The Photo That Changed Everything: Diana’s Skirt, the Sunlight… and a Royal Scandal (2 of 3)
Still, her image lives on—powerful, poignant, and sometimes, misunderstood.
One such image? A photo taken long before palaces and pearls—back when Diana was still simply “Miss Spencer,” a young woman with soft eyes and modest dreams, working at a London preschool.
It was 1980. Royal photographer Arthur Edwards had just started his career and was eager to get a glimpse of the woman capturing the nation’s curiosity. He tracked down the school where Diana worked, convinced its owner to arrange a quick shoot, and took her and two children to a nearby park.
She wore a simple skirt, smiling shyly for the camera. It was an ordinary moment—until the sun made it unforgettable.
“Midway through the shoot, the sun broke through the clouds,” Edwards later recalled. “And suddenly, you could see the outline of her legs through the skirt.”
The resulting silhouette was breathtaking, accidental, and—eventually—everywhere. Newspapers ran it across front pages. The public was mesmerized. Diana was mortified.
“I don’t want to be remembered as the girlfriend who didn’t wear a petticoat,” she reportedly told Charles.
But Edwards insists the moment wasn’t staged. “I didn’t plan it. I didn’t want to embarrass her. It was just too striking not to print,” he said.
Despite the uncomfortable attention, Diana continued to work with Edwards over the years. Their professional bond endured through weddings, births, funerals, and decades of royal history.
Another unforgettable image came years later, in 1992, as Diana sat alone in front of the Taj Mahal. It was meant to be a photo-op, but what it captured was something deeper: a portrait of loneliness, strength, and quiet grace.
