Princess Diana initially won people over as a modest, young nursery school teacher, but she has since grown to become one of the most adored fashion icons in the world. Arthur Edwards, one of the first photographers to chronicle her journey, recently thought back on a famous 1980 image that unintentionally garnered media attention.
Diana was dating Prince Charles at the time of the photo, which was taken in a park. She was wearing a skirt that turned see-through when the sun shone on it. Now a veteran royal photographer for The Sun, Edwards maintains the incident was entirely innocent. “I never meant for the photo to come out that way,” Edwards said. “It was one of those rare, spontaneous moments that every photographer hopes for—completely unplanned, but too compelling not to share.”
Edwards was excited to take a picture of Diana, who was then a reserved teacher and Charles’s new girlfriend, since he had just been given the task of covering the royal beat. He knocked on doors until he located her because he knew she worked at a preschool in London. Edwards took Diana and two young students to a nearby park for a few quick pictures after getting the owner of the school’s permission. He remembered, “She posed, and I took a couple pictures.” Then, in a cruel turn of events, the sun came out, backlighting her skirt and casting a silhouette over her legs. “It was just pure luck,” Edwards stated. “However, it made the picture iconic.”
Diana was extremely embarrassed when the picture appeared in newspapers all over the United Kingdom. She reportedly expressed to Charles her desire to avoid being known as “the girlfriend without a petticoat.” Nevertheless, Diana’s complex relationship with the media was only getting started.
Despite the difficult beginning, Edwards persisted in taking pictures of Diana as she changed from a timid young lady to the “princess of the people.” Edwards remarked, “She was always kind and graceful.” Diana changed the public’s opinion of the monarchy with her compassionate work and down-to-earth charm. Her well-known acts of consoling leprosy patients and hugging AIDS patients would make her a global favorite.
