Never-Before-Seen Photos of Princess Diana Emerge Nearly 30 Years After Her Death
Unseen school photos and personal letters of Princess Diana are heading to auction, offering a rare look at her early years.
Princess Diana is loved, cherished, and adored long after she is gone. And thanks to never-before-seen photos from her school days, royal fans are getting a glimpse of the young woman behind the global icon. A new auction collection is bringing those early memories into the spotlight as Diana takes center stage once more, almost 3 decades since her passing.
The collection comes from Katherine Hanbury, one of Diana’s childhood friends who attended West Heath Girls’ School alongside her in the 1970s. Hanbury recently shared the keepsakes with U.K. auction house Gorringe’s, where they are set to go under the hammer on July 7. Among the treasures are four candid, never-before-seen color photographs published by PEOPLE, from Diana’s school days, along with personal letters she wrote to Hanbury.
The photos show Diana during her time at West Heath, before royal life changed everything. Two pictures show her in her dorm room, while another shows her outside with the school sports field behind her. The final snapshot features the late Princess relaxing in the sunshine with a group of classmates outside one of the school buildings. Also included is a handwritten birthday card Diana sent to Hanbury. She signed it "Diana (S)," referring to her Spencer surname and possibly distinguishing herself from other girls with the same name at school.
Albert Radford, Books & Manuscripts Specialist at Gorringe’s, told PEOPLE, “This intimate archive offers a rare glimpse of Diana, Princess of Wales, before duty and fame had the final say. Through our client's recollections from West Heath Girls’ School, Diana comes across as deeply unassuming and domestically minded, someone whose real ambition was simply to have a family and take pride in ordinary things.”
Radford said Hanbury remembered Diana volunteering to help clean the headmistress’s house, adding that memories like these, along with the newly surfaced collection, show a side of the late princess that feels very different from the public image built around her after her marriage to Charles. He suggested that the photos and letters show Diana as a hopeful and unguarded young woman, still far removed from the royal institution that would later shape much of her life.
Diana left West Heath in 1977 at age 16, which is the same year she met the then-Prince Charles. Romance did not follow right away, and the pair only began to date a few years later before tying the knot in July 1981. The collection also includes the "Honeymoon Letter" Diana wrote to Hanbury while spending time at Balmoral following her royal wedding.
Another deeply personal item is an order of service from a private Thanksgiving gathering held at St. Martin-in-the-Fields in November 1997, just months after Diana’s tragic death in Paris. Unlike the widely televised funeral watched around the world, this smaller service was far more intimate, making the program a particularly meaningful keepsake.
