The Courier & Advertiser (Angus and Dundee)
Princess Diana superfan puts collection on display
78-year-old Jo Dobson thinks there should be an annual Diana Day holiday to honour her memory
The memorabilia collection of Diana, Princess of Wales superfan Jo Dobson, 78, is to go on show in a special exhibition.
Mrs Dobson, 78, has filled her home in Hucclecote, Gloucester, with hundreds of plates, portraits, trinkets and pictures of Diana.
To mark the 20th anniversary of the Princess’s death, Mrs Dobson has lent some of her collection to the Gloucester Life Museum.
The royal devotee and her husband Ken, who died two years ago, started their extensive collection in 1999 and began the Diana Circle fan group to help keep the princess’s memory alive.
Mrs Dobson, who proudly wears a T-shirt emblazoned with a photo of Diana and the words “Jo Dobson Founder Member Diana Circle UK”, and a gold locket bearing Diana’s photo, is also fond of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, and writes to them regularly. The exhibition includes thankyou photos and cards she has been sent by the couple.
On display is a note from Diana’s brother Earl Spencer, who Mrs Dobson has met many times.
The handwritten letter remarks how it was good to see Mr and Mrs Dobson at Althorp and thanks them for a floral tribute they took to mark what would have been the princess’s 50th birthday in 2011.
Mrs Dobson is also friendly with Diana’s ex-butler Paul Burrell, and her home features many photos of herself with him.
She said more needed to be done to remember Diana on the 20th anniversary of her death and beyond, and called for a Diana Day to honour her.
Mrs Dobson said she had written to her local MP to call for a Diana Day each year.
“I say we should have a Diana Day and preferably on her birthday,” she said.
She has long campaigned for a Diana statue, and welcomed William and Harry’s decision to erect one at Kensington Palace.
Mrs Dobson revealed she is no longer adding to her collection. “We had to stop. “There comes a time when you’ve run out of room on the wall.”
She added: “We’ve spent thousands but she was worth it.”
Curator Sarah Orton said Mr and Mrs Dobson were celebrated in the exhibition, staged in the museum’s new collections gallery, which showcases local people who have made collecting their hobby and their passion.
“The exhibition is less about the collection and more about the collectors,” she said.
She added: “Without such people in the past many museums, including our own, would not have been established.
“Through the different exhibitions in this gallery we hope to explore not only the things that different people collect, but also what drives people to start and establish collections, and what those collections mean to them.”
The exhibition opens at the Gloucester Life Museum on Saturday and runs until December 16.
The museum is open Tuesday to Saturday from 10am to 5pm