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Diana, Princess of Wales

21 of 56 portraits of Diana, Princess of Wales

© Mario Testino

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Diana, Princess of Wales

by Mario Testino
Durst and Lambda bromide print, 1997
16 in. x 20 1/4 in. (408 mm x 515 mm)
Purchased, 2003
Primary Collection
NPG P1015

Sitterback to top

Artistback to top

  • Mario Testino (1954-), Photographer. Artist or producer of 22 portraits, Sitter in 3 portraits.

This portraitback to top

When Lady Diana Spencer married Prince Charles in 1981 she became a global celebrity. Diana quickly encompassed both fame and celebrity: glamorous star, tabloid sensation and patron of many charities. The camera couldn't get enough of her. She became a national institution knowing
how to work the press just as much as they could work her. This image by Mario Testino for Vanity Fair shows a relaxed and independent woman emerging from a difficult period. However, the images from this photo shoot soon acquired a tragic poignancy, being the last official photographs to be taken of Diana before her death in a car accident in 1997. By that time, Diana had surpassed celebrity and fame; she was somebody who seemed to be Britain itself - like a modern Britannia.

Linked publicationsback to top

  • Cannadine, Sir David (Introduction); Cooper, Tarnya; Stewart, Louise; MacGibbon, Rab; Cox, Paul; Peltz, Lucy; Moorhouse, Paul; Broadley, Rosie; Jascot-Gill, Sabina, Tudors to Windsors: British Royal Portraits, 2018 (accompanying the exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery from The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas, USA, 7 October 2018 -3 February 2019. Bendigo Art Gallery, Australia, 16 March - 14 July 2019.), p. 201
  • Kinmonth, Patrick, Mario Testino: Portraits, 2002 (accompanying the exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery from 1 February to 4 June 2002), p. 118/119

Linked displays and exhibitionsback to top

Subject/Themeback to top

Events of 1997back to top

Current affairs

The Labour party - re-branded as New Labour - win a spectacular landslide election and Tony Blair becomes Prime Minister. Their electoral campaign promised that 'things can only get better' and that their priorities would be 'education, education, education.' While New Labour's 'third way' centralist approach put off some party traditionalists, it secured the popular vote.
Princess Diana and her lover Dodi Fayed die in a car crash in Paris.

Art and science

J.K. Rowling publishes Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, the first of seven fantasy books chronicling the life of Harry and his friends at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry: learning magic, breaking school rules, romantic entanglements and their struggles against the evil Lord Voldemort.
Scientists at the Roslin Institute in Scotland announce that they have cloned the first mammal from an adult cell: '6LL3', or Dolly the Sheep.

International

Governor of Hong Kong Chris Patten hands the island back to China after one hundred and fifty years as a British Colony. Although sovereignty was restored to China, it was agreed that the Island would become a 'Special Administrative Region' under the 'One Country, Two Systems' principle, effectively keeping its capitalist economy and way of life for a period of 50 years.

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