Latest news with #JamesHewitt
Daily Mail
13-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
EXCLUSIVE Palace buried photographs of Princess Diana and David Bowie for nearly 40 years to quash affair rumours
Never before seen pictures of Princess Diana with pop legend David Bowie have been discovered nearly 40 years after they were taken. The backstage image of a smiling Diana next to an equally ecstatic Bowie was captured by photographer Denis O'Regan during the pop star's 1987 Wembley concert. Speaking to MailOnline, Denis revealed that it was legendary music promoter Harvey Goldsmith who was instrumental in getting the pop royalty next to the then-Princess of Wales for a photo-op. 'I was working with David on his 1987 Glass Spider concert. I was with my father and brother helping them find a good spot in the crowd. Once I made my way back to David I was told that Diana was on her way. 'Diana arrived with Harvey Goldsmith and I asked Harvey if I could take a picture of Diana and David together and he told me to "ask her",' Denis said. In response, the 25-year-old princess shyly asked whether Bowie would even want a picture with her to which Denis responded: 'I think he would.' The day after the candid snaps were taken, Denis received a 'polite request' from the palace that the pictures do not be published. But the reason the images were buried for nearly 40 years is not because of who is pictured but rather who was off-camera. Diana was at the concert with Army Major James Hewitt who she famously had an affair with from 1986 until 1991. Rumours of their relationship in the press were rife at the time but no photographic proof had been taken. Denis said that James 'kept his distance' from the photographers to avoid being snapped with Diana. He has no regrets at missing out on what could have been one of the most famous pictures of Diana ever taken. 'No one knew who he was so I had no reason to picture him and the word wasn't out yet about their relationship.' The evening at Wembley is referenced in Andrew Morton's bombshell biography, Diana: Her True Story. According to Morton, Diana was accompanied by her friends David Waterhouse and David Linley. Diana, speaking to Morton, said: 'I went in leather trousers, which I thought was the right thing to do, completely putting out of mind that I was the future Queen and future Queens don't wear leather like that in public. 'So I thought that was frightfully "with it". Frightfully pleased to act my own age.' Morton said that Diana got 'slapped wrists' for her choice of trousers. 'Once again she was trying to behave like Fergie (the then-Duchess of York) but courtiers at Buckingham Palace did not feel her apparel was suitable for a future queen,' Morton wrote. One of Denis' pictures of Bowie and Diana is featured in his upcoming photography book, David Bowie by Denis. Inside the book, Denis tells the story of his time photographing the Ashes to Ashes singer from 1974 to 1994. During his long career, Denis also photographed Freddie Mercury, Mick Jagger, Keith Richards and Bob Marley. Diana and Bowie had previously met in 1985 during the Live Aid benefit concert - also at Wembley. They then reunited at the famous stadium once again in 1993 when Bowie hosted the Concert of Hope in 1993. A charity concert organised partly by the Princess of Wales to raise awareness and money for AIDS. Diana had a five-year affair with James Hewitt between 1986 and 1991, with the Princess publicly confessing to the relationship during her BBC Panorama interview in 1995. She married the then-Prince Charles in 1981, separated in 1992 and divorced in 1996.
Yahoo
12-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Why a "Sweet" Photograph of Princess Diana and David Bowie Caused So Much Controversy for the Royal Family
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. Princess Diana was regularly connected with celebrities, from dancing with John Travolta to sneaking into a gay bar with Freddie Mercury. But according to one photographer, Kensington Palace attempted to stop the release of a photo of Princess Diana posing with David Bowie for a very specific reason. Per The Telegraph, photographer Denis O'Regan snapped an iconic photo of Princess Diana with musician Bowie after she attended his Glass Spider concert at Wembley Stadium in June 1987. According to O'Regan, Princess Diana asked the photographer if Bowie would consider posing for a picture with her, to which he replied, "I think he would." O'Regan told the outlet, "I thought it was so funny," and he described Diana as "so sweet." But according to O'Regan, Kensington Palace tried to prevent the photo from being released. "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," the photographer explained. At the time, Princess Diana was having an extramarital affair with Hewitt, her horseback riding instructor—a fact the palace presumably wanted to conceal. "So that's when it kind of erupted," O'Regan said. The photographer continued, "They just didn't want Diana in the was really [that] they didn't want to fuel the fire." According to O'Regan, Kensington Palace didn't want the world to know Diana attended Bowie's show with Hewitt. Reflecting on the unusual situation, the photographer told the outlet, "[E]ven though I didn't get the multi-million dollar shot of [Diana and Hewitt] together, because no one knew who he was obviously a tiny moment in history."
Yahoo
12-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
The Surprising Revelation Princess Diana Made About Who "Ruined" Her Marriage to King Charles
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. Much has been written about Princess Diana and King Charles's marriage, including the fact that both royals had extramarital affairs during the relationship. According to a royal expert who was friendly with the former Princess of Wales, Diana actually opened up about the person she held responsible for her failed marriage to Charles shortly before she died in 1997. During an appearance on Hello!'s "A Right Royal Podcast," royal expert and author Ingrid Seward shared, "She said to me just before she died, it wasn't Camilla." According to Seward, Princess Diana told her, "It wasn't Camilla that ruined our marriage, it was the people around Charles." The royal author continued, "And I could never unpick that comment and quite understand what it meant. But I also remember Diana's father saying how tricky the royal household was." Both Charles and Diana publicly admitted to having affairs with other people while still married to one another. While Diana confirmed her affair with horseback riding instructor James Hewitt during her Panorama interview, King Charles discussed his extramarital relationship with Queen Camilla in his own TV interview. Earlier this year, the Daily Mail's royal editor, Rebecca English, spoke with some of King Charles's closest friends, who suggested the monarch regretted his past behavior. "Both of them [Charles and Diana] behaved badly in that first marriage and made decisions that none of us could ever condone," one source said. "But we can seek to try to understand them." In the article, English wrote of The King, "Charles still deeply 'regrets' the pain and sadness caused." Another of Charles's friends discussed The King's marriage to Diana, saying, "When you look back on it now, asking someone to for the sake of their public persona seems really quite cruel."
Yahoo
11-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Why Princess Diana Regretted Mentioning One Former Lover in 'Panorama' Interview, Per Royal Expert
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. Princess Diana's Panorama interview became instantly famous as the royal opened up about everything from her marriage to King Charles to their alleged affairs. While discussing how Princess Diana might have reacted to Prince Harry's BBC interview, royal expert and author Ingrid Seward also dished on the one aspect of the Panorama interview Princess Diana regretted. During an appearance on Hello!'s "A Right Royal Podcast," Seward discussed Diana's initial thoughts after filming the 1995 interview with Panorama. "I saw her quite shortly after that, so obviously I asked her, and she said, 'No, I don't regret any of it,'" Seward claimed. The royal expert continued, "She said, 'I got thousands of letters about other people who suffered from anorexia and bulimia.'" However, there was one thing the former Princess of Wales allegedly wished she hadn't discussed. According to Seward, Diana told her, "The only thing I felt a bit bad about was talking about James Hewitt." The royal expert continued, "She had said, if you remember, that she was in love with him, or had been in love with him, and she felt bad for William and Harry saying that." Hewitt was Princess Diana's horseback riding instructor, and the pair reportedly had an affair between 1986 and 1991. Aside from discussing her relationship with Hewitt, Diana allegedly "thought [Panorama] was a successful interview." Seward also discussed how she believes Princess Diana would have reacted to Prince Harry giving such a candid interview to the BBC. "I think she might have been proud," Seward said during her appearance on the show. Seward continued, "I think she would, I'm guessing, that she might have been quite proud of him for speaking up and saying what he thought, because that's what she liked. She liked to say exactly what she thought and then deal with the consequences afterwards, which is, of course, what happened to her."
Yahoo
10-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Palace tried to ‘block picture of David Bowie and Princess Diana'
The Palace attempted to block the release of a picture of David Bowie and Princess Diana to dampen the media storm around her love life, Bowie's former photographer has claimed. 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.
