Palace tried to ‘block picture of David Bowie and Princess Diana'
Denis O'Regan, 71, captured an iconic shot of the late Princess of Wales with one of Britain's most successful and pioneering musicians after his Glass Spider concert in Wembley Stadium in June 1987.
O'Regan told The Telegraph that the Princess, 25 at the time, had shyly asked him whether Bowie would want a picture with her, to which the photographer responded: 'I think he would.'
'I thought it was so funny,' he said, adding that Diana had been 'so sweet'.
But he explained that the picture almost did not make it into the public domain at the time.
'So the next day, my agent got a call from [the] Palace, saying don't use the pictures, because word had gone out about James Hewitt. So that's when it kind of erupted. It was interesting, on a number of levels.'
The Princess had attended Bowie's concert with Army Major James Hewitt, with whom she had a five-year affair from 1986.
'They just didn't want Diana in the press,' O'Regan said, adding: 'It was really [that] they didn't want to fuel the fire.
'So the more pictures that weren't out there, the better, because someone would have said: 'This is her at the show that she turned up to with James Hewitt', even though I didn't get the multi-million dollar shot of the two of them together, because no one knew who he was… it was obviously a tiny moment in history.'
It comes ahead of the release of his new book, David Bowie by Denis O'Regan, which charts the rock star's career through O'Regan's lens over more than three decades.
The pair's working relationship began in 1974, five years after Bowie's breakthrough hit, Space Oddity. The Modern Love singer was recording at Olympic Studios in Barnes at the time and O'Regan was working at the newspaper shop across the street.
O'Regan said: 'I partly missed him, so I came back the second day, and that's why, when he saw me two days running, he said 'You should work for NME'.'
Bowie's words were 'prophetic', as described by the photographer, who ended up being a regular contributor to the music publication NME.
O'Regan has since captured images of the most famous musicians in the world, including Freddie Mercury, Mick Jagger, Keith Richards and Bob Marley.
But the Ziggy Stardust star inspired it all. He said: 'When I saw David Bowie, that was it. I saw another side of music and the visual aspect of it.'
Among the pictures featured in his new book are Bowie laughing with Mick Jagger from the Rolling Stones at the 'Bill Stickers' club in Soho and a behind-the-scenes capture of Bowie's shoot with Helmut Newton, the fashion photographer in Berlin.
One intimate photograph shows Bowie asleep and shirtless on the bow of a boat in Thailand, where O'Regan had accompanied him during his Serious Moonlight tour in 1983, which had extra shows in Bangkok, Singapore and Hong Kong.
Describing the thought process behind the shot, O'Regan said: 'So we'd had lunch, and David then lay on the boat, as per that picture, having a snooze.
'By this time, I knew him really well. So while he was asleep, I just walked up to him, put a foot under each arm, and then just shot down at him with the sweeping river.'
He added: 'And I thought it'd make a really good picture. So there's a picture of him dozing, then there's a picture of him waking up, and there's the picture of him laughing. It sort of sums us up, really, but at the beginning of that tour, I never thought I'd ever do something like that in Thailand with David.'
O'Regan described the musician, who died aged 69 in 2016 after being diagnosed with liver cancer, as 'very down to earth' and 'different to his stage persona'.
'I spent a vast amount of time with him,' he told The Telegraph, adding: 'We became very close, really, considering it was not what I expected, because I expected this enigma to keep me at arm's length, which he definitely didn't.'
David Bowie by Denis O'Regan will be released by ACC Art Books on July 22 2025.
Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
The Beatles announce 'Anthology 4' with a new version of 'Free as a Bird.' Here's everything else we know about the expanded reissue.
Previously unreleased tracks and previously unseen footage are coming in November. Thirty years after it was first released, The Beatles' multimedia Anthology project — a career-spanning documentary; a glossy coffee-table book; three behind-the-scenes rarities albums — will be getting the deluxe reissue treatment this fall, Apple Corps Ltd. announced Thursday. Apple also dropped a new track to whet fans' appetite: a 'demixed' version of the 1995 reunion single 'Free as a Bird' with crystal-clear vocals from John Lennon. What else are the Beatles adding to their expanded Anthology? Here's everything we know so far. 'Free as a Bird (2025 Mix)' Available now on major streaming services, the '2025 mix' of 'Free as a Bird' uses the same advanced demixing technology that allowed the surviving Beatles — in collaboration with Giles Martin, the son of their 1960s producer, George Martin — to finish off a long-lost third reunion track, 'Now and Then,' and release it in late 2023. This version of 'Free as a Bird' has been a long time coming. In 1975, Lennon retreated from the music scene to raise his newborn son, Sean. But he never stopped writing and demoing songs at his home in New York City's Dakota Building. While many of Lennon's final compositions eventually appeared — in polished studio form — on his 1980 comeback album with wife Yoko Ono, Double Fantasy, and their posthumous 1984 collection Milk and Honey, a handful remained in Ono's vault. 'Free as a Bird' was one of them. On January 19, 1994 — some time after George Harrison and longtime Beatles' sidekick Neil Aspinall reportedly pitched Ono on the idea of fleshing out Lennon's unreleased demos with full-band instrumentation and vocals — Ono gave McCartney two cassette tapes. One featured "Free as a Bird" and "Real Love," two late Lennon demos that the surviving Beatles (aka The Threetles) ultimately "finished off" during 1994 and 1995 reunion sessions at Paul McCartney's home studio in Sussex, England and released as part of the sprawling 1995-1996 Beatles Anthology project. "It's the end of the line, really," Ringo Starr said at the time. "There's nothing more we can do as the Beatles." That, of course, turned out to be not quite true. Back in 1994 and 1995, producer Jeff Lynne and his team used existing technology to iron out problems with pitch, timing and noise on Lennon's tapes, but his vocals on the original Anthology versions of 'Free as a Bird' and 'Real Love' still sounded ghostly and distant — like they were recorded on a primitive cassette player. But for 'Now and Then' — a third Lennon demo that McCartney, Starr and Harrison worked on for two days in March 1995, then abandoned — Martin took advantage of a machine-assisted learning program developed by director Peter Jackson's team and recently used on other Beatles projects to isolate, clarify and remix individual voices and instruments. The result? A much sharper Lennon vocal than on "Free as a Bird" or "Real Love.' The 2025 version of 'Free as a Bird' benefits from the same technology (as well as a new, punchier mix by Lynne). Artificial intelligence is involved, but this isn't a fake robot Lennon that had been generated from existing audio data and programmed to "sing." Instead, as McCartney told BBC's Radio 4 Today program in June 2023, "[Jackson] was able to extricate John's voice from a ropey little bit of cassette. We had John's voice and a piano and he could separate them with AI. They tell the machine: 'That's the voice. This is a guitar. Lose the guitar.' [So] we were able to take John's voice and get it pure through this AI so that then we can mix the record, as you would normally do." The original 'Free as a Bird' music video has been restored as well. 'Real Love (2025 Mix)' It's not out yet — and we don't know exactly when it will be — but the Beatles have also prepped a demixed version of 'Real Love,' the other Threetles reunion single. The expanded Anthology albums are slated for release on Nov. 21; 'Real Love' could come out earlier, as another preview track, or it could be withheld for release day. 'Anthology 4' album The original Anthology set consisted of 155 rare demos, studio outtakes and live cuts spread across three double albums. The idea was to provide 'insight into the early development of songs that became the [Beatles'] recorded masterpieces,' as Apple put it Thursday. Now they're adding a fourth installment. 'Curated' by Martin, Anthology 4 features an additional 36 Beatles rarities. Twenty-three of them have already seen the light of day on earlier 'super deluxe' reissues of the band's studio albums. But 13 Anthology 4 tracks have never been officially released, until now. They include new outtakes of 'If I Fell,' 'In My Life,' 'Nowhere Man,' 'Hey Bulldog' and 'All You Need Is Love.' Here's the complete list of previously unreleased material: Tell Me Why (Takes 4 and 5) If I Fell (Take 11) Matchbox (Take 1) Every Little Thing (Takes 6 and 7) I Need You (Take 1) I've Just Seen A Face (Take 3) In My Life (Take 1) Nowhere Man (First version – Take 2) Baby, You're A Rich Man (Takes 11 and 12) All You Need Is Love (Rehearsal for BBC broadcast) The Fool On The Hill (Take 5 – Instrumental) I Am The Walrus (Take 19 – strings, brass, clarinet overdub) Hey Bulldog (Take 4 – instrumental) Free As A Bird (2025 mix) Real Love (2025 mix) 'Now and Then' will also appear on Anthology 4. 'Remastered' versions of 'Anthology 1, 2 and 3' According to Apple, all existing Anthology material has been 'remastered' by Martin as well. That sounds like standard practice, but it's likely to amount to something much more substantial. Why? Because Jackson's machine-assisted learning program has the power to clean up and clarify all of the embryonic Beatles recordings on Anthology 1 in particular — including their very early, very noisy demos, taped while they were still teenage amateurs in Liverpool. A new episode of the 'Anthology' TV documentary The original Anthology documentary was an eight-part series that eschewed the usual talking- heads approach in favor of letting John, Paul, George and Ringo tell their own story, in their own words. Now there's a ninth episode. According to Apple, the new installment includes 'unseen behind-the-scenes footage of Paul, George and Ringo coming together between 1994 and 1995 to work on 'The Anthology' and reflec[t] on their shared life as The Beatles.' The entire documentary has been restored and remastered as well, with the help of Jackson's Wingnut Films & Park Road Post teams. Never before available in digital form, it starts streaming on Disney+ on Nov. 26. The Anthology book — 368 pages illustrated with more than 1,300 photos, documents and other memorabilia from the band's archives — will be republished on Oct. 14. Solve the daily Crossword
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Prince Philip Accused of Making Nasty Comment After Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's Wedding
Prince Philip wasn't exactly known for being the most tactful royal. And his don't-give-a-damn attitude was apparently on full display at his grandson's wedding in 2018. When Prince Harry and Meghan Markle tied the knot, the world looked on in awe. But Prince Philip supposedly couldn't wait until it was over… Prince Philip allegedly made a harsh four-word comment at the end of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's wedding Let's be real – wedding ceremonies can be a bit tedious sometimes. Clearly, Prince Philip agreed. According to a former butler, the late royal didn't mince his words at the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle. Grant Harrold, who previously served for the royal family, details the event in his new memoir. An excerpt published by The Telegraph mentioned the awkward slip: 'Once all the formalities were over, we watched as the happy couple, and then the other members of the Royal Family, filed out of the chapel. When Prince Philip came out, he turned to the Queen and said, 'Thank f*ck that's over.'' It seems the elderly royal wasn't expressing his disappointment in the match, though. In 2021, royal biographer Ingrid Seward told US Weekly that Philip had been 'welcoming' to Meghan Markle when she entered the royal family. 'He was very welcoming to Meghan because, of course, she was a newcomer and a very different newcomer,' she told the publication. It certainly wasn't the first time Philip had raised eyebrows with his no-nonsense words. 'Deaf? If you're near there, no wonder you are deaf,' he famously said to a group of deaf children at a Caribbean steel drum performance in 2000. Another awkward encounter in 1999 saw him ask Tory politician Lord Taylor of Warwick, whose parents are Jamaican, 'And what exotic part of the world do you come from?' to which the politician replied 'Birmingham.' Prince Philip passed away in 2021, a year before Queen Elizabeth's death. Harrolds book, 'The Royal Butler,' is available in September. TELL US – DO YOU THINK PRINCE PHILIP'S WORDS AT THE WEDDING WERE OFFENSIVE? The post Prince Philip Accused of Making Nasty Comment After Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's Wedding appeared first on Reality Tea. Solve the daily Crossword
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
Perrie Edwards reveals pain of 'toxic' relationship before Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain romance
Perrie Edwards escaped a "toxic" relationship which left her thinking she "didn't want to meet anybody". The 32-year-old Little Mix star - who is now engaged to former Arsenal and Liverpool footballer Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain - has opened up about the "pain" she felt because of her "first relationship" with an unnamed ex partner. She told Paul C Brunson on the We Need To Talk podcast: "I think definitely at the time I thought everything we experienced in our relationship was normal. "Because it was my first relationship, first love. I was like, 'Oh, this is how it's supposed to feel. It's supposed to feel a little bit toxic. In some ways, this is probably normal, right?' "And then when I became single, I was almost thinking, like, I never, ever want to go through that again. "I didn't even want to meet anybody. I was like, that's me done. I don't think I could bear that pain." However, she has since realised the truth, while it took her some time to get used to how Alex handled things in their relationship. She explained: "Now, reflecting back, I'm thinking, oh, that probably wasn't good. And I've noticed it a lot. "Like in the start of the relationship, I would handle things differently with Alex, and he'd come at it with such a level head that it would throw me." After getting engaged to Alex in 2022, she opened up about how "laid back" he is. She said: "Little things might happen, and I'd think, 'Oh, now he's going to kick off, he's not going to like this.' "And I'd be like, 'Oh, this happened.' And he'd be like, 'Alright,' and it would throw me. "He's very mature. He's very laid back. He's very levelheaded. He's not the type to get mad or get angry or get funny about things." Perrie did not specify which past relationship she was talking about in the podcast. She was previously engaged to former One Direction star Zayn Malik in 2013, but they broke up two years later. In May, Zayn reflected on their romance and told Nylon magazine: "From 17 to 21, I was in a relationship. I was engaged and [planned to get] married and I didn't know anything about anything at that point. "I thought I did, because I was 21. I was legally allowed to do everything, but I didn't know s***."
