For decades, the night in 1985 when Princess Diana wore an emerald necklace as a headband at a banquet has been remembered as an example of her unmatched approach to style. But according to Richard Dalton, a hairdresser who worked with the princess for nearly a decade in the 1980s, the choice had its origins in a practical concern during a royal tour to Australia.
“I think she had sunburn on her neck so we said, ‘Let’s make a headband of it,’” Dalton said at a People magazine panel event on Tuesday. He also explained how they got the necklace to stay affixed to her forehead. “I asked Evelyn, her dresser, for six inches of knicker elastic, [the kind used by] grannies.”
That night Diana wore an Art Deco-style bandeau with cabochon emeralds, each set in a ring of diamonds. According to jewelry historian Leslie Field, the necklace was designed by Queen Mary using stones that once belonged to Queen Victoria. Left to Queen Elizabeth II after Mary’s 1953 death, it was given to Diana as a wedding present. In December 2022, the necklace made its first appearance in decades when Kate Middleton paired it with a rented bright green dress at the Earthshot Awards ceremony in Boston.
During his panel discussion with People, Dalton said that another adorned hairstyle was his favorite look he did with Diana “My favorite would be Thailand,” he said, describing a look from a 1988 tour to the nation in Southeast Asia. “[She wore a] purple and shocking pink dress and I said, ‘Why don’t we do orchids?’ I went into the hotel, stealing flowers for the princess. This was my favorite. She loved it.”
Another story he told involved a clever way that Diana was able to change her hairstyle drastically without the notice of the news media. “We decided whatever charity she was representing, the hair would sometimes take away from what she was doing,” Dalton recalled. “Saudi Arabia—she wanted it short. We would cut it every day about a quarter of an inch,” he said. “[After] eight weeks, nobody noticed!”
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