Bizarre reason Princess Diana tipped off newspapers to let them know where she was - and asked for opinions about her breasts

Daily Mail​

11-05-2025

It may have been a way for her to exert control over her public image in an environment that was desperate to capture every move.
But one royal expert claims it was a way to make the men in her life jealous.
In the 2022 royal biography, The Palace Papers, royal author Tina Brown explores Princess Diana's impact on the monarchy and how her death shook the Firm.
She claims that Diana was in fact tipping off tabloids behind the scenes - while publicly saying she was being 'hounded' by the press.
Brown wrote: 'Time and time again, as we have seen, Diana chose to invade her own privacy, often for the capricious reason of making the men in her life jealous.
'The most unforgettable 'stolen' snap from Diana's last fateful holiday was the famous 'kiss picture' of her in a clinch with bare-chested Dodi off the coast of Corsica.
'It was she who tipped off Italian lensman Mario Brenna - to send a taunting message to the current love of her life, Hasnat Khan.'
Diana is widely considered to be one of the most photographed women in the world.
Conde Nast's former chairman Nicholas Coleridge and Princess Diana are seen together outside Vogue House in 1991
Princess Diana is widely considered to be one of the most photographed women in the world. She is pictured after a lunch in London in August 1996
Diana leaves Sardinia with Dodi Fayed on her way to Paris in August 1997
Her image, particularly her fashion, was extensively documented and distributed globally, influencing trends and captivating audiences worldwide.
Nicholas Coleridge, the former president of Condé Nast, wrote about inviting Diana to a boardroom lunch in 1996 in his memoir The Glossy Years.
The day after a picture of the princess sunbathing topless had appeared in the Mirror, he said that he expected Diana to cancel.
But instead she confirmed her attendance with a request that there would be no publicity - and asked if he had seen the infamous photo.
Coleridge claims Diana then asked Coleridge: 'Nicholas, please be frank, I want your real view. Are my breasts too small, do you think?'
Revealing how he went 'breathless and as red as a guardsman's tunic', he reassured her that her breasts were 'perfect', and told her not to worry'.
As he then walked her to her car outside vogue house, she says was 'besieged by paparazzi'.
Afterwards, Coleridge rang a newspaper friend to see if he could find out who had leaked her visit.
Diana allegedly asked Coleridge: 'Are my breasts too small?'
Brown wrote: 'Time and time again, as we have seen, Diana chose to invade her own privacy, often for the capricious reason of making the men in her life jealous'
Coleridge said he was told Diana rang the press herself from her car on her way to the lunch.
He was told she often tips them off about where she'll be.
Brown wrote: 'This is classic, authentic Diana - tricky, seductive, playing a double game.'
The royal author compared Diana's colluding with the media to Harry and Meghan's entertainment deals - but calling Diana's plans 'more thought out'.
Pictures of Diana with businessman Gulu Lalvani, who she dated for four months, were snapped after Diana allegedly tipped off the media to her whereabouts.
And despite publicly showing outrage by Anna Pasternak's book Princess of Love, which gave a tell-all account of the alleged love affair between Diana and Major James Hewitt, Pasternak told MailOnline in 2019 that Diana encouraged Hewitt to cooperate with writing the book.
At the time Diana said: 'He's sold me out! Men aren't supposed to do that to women, I hope his c*** shrivels up!'
Brown wrote: 'The tabloids branded him forever more as the 'love rat' and Pasternak was excoriated for peddling mawkish fantasy.'
Pictures of Diana with businessman Gulu Lalvani, who she dated for four months, were snapped after Diana allegedly tipped off the media to her whereabouts. The two are pictured in London in 1997
At the time Diana said: 'He's sold me out! Men aren't supposed to do that to women, I hope his c*** shrivels up!'
Pasternak said: 'He told me that Diana was worried that Andrew Morton's second book was going to expose the affair in unflattering terms.
'She wanted control and was adamant that if the affair was presented in the book as a true love story, the world would not condemn the couple but would understand why they came together as they did.'
Diana apparently 'tipped off' a notorious paparazzo about her husband's affair with Camilla Parker Bowles, a year before it was revealed.
Australian photographer Darryn Lyons - who earned millions of dollars selling images of the late Diana through his Big Pictures agency - made the bombshell claims during an interview with WHO magazine in 2018.
Lyons alleged that around six to 12 months before 'Squidgygate' - referring to the series of phone conversations between Diana and her friend James Gilbey that were leaked to the British press - the royal had 'subtly' hinted at her husband's infidelity.
Both of Diana's sons also have a complex relationship with the press - the most obvious being Harry and Meghan's many TV appearances.
But for the Waleses it was déjà vu.
In 2017 Prince William sought £1.3million compensation over topless photos of his wife Kate Middleton, which were published in French Closer magazine in 2012.
Australian photographer Darryn Lyons - who earned millions of dollars selling images of the late Diana through his Big Pictures agency - made the bombshell claims during an interview with WHO magazine in 2018
Harry and Meghan's tell-all interview with Oprah Winfrey made significant accusations against the press
The case dated back to September 2012 when William and Kate were pictured relaxing on the terrace of a chateau belonging to the Earl of Snowdon, William's cousin and the late Princess Margaret's son, in the southern region of Provence.
Long-lens cameras captured Kate topless, while only wearing a pair of bikini bottoms.
One particularly intimate image showed William rubbing suncream into his wife's skin, and was said to have caused particular upset.
The Duke of Cambridge said the images were 'all the more painful' as they reminded him of the way his mother died, as she was pursued by paparazzi photographers in Paris.
Publication of the photographs triggered a dramatic reaction in Britain, with media organisations – including the Daily Mail – deciding not to publish them.
William was known to be particularly angry at the way Kate was treated and pushed for prosecutions from day one.
Later that year the French celebrity magazine was ordered to pay £92,000 in damages to the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge for publishing topless photos of Kate.
While the amount is one of the highest ever in a privacy case in France, it is a fraction of the £1.4million the couple wanted over the grainy images.
Brown wrote: 'Today, her sons express their lasting contempt for the press in different ways: William with a grim, steely obsession with control; Harry with tortured, vocal, frequently ill-judged condemnation'
Brown wrote: 'It would be unreasonable to ask that William and Harry forgive the paparazzi who trained their cameras on their beloved mother's dying moments in the Paris tunnel.
'Today, her sons express their lasting contempt for the press in different ways: William with a grim, steely obsession with control; Harry with tortured, vocal, frequently ill-judged condemnation.
'But neither of them had yet been heard to reflect on how much Diana loved to dance with danger.'
Brown put it best herself: 'The camera was Diana's fatal attraction and her most potent weapon - the source of so much power and so much pain. She was always gambling with those odds.'