RETURN OF THAT REVENGE DRESS
Debicki recreates Diana’s racy ‘riposte to Charles’ moment for The Crown
IT was a defiant choice widely interpreted as a form of vengeance.
Breaking royal protocol, Princess Diana stepped out in a revealing off-the-shoulder dress as her husband Prince Charles confessed to being unfaithful.
Now her arrival at a glitzy event in what became known as her ‘revenge dress’ has been recreated by Elizabeth Debicki for the hit series The Crown.
New images show the Australian actress, 31, as Diana getting out of her car to attend the 1994 Vanity Fair dinner at the Serpentine Gallery in London.
The star looked strikingly similar to the princess as she filmed scenes for the Netflix drama in a replica of the £900 Christina
Stambolian silk crepe cocktail dress with side sash.
Diana had bought the dress in 1991 but considered it too daring to wear at the time.
On the same evening she wore the outfit Charles admitted in a TV documentary interview with Jonathan Dimbleby that he was having an affair with Camilla Parker Bowles, now his wife.
Miss Debicki, who has replaced Emma Corrin, 25, as Diana in the latest series of The Crown, also wore a copy of the sapphire, diamond and pearl necklace that the princess wore that night. Diana had it made using a sapphire and diamond brooch given to her by the Queen Mother as a wedding gift.
Miss Debicki was pictured filming the scenes on Monday at the gallery in Hyde Park, a stone’s throw from Kensington Palace.
Elsewhere, the actress was photographed recreating Diana’s first encounter with billionaire Mohamed Fayed. She could be seen chatting with Salim Dau, 71, playing the former Harrods owner at a polo match.
Mr Fayed’s film producer son Dodi won Diana’s heart before both were killed when their Mercedes crashed in a tunnel in Paris in August 1997.
In September it was claimed that British actor Khalid Abdalla, 40, who starred in the 2007 film The Kite Runner, has been cast in the role of Dodi.
With the Fayeds having been cast, it is likely the fifth series of The Crown – due in November next year – will detail the final months of Diana’s life.
The fourth series, which streamed in November last year, told the story of Charles and Diana’s early romance. Their relationship breakdown will be a central part of the fifth series and likely to lead the way to Diana’s romance with Dodi.
The show will also look at the 1992 fire at Windsor Castle.
She considered it too daring