Previously unseen photo of teenage Lady Diana revealed
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A charming photo of the 16-year-old Princess Diana as a bridesmaid at her sister’s wedding has come to light.
The fresh-faced teenager wears a long white and red patterned dress and holds a bouquet of roses in the Spencer family photo.
Jane Spencer married Robert Fellowes, the assistant private secretary to the Queen, at Westminster Abbey on April 20, 1978.
It was a year after Diana was first introduced to Charles at a grouse hunt, and he briefly dated her older sister, Sarah.
The image emerged from the archive of royal fashion designer Bill Pashley, which sold for over £7,000 at Hansons Auctioneers of Etwall, Derbyshire.
It also included a letter by Princess Diana three weeks after the Royal wedding in which she joked that the Scottish climate had turned her honeymoon tan “light blue”.
Diana and Prince Charles had just got back to Balmoral after their honeymoon around the Mediterranean on Royal Yacht Britannia in August 1981.
She struggled to get into her room at first due to boxes of skirts and Scottish wear that had been sent to her by the late Mr Pashley.
She wrote to him to thank him for making her outfits for her stay at Balmoral.
She referenced her wedding 19 days earlier at St Paul’s Cathedral, saying she could remember “most of what went on.”
She said: “When I arrived back here, it was difficult to get into my room, due to two huge boxes blocking all form of entrance!
“A million thanks for doing all the skirts & generally everything so quickly. They’ll keep me going for a while!
“Ever since our return, I have remained a light blue from the cold as the places where we went were boiling & for once I’ve gone a decent colour!!
“I do hope that you had a good view at St. Paul’s [of the wedding], funnily enough I remember most of what went on!
“Dearest Bill, you are just the kindest of people to have done all my Scottish wear & it’s enormously appreciated.”
The archive was consigned for auction by the family of Mr Pashley, who died in 2014.
There were also 13 Royal Christmas cards that Diana sent to Bill from 1981 to 1994.
The 1981 festive greeting carries a wedding photograph of the happy newly-wedded couple.
The cards for 1982 and 1984 have pictures of Prince William as a baby and William and a new-born Prince Harry, respectively.
All of the cards have photos of the family of four up until 1992 - the year it was announced that Charles and Diana were separating.
For 1993 and 1994, the Christmas cards contained photos of just Diana and her two boys.
Auctioneer Charles Hanson said: “The strong results achieved for Christmas cards and a letter relating to the life and times of Diana, Princess of Wales, underline her importance and enduring popularity.
“She was adored not just by this nation but by people all over the world. Her tragic death in a car accident in 1997 prompted an exceptional response and outpouring of love.
“There is a deep fascination with her life and keen royalists will always want to own items connected to her.”
Mr Pashley’s other clients included Sarah Ferguson, Duchess of York, and opera singers Dame Margaret Price and Dame Gwyneth Jones.
He was from Rotherham and studied at the Royal College of Art in London, specialising in wedding dresses for the rich and famous.
