Royal Watch News

Princess Diana pictures sells for $18,000

Jan 29, 2013, 12:02 GMT

Princess Diana

An intimate photograph of a teenage Princess Diana has been sold for $18,000.

The image - which shows a young Lady Diana Spencer relaxing during a ski holiday, before she had met future husband Prince Charles - was purchased by a San Diego-based real-estate investor for $18,306 when it went under auction earlier this month.

The picture - which has the words 'not to be published' scrawled on it - shows Diana lying on a bed in a chalet with a male friend, who is resting his book on her shoulder.

The identity of the photographer is not known but the picture was sold to the Daily Mirror newspaper on February 26 1981 - two days after Diana's engagement to the Prince of Wales was announced.

However, the publication decided not to run it and the pictured remained in the paper's archives until it was bought seven years ago by the private Caren Archive.

Eric Caren, owner of the Caren Archive, said: 'It's an intimate photo - I don't know the man in the picture and he could be a friend or a boyfriend. This would certainly not be the way the Royal Family would have wanted Diana to be presented at that moment, given that two days before her engagement had been announced. The fairytale between her and Charles was still intact at that point.

'My guess is that it was a privately taken photograph that the Mirror purchased but for some reason did not publish. Why the heck not I don't know - I don't know if it was pressure from the royal family or an internal decision.'