Before she became a global style icon and the “people’s princess,” Diana was a shy 19-year-old nursery school teacher dating Prince Charles. In 1980, royal photographer Arthur Edwards captured a now-iconic image that would inadvertently thrust her into the public eye.
The photo showed Diana in a skirt that became see-through when backlit by the sun. “It was a completely innocent moment,” Edwards said. “The sun just came out at the right—or wrong—time. I never intended for it to be provocative.” At the time, Edwards had just begun covering the royal beat. Eager to photograph Diana, he tracked her down at the preschool where she worked, with permission from the school’s owner, and took her and two children to a nearby park for a casual shoot.
What was meant to be a simple photo turned into a media sensation. Diana, reportedly embarrassed, told Charles she didn’t want to be remembered as “the girlfriend without a petticoat.” Still, the moment marked the start of her complicated relationship with the press.
Edwards continued to document Diana’s journey from reserved teacher to beloved humanitarian. “She was always gracious,” he recalled. Her compassionate outreach—hugging AIDS patients, comforting the sick—redefined royalty. Today, her sons, Princes William and Harry, along with their wives, continue her legacy of service.
Diana’s influence remains timeless, her legacy as powerful as ever.
