Thank you so much - I'm so glad you're enjoying it! And it's amazing how compelling photos of Diana are, even after all these years. And even when she's wearing a terrible Eighties prom dress!
What a treat! And man, that dress. I saw that the cross was FIVE INCHES tall, and I was like, how on god’s green earth do you wear that if you’re not like Cardinal Richelieu? Well, I guess you are Diana and you wear a dress with a drop waist and a mock ruff. What a journey.
Seriously! It’s a monster! Very few people could have pulled that off. And it was apparently Diana’s idea to pair it with her own long strand of pearls, which was inspired - especially with that dress. She really knew what she was doing.
I would love to know how the cross came into existence back in the 1920s. I can’t remember which, but one of the articles I read said that Garrard think it was a special commission, possibly as a historical replica. Who commissioned it and how/where did they wear it?
There’s no earlier provenance listed prior to Naim Attallah, so whoever it was must want to keep quiet. (There’s also some confusion about when Attallah acquired it - the BBC says he purchased it in the 1980s, but Sotheby’s says he bought it after Diana’s death. Either way, somebody must know who he bought it from! Or was it always just in the Garrard collection? Hmmph. I’m so nosy, lol.
Your Substack newsletter is my favourite! Thanks for the thoughtful links and your meticulous attention to provenance, the Diana photos made my day!
Thank you so much - I'm so glad you're enjoying it! And it's amazing how compelling photos of Diana are, even after all these years. And even when she's wearing a terrible Eighties prom dress!
The octopus's face! And thanks for the shout out. Dad's poor lawnmowers took a beating from those stray railroad spikes. Whoopsie!
Wow, people really do look like their dogs.
LOL! Yeah, that is some truly impressive facial hair.
What a treat! And man, that dress. I saw that the cross was FIVE INCHES tall, and I was like, how on god’s green earth do you wear that if you’re not like Cardinal Richelieu? Well, I guess you are Diana and you wear a dress with a drop waist and a mock ruff. What a journey.
Seriously! It’s a monster! Very few people could have pulled that off. And it was apparently Diana’s idea to pair it with her own long strand of pearls, which was inspired - especially with that dress. She really knew what she was doing.
I would love to know how the cross came into existence back in the 1920s. I can’t remember which, but one of the articles I read said that Garrard think it was a special commission, possibly as a historical replica. Who commissioned it and how/where did they wear it?
There’s no earlier provenance listed prior to Naim Attallah, so whoever it was must want to keep quiet. (There’s also some confusion about when Attallah acquired it - the BBC says he purchased it in the 1980s, but Sotheby’s says he bought it after Diana’s death. Either way, somebody must know who he bought it from! Or was it always just in the Garrard collection? Hmmph. I’m so nosy, lol.