Photographer Doesn’t Realize What He Captured After

We are revisiting a story that originally made headlines in November 2020, reflecting on one of Princess Diana’s earliest moments in the public eye.

Long before she became a global fashion icon and beloved royal figure, Diana was a modest 19-year-old nursery teacher dating Prince Charles.

A single, unplanned photograph taken in 1980 by Arthur Edwards would unexpectedly launch her into the media spotlight.

The photo in question captured Diana in a park wearing a skirt that, when backlit by the sun, became unintentionally see-through—revealing the silhouette of her legs. Edwards, a newly assigned royal photographer at the time, insists the moment was innocent.

“It was a rare, spontaneous shot,” he recalled. Diana had agreed to pose with two students after Edwards received permission from her preschool’s owner.

Though the image embarrassed Diana, who reportedly told Charles she didn’t want to be remembered as “the girlfriend without a petticoat,” it marked the beginning of her complex and often difficult relationship with the press. Despite the awkward start, Edwards continued photographing Diana throughout her royal journey, watching her evolve into the “people’s princess.”