On August 31, 1997, Lady Diana, then Princess of Wales, died alongside Dodi al-Fayed following a catastrophic car crash in Paris’s Alma tunnel.
Just 36 years old at the time of her death, the woman affectionately known as the “people’s princess” left behind the image of an enduring icon, one that continues to resonate with millions around the world nearly three decades later.
Diana’s ties to Monaco ran deeper than many realise, rooted in a close and unlikely friendship with Princess Grace. The two first struck up a rapport in 1981, in the weeks following Diana’s engagement to then-Prince Charles, when a nervous 19-year-old Diana attended a London fundraiser in a black strapless gown. Sensing the young royal’s discomfort, Princess Grace led her away to a private room, where Diana broke down in tears. Grace offered comfort along with some knowing humour, telling her not to worry, but warning gently that things would only get harder from there, advice that would prove prescient. The former Hollywood actress, who had herself transitioned from film stardom into royal life a quarter-century earlier, quickly became something of a role model to Diana, the two reportedly locked in conversation from their very first meeting.
Their bond continued in the months that followed. Princess Grace attended Diana’s wedding to Charles at Westminster Abbey on July 29, 1981, representing Monaco alongside her son, Prince Albert, and the couple later crossed paths again, including together at Wimbledon.
Grace’s death in a car accident in September 1982, remarkably, both women had once separately spoken of a premonition that they would die in exactly that way, cut the friendship short. Diana was determined to represent the British Royal Family at Grace’s funeral in Monaco, and when Charles resisted the idea, she took the matter directly to Queen Elizabeth II, telling her biographer afterward that it felt important, since Grace, like her, had been an outsider who married into a large and demanding family.
Nearly 28 years after Diana’s own death, the friendship between the two princesses, both women thrust into extraordinary public life at a young age, remains one of the more poignant threads connecting the British Royal Family to the Principality of Monaco.