Princess Diana Was Obsessed With This Soap Opera, According To Her Hairdresser
The People's Princess had good taste in television. The May 21, 2024 Styling Princess Diana panel at Fotografiska New York (moderated by Erin Hill, the senior royals editor at People) featured the late royal's hairdresser Richard Dalton, who met her a couple of years prior to Diana's wedding to King Charles III (then Prince Charles). For over a decade, Dalton tackled Diana's tresses on a daily basis, reminiscing, "It was every day, sometimes twice a day for tiaras." Dalton also disclosed one of the princess's favorite shows: "She would say, 'Richard, you can't go out tonight because "Dynasty" is on!' I had to watch it in great detail [for her]." The hit soap opera ran from 1981 to 1989, following the fictional, incredibly rich Carrington and Colby families, and was rebooted by The CW in 2017.
The show notably influenced some of Diana's fashion choices too, like when a long pearl necklace rested in the open V-neck back of her dress. "Fashion, jewelry, she used to pretend she was in 'Dynasty,'" Dalton shared. "She [had] gone to see 'Back to the Future,' [so we] tied the pearls in a knot." Another connection between the beloved royal and "Dynasty" is that one of the actors who played Amanda, Catherine Oxenberg, is the daughter of Princess Elizabeth of Yugoslavia and has familial ties to the British royal family too. Oxenberg also played Diana in two movies; "The Royal Romance of Charles and Diana" and "Charles and Diana: Unhappily Ever After" (aka "Charles & Diana: A Palace Divided").
Princess Diana's butler claimed she liked a different soap best
"Dynasty" was reportedly not the only soap opera that Princess Diana loved to watch. Despite rumors that her favorite show was the long-running British soap "EastEnders," Diana's former butler Paul Burrell reckoned there was a different sudser that she liked best: "Brookside." In a 2012 interview with HuffPost UK and the Walford Gazette, Burrell said of "EastEnders," "Maybe in the very beginning she did tune into it, but it wasn't something that she would want to watch regularly." He continued, "'Brookside' was her favorite and she met most of the cast." According to Burrell, Diana even visited the set at one point and became friendly with actor Dean Sullivan.
Diana was still an "EastEnders" fan and reportedly visited their set too, as recounted in the biography of actor Wendy Richard. Burrell, who was a footman for Queen Elizabeth II before working for King Charles III and Diana, said, "['EastEnders'] was a firm favorite of Buckingham Palace from the word 'Go.' Everything would stop, and everyone would watch 'EastEnders' — and 'Dallas,' that you could not miss." He even got close with "EastEnders" stars Barbara Windsor and Richard. This wasn't the first time Burrell fact-checked something related to the royals either. He made a bold claim about "The Crown" by confirming that Josh O'Connor's portrayal of Charles wasn't far off.
An EastEnders star recalled meeting Princess Diana on set
In a 2019 interview with the Daily Mail, Nish Joshi, an osteopath who also works in holistic medicine and was reportedly one of Princess Diana's former friends, reminisced about enjoying one of the beloved royal's favorite soap operas with her. As he recalled, "We'd watch 'EastEnders' together at Kensington Palace — Diana would sit there in her dressing gown and tell me funny stories." Star Anita Dobson played Angie Watts on the hit show and, in the BBC's "The Day I Met Diana" documentary, she detailed Diana visiting the "EastEnders" set, remarking that the show was just getting popular at the time.
"She was a big fan," the soap star remembered. "She was absolutely gorgeous, very gentle, very warm, very respectful of being in somebody else's workplace," (via Express). The two women bonded over suddenly becoming very well known. They also subsequently ran into each other at a movie premiere and shared a smile, which Dobson said felt very special. Sadly, Diana's set visit didn't culminate in a guest appearance, like when a prime minister cameoed on "EastEnders."