Princess Diana 'almost didn't wear' risqué Met Gala dress because of Prince William 'fear'
It's gone down as one of Diana's most iconic looksPrincess Diana reportedly almost didn’t wear her famous Met Gala dress for fear of embarrassing her son Prince William!
Diana hit headlines in 1996 thanks to the risqué dress she wore to the prestigious fundraising festival.
Did Princess Diana ever go to the Met Gala?
Yes, she did! Back in 1996, Princess Diana was among the stars who attended the Met Gala in New York.
The yearly fundraising event, organised by Vogue, sees some of the world’s brightest stars dress to impress on the red carpet in Manhattan.
The 2025 Met Gala was held on May 5 in New York City.
The year Diana went, she wore a navy blue, full-length Dior slip dress. It also featured a black lace trim at the bust, as can be seen in these pictures obtained by Elle.
The late royal paired the look with a giant pearl choker. It has since gone on to be regarded as one of her finest fashion moments.
However, according to royal biographer Katie Nicholl, Diana almost didn’t wear the dress to the Met Gala. The reason? Because she didn’t want to embarrass her eldest son apparently…
Diana ‘didn’t want to embarrass’ William with Met Gala dress
In her 2010 book, William and Harry, Nicholl spoke to William’s childhood friend, Kitty Dimbleby.
“I do remember William being distracted by what was going on at home,” Kitty said.
“At the time, there was a lot in the newspapers about Charles and Diana’s marriage being in trouble,” she continued.
William told me, ‘Papa never embarrasses me but Mummy sometimes does.’
“William told me, ‘Papa never embarrasses me but Mummy sometimes does,'” she revealed.
Though she was reportedly concerned William would be embarrassed by how revealing the outfit was, Diana did opt to wear it in the end.
It left a lasting legacy and was available to view in the Victoria and Albert Museum in London in 2019 as part of their Dior exhibition.
Diana’s revenge dress
The Met Gala wasn’t the only one of Diana’s dresses that caused a stir at the time.
Perhaps her most famous dress is, of course, the “revenge dress”, which she wore to the Serpentine Gallery in London back in 1994.
The dress in question was a velvet dress by Christina Stambolian, with the same necklace she later wore to the Met Gala in ’96.
Diana wore the stunning dress on the same day a programme about Charles aired. In the programme, Charles admitted to having been unfaithful to Diana during their marriage.
However, Diana and Charles had been separated for two years before the programme aired.
Wearing the famous “revenge” dress conveyed Diana’s “feigned indifference” to her estranged husband’s confessions, according to her biographer, Sarah Bradford, in her 2006 book, Diana.
Fashion editors later referred to the dress as Diana’s “[bleep]-you dress”, Tina Brown wrote in her book, The Diana Chronicles.
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