A Royal Style Shift: When Diana’s Choice Met Quiet Disapproval

Princess Diana will always be associated with her short haircut, and in the ‘80s and ‘90s, hordes of women rushed out to copy her signature shaggy ‘do. Although she sometimes wore her hair slightly longer or more tousled, there were very few occasions when she deviated from wearing it down. One of those was the 1984 State Opening of Parliament, which Diana attended alongside Queen Elizabeth and King Charles (then Prince Charles).

Princess Diana had been married to Prince Charles for just three years at the time, and she tested out a swept-back updo with the Spencer Tiara and a long, ruffled dress for the ceremony. In his new book, Swan Song: Diana, My Sister, Princess Diana’s brother, Charles Spencer, detailed the incident that resulted from her new hairstyle at the event.

“Her hair stylist, RIchard Dalton, swept Diana’s hair into a ‘chignon’—a bun pinned at the nape of the neck, as favoured by some movie stars a generation earlier,” Earl Spencer wrote. He added that fans let out “gasps of admiration” when she got out of her carriage since the public was “used to her trademark look” and “surprised that this had been replaced by something so ravishing.”

Diana chose the Spencer family's diamond tiara—the same style she wore on her wedding day—for the opening of Parliament, and her brother noted that it "looked magnificent atop her sweeping hair, while her bone structure was shown off to great effect."

Although Diana’s updo was a hit with the public and the press, Earl Spencer wrote that Queen Elizabeth “was not amused” by the scene-stealing moment. Instead of covering the late monarch’s address to Parliament, all of the headlines “were about Diana’s new hairstyle.”

“Diana was told off, and she—ever respectful of ‘the boss,’ as she called the Queen—from that point on, always wore her hair more simply at events that they both attended,” Earl Spencer wrote.