Princess Diana’s relationship with the media, particularly the tabloid press, was a complex and often painful one, as revealed by her longtime hairdresser, Richard Dalton. During a candid conversation, Dalton shared that Diana, despite the strict restrictions placed on her within the royal family, managed to secretly receive tabloid newspapers. “She wasn’t allowed to see the tabloid newspapers,” Dalton explained, laughing as he recalled how one of the hairdressers would smuggle them in. “She used to say, ‘Richard, can you bring them in for me?’” Once Dalton had passed through security and entered the pantry, it was smooth sailing, he said. This secret exchange, however, was not without emotional consequence, as Diana was often distressed by the constant, often unfounded speculation about her life and family.
Dalton, who first met Diana in 1978 and served as her official hairdresser from 1981 to 1990, revealed that the princess would often groan in frustration as she flipped through the pages of the tabloids. “Then another one comes along, and then [she’d go], ‘Ohhhhhh,’” he recalled, mimicking her sighs of exasperation. One of the rumors that caused her the most pain was the constant speculation about the parentage of her youngest son, Prince Harry. Tabloids relentlessly suggested that Major James Hewitt, with whom Diana had an affair after Harry’s birth, was Harry’s father due to their similar red hair. Dalton, however, was well aware that red hair ran in Diana’s family, noting that her brother, Charles Spencer, and sister, Lady Sarah, both had red hair as well. He was in no position at the time to publicly counter the narrative, but he knew the claims were unfounded.
Dalton’s memories of Princess Diana are now part of his memoir, It’s All About the Hair — My Decade with Diana, which he published in 2024 with the help of his friend Renae Plant. Plant, the founder of The Princess Diana Museum, has spent years preserving Diana’s legacy. The idea for the museum came to her shortly after Diana’s death, driven by a desire to ensure that Diana’s life wasn’t overshadowed by others, particularly by Camilla, the current Queen Consort. Plant explains that she felt Diana was quickly being “whitewashed from history” to make way for Camilla, which motivated her to create a space that would honor Diana’s memory in a meaningful way.
Plant reached out to Princes William and Harry before establishing the museum, seeking their approval. “They wrote back and said, ‘Thank you,’ and kind of gave me their blessing,” Plant recalled. “I would not have done it if it weren’t for them knowing that I was honoring their mother.” Since launching the virtual Princess Diana Museum in 2019, Plant has curated over 2,700 personal and historical items belonging to Diana, making it one of the largest collections of its kind. The museum will hold its first physical exhibition in Los Angeles in November 2026, after which it will travel across the U.S., to Canada, Asia, Australia, and Europe. Plant’s ultimate goal is to establish a permanent home for the museum in the U.K., ensuring that Diana’s legacy is preserved for future generations.
Through her memoir and the ongoing work of the Princess Diana Museum, both Dalton and Plant are contributing to the preservation of Diana’s legacy, keeping her memory alive for those who admired her and reminding the world of her profound impact on both the royal family and the public.
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