, Netflix responded and claimed The Crown “is a fictional dramatization, imagining what could have happened behind closed doors during a significant decade for the Royal Family – one that has already been scrutinized and well-documented by journalists, biographers and historians.”
Prince Harry, speaking about the show last year in an interview with late night host James Cordon, said he’s generally been ok with how his family has been depicted.
Meg Bellamy and Ed McVey as Kate Middleton and Prince William in the sixth and final season of ‘The Crown.’.
Courtesy / Netflix
“It’s fictional. But it’s loosely based on the truth. Of course it’s not strictly accurate, but it gives you a rough idea about what that lifestyle — the pressures of putting duty and service above family and everything else — what can come from that.”
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He continued: “I’m way more comfortable with The Crown than I am seeing the stories written about my family, or my wife or myself, because it’s the difference between fiction— take it how you will — and being reported on as fact because you’re supposedly news. I have a real issue with that.”
Andy Harries, another executive producer on the show, told the Edinburgh crowd this week that the passing of Queen Elizabeth II has affected the show.
“I think that the passing of Her Majesty undoubtedly impacted on us all and [writer Peter Morgan] in particular,” he responded.
“It didn’t change fundamentally, but it did change in a sense and when you see it I think you’ll know what I mean.”
Season 6 of The Crown will air on Netflix later this year. So far, no release date has been set.
