Top 10 Shocking Reveals in The Princess Documentary

In August 1997, Diana, Dodi Al Fayed, and their driver desperately tried to escape a relentless paparazzi car chase through Paris. Sadly, we all know how that ended. As a result, nine photographers who’d mercilessly pursued them were initially charged with manslaughter. Additionally, three photographers who invasively photographed the fatal scene had their pictures confiscated. However, this tragedy also inspired changes to laws and policies regarding paparazzi behavior. In the UK, The Press Complaints Commission ordered that the media can’t engage in persistent or aggressive conduct. Meanwhile, in 1998 California passed a law prohibiting photographers from trespassing on private property. These laws are constantly being revised, reworked, and tightened, but there’s still a long way to go.

Let us paint you a picture: It’s a crisp November day in 1981, you live in the U.K., and you go to Sainsbury’s to pick up some groceries. While you stand there deliberating with a trifle in one hand and Vienetta in the other, an announcement breaks your train of thought. Well, if you’d been in this particular branch of the British supermarket, you would have just been informed via loudspeaker that Princess Diana is pregnant with the future heir to the throne. The documentary shows this thoroughly British moment and the joyful response that followed. Stocking up on groceries isn’t typically eventful, but this was a shopping experience for the books.

The documentary shows how Britain came down with Royal Wedding fever in the lead-up to Diana and Prince Charles’ wedding. Some royalists wanted to wear their support on their sleeves, or skin, if we’re being more precise. One of the more unexpected superfans shown in “The Princess” is a youthful skinhead who asks for a tattoo of Diana’s face on his arm — talk about a hardcore commitment. A tattoo artist reveals that he hadn’t seen such demand for this kind of ink since “Charlie’s Angels” star Farrah Fawcett-Majors. Sadly, as we’re also shown, the next time the British public would rally in this magnitude would be after Diana’s untimely passing.

Unlike previous Diana documentaries, this one turns the cameras around and puts the public and media under the spotlight. It shows the unyielding tenacity of photographers after their money shots, and the heartless scrutiny of the press. It also shows how wider society loved nothing more than to put Diana on a pedestal, only to brutally and repeatedly tear it down. She might’ve been the People’s Princess, but she wasn’t universally beloved. In the trailer, words like “monster” and “sick mind” are thrown about. Diana even tried appealing to the press with a speech, to no avail. Meanwhile, a veiled pap audaciously blamed the public, saying they just take the photos and “the buck stops with the readers.”

Lady Di and Prince Charles’ rocky relationship has been well-documented. Thanks to “The Crown,” many of us were shocked to learn that their first interview as an engaged couple was as outrageous as the fictional show portrayed. The documentary revisits those early days and highlights so many red flags that we wish we could’ve told the young Di to make a run for it. Still, they had their picture-perfect wedding, but life was far from a fairytale. Among their countless problems, Prince Charles struggled with living in his wife’s shadow. At one point, he’s heard joking that people tell him he’s the lucky one in their relationship. Over time his bitterness and resentment grew, as the documentary details.

As we’ve well-established, Diana was hardly ever more than a few feet away from photographers. Some believe she had accepted this “necessary evil” in her life. Still, we often hear how much their relentlessness plagued her. Even so, during one remarkable moment in “The Princess,” we watch Di exiting an airport with a tennis racquet barely hiding her face from the unforgiving paparazzi. However, she spots a young fan with flowers and can’t resist breaking away and going over to the little girl. It’s really sweet and moving to see how her soft spot for kids still takes over even when she's being hounded. It’s a heart-melting moment that exemplifies why she was so loved.

Diana famously said[1]. Indeed, this love triangle is about as infamously messy as they come. But you might be wondering what more could we possibly learn? The documentary addresses the leaked phone call between the Prince and Camilla while both were still married to other people. In this intimate exchange, they’re heard discussing their desire to be together and making explicit jokes. The conversation supposedly took place in 1989 but was leaked in 1993, just a month after Diana and Charles’ separation. He was apparently “deeply ashamed” by the scandal and the embarrassment he caused his mother and children. A similar phone call, reportedly between Diana and her alleged lover James Gilbey, was also released a year earlier.

In 1995, Diana sat down for an interview with Martin Bashir for BBC's "Panorama." She was at her most open, candid, and vulnerable, discussing a plethora of personal subjects such as her marriage and mental health. It was considered one of the most groundbreaking exclusives and was watched by 23 million nationwide. The interview has always been considered controversial, but in 2021 an investigation uncovered that Bashir used "deceitful behavior" and violated BBC editorial conduct to secure this sensational exposé. The BBC has since apologized and vowed never to show it again. However, you can see footage from this now discredited episode in "The Princess" documentary. But with this new information, it all hits very differently.

You’ve likely seen the footage documenting the hordes of mourners who came to pay their respects following Diana’s tragic passing. We’ve seen people lay flowers at the palace gates, cry over her loss and come together in mourning. Shockingly “The Princess” shows that not everyone who turned up at Kensington Palace was there to grieve. British author and journalist Christopher Hitchens arrived at the Palace gardens to essentially tell Diana’s bereft admirers to get over it. One man rebukes this insensitive response, but Hitchens only doubles down, insulting the individual and accusing him of having “brain rot.” No one asked Hitchens to love Diana, but this was a time for grievance, so why did he think his presence was needed?

As with many celebrities, the public wanted Diana to be this sexy virgin. However, the latter was super important if she were to marry into the Royal family. Naturally, the wife of Britain’s future king had to be pure and untouched. Even in 1980, this outdated idea led to a cruel running joke that Charles chose Diana because she was the only “aristocratic virgin left in England” However, the most unbelievable revelation came from Princess Di’s own family. Her uncle spoke to a tabloid called the “Daily Star” and confirmed his niece’s virginity. Seemingly everyone wanted to paint Diana as virtuous and chaste. But they happily stripped away her innocence in their hunger for a piece of her story.