The Day I Met DIANA
As a little girl I loved seeing the magazines articles of the Royal family, in particular Princess Diana. Her beauty, grace and glamour felt so otherwordly watching from afar in a small lakeside town in Australia. Every time a newspaper or magazine article was released I would cut it out and save the pictures for future reference. Whether it was the way she had styled her hair, the dress she was wearing or the spectacular jewels that adorned her, I loved seeing her fashion change from event to event.
When I was in primary school I got the chance to meet her. The Prince and Princess of Wales were planning their trip to Australia and when their itinerary was announced it was a suprise to see that they would be passing through our small country town of Paynesville in the east of Victoria. The town was excited, school groups were able to take the morning out from school to go to see the Prince and Princess.
I remember as a tiny little child being so excited to see this beautiful princess from faraway come to visit. On the day of her arrival, my mum dressed me in my school uniform, made sure my hair was neat and tidy and created a beautiful bouquet of flowers, apricot and pink roses, my favourite at the time and classic 80s gypsophila, a pretty bouquet fit for a princess.
The day arrived and we headed down to the foreshire, looking back now at some of the photos it is hard to believe that there were so few people there. Compared to what we know now that her trip to Australia was such a watershed moment for her populairty particularly in this county, to see her so close without the hoards of crowds that were experienced in the capital cities is something that I didn’t fully appreciate at that time. As she stepped off the boat with Charles and made her way her way down the street, she headed straight towards the children to accept flowers and kind words. Walking the other side of the street was her husband Charles, I remember briefly glancing over at him and thinknig how British he looked but all eyes, mine included, were on Diana. She was wearing a tartan dress with a round lace collar and bow in deep blues and greens, paired with a buckled belt. Her hair was in her classic bobbed flick and I remember looking at her and thinking how porcelain her skin was.
It is hard sometimes to reconcile that now with what we do know about that trip and some of the personal challenges and struggles she would go on to highlight in future interviews, but at that point as a little girl looking at the princess walking down that street I could see none of that - all that I saw was beauty and charm. I was lucky enough to be seating right at the front and as she approched I stuck out my hand with the flower bouquet. I could feel mum snapping photos on an old point and shoot camera behind me.
Diana lent down and said hello and I had the chance to give her my flowers, she said how beautiful they were and thank you, I don’t recall excatly what I said, I was very young at the time but I do remember hearing her cutglass British accent and thinking how lovely it was. The whole event was over in just a few moments, she then moved on to the next peson and her and Charles continued down the line of the crowd chatting to people as they went.
I really hadn’t thought much about meeting her for many, many years afterwards. A number of years later whenI read more about her separation with Charles it made me think back to that day. As a child it was not the type of thing I would have thought about, to me they seemed like a happy young couple. I didn’t see her frailness or that she had lost weight or that there was anything untowards between her and her husband. It is amazing to me looking back, for all of the events she would have had to endure when internal turmoil was possibly at its height for her, how she managed to make everyone around her feel that they were special and important. I guess that truly is what made her such an icon for many people around the world, her ability to connect while maintaining such a poised exterior experience. I love looking at these photos now, it reminds me of the simplicity of childhood and the intimacy of the visit. Many years later in 2018 I happened to be in Sydney when Meghan Markel and Prince Harry were visiting Australia. I was down near the Opera house in Sydney purely by luck when I saw thousands of people waiting to catch a glimpse of the newlyweds.
It struck me just how different that was from the time I got to meet Diana, there were no crowds and minimal security. I am very grateful for that and for the chance to meet soemone so iconic. I had another opportunity when I was in London, to meet Prince Philip at a private event in the early 2000s. The thing that struck me about that introduction was how available he made himself to everyone in the room, he was making jokes, putting people at ease and chatting to everyone who came near him. Like Diana, his apparent outward ease in public was a natural skillset that I imagine when you marry into a family like the Windors makes your job so much more bearable.
As the Royal family are so in the public eye it is almost impossible to not have a view, thought and opinion about them. So meeting Diana I feel like she lived up to her image and while it was a childish conversation on my side, I never felt that from her, only her undivided attention and her pure elegance. What a joy to have been able to meet someone who has had such an impact in the last century, if only now I can get an audience with the Queen.