In the final years of her life, Princess Diana was a fan of many designer labels—think Versace and Dior, for starters—but one fashion house she avoided? Chanel—and for the most heartbreaking reason.
It’s not because she wasn’t a fan of their clothes—it boiled down to her husband Prince Charles’s longstanding affair with Camilla Parker Bowles, an affair that had plagued much of their marriage. Chanel, of course, is known for its interlocking Cs—and this reminded the Princess of Wales too much of Charles and Camilla. Because of Chanel’s iconic logo, Diana “could no longer bring herself” to wear the brand, People reported.
Princess Diana wearing Chanel earlier in her royal life.
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After marrying in 1981, Charles and Diana separated in 1992 and finalized their divorce in 1996—just one year before her untimely death. Though she had worn Chanel tweed suits early in her royal life, after her divorce, Diana couldn’t wear Chanel because, as Australian designer Jayson Brundson told Harper’s Bazaar, “She said, ‘No, I can’t wear linked Cs, the double C.’”
Brundson styled Diana for a hospital charity event during what would ultimately become her last visit Down Under in 1996. After choosing a pair of Chanel shoes to compliment her cream Versace skirt suit, Diana demurred at wearing them. “I asked why, and she said, ‘It’s Camilla and Charles,’” Brundson recalled.
Princess Diana in Sydney, Australia on November 1, 1996.
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Princess Diana in Versace on October 31, 1996 in Sydney, Australia.
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“It was definitely the timing, it being post-divorce,” he continued. “She would have seen linked Cs, and they would have just reminded her of Charles and Camilla. The shoes were quite boldly Chanel—I think they had gold linked Cs on them. And I think for photo optics, people would have honed in on that considering it was so fresh after the divorce, as well.”
Adding insult to injury, during her marriage to Charles, Diana found a pair of cufflinks Charles owned engraved with interlocked Cs—which she interpreted as an homage to Charles and Camilla.
“It’s hard to believe that anyone as intelligent and well-read as the Prince of Wales could be so stupid—so utterly incapable of imagining what a new wife might conclude if her husband carried a photograph of his old girlfriend in his diary,” royal biographer Penny Junor wrote in her biography of Camilla called The Duchess: The Untold Story.
Princess Diana in Chanel earlier in her royal life.
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Speaking to Andrew Morton for his bombshell 1992 biography about her called Diana: Her True Story, Diana recalled Charles sending Camilla flowers with a signed card reading “To Gladys from Fred”—their nicknames for one another.
“[I met her] very early on,” Diana said of Camilla (via People). “I was introduced to the circle, but obviously I was a threat. I was a very young girl, but I was a threat. We always had discussions about Camilla, though. I once heard him on the telephone in his bath on his handheld set saying, ‘Whatever happens, I will always love you.’ I told him afterwards that I had listened at the door, and we had a filthy row.”
About two weeks before their wedding on July 29, 1981, someone in Charles’s office told Diana that he had a bracelet made for Camilla with “G” and “F” (for Gladys and Fred) intertwined on it. “I was devastated,” Diana said.
Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer after their wedding ceremony at St. Paul’s Cathedral on July 29, 1981.
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“So I had lunch with my sisters and said, ‘I can’t marry him, I can’t do this, this is absolutely unbelievable,’” Diana recalled. “They were wonderful and said, ‘Well, bad luck Duch [Diana’s childhood nickname], your face is on the tea towels, so you’re too late to chicken out.’ So we made light of it.”
Diana added that, on their honeymoon, she noticed cufflinks on her husband’s wrists—“Two Cs entwined like the Chanel Cs,” she said. “Got it in one; knew exactly. ‘Camilla gave you those, didn’t she?’ He said, ‘Yes, so what’s wrong?’ And boy, did we have a row. Jealousy, total jealousy. It’s such a good idea, the two Cs, but it wasn’t that clever in some ways.”
Princess Diana in Chanel.
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Just before she died, it seemed the pain of her divorce had begun to fade. Just two months before the Paris car crash that ended her life on August 31, 1997, Diana wore a Chanel bracelet and bag while visiting New York City, just before auctioning off 79 dresses for charity in June 1997—an auction that brought in $3.25 million, proof of how influential Diana was when it came to fashion, influence that continues still today.