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10th Oct 2018

The relatable reason why Princess Diana always had her head down in public

Jade Hayden

Sounds legit, yeah.

If you were a newly appointed member of the royal family, chances are you’d be a bit overwhelmed.

One day you’re chilling in your gaff telling your roommate about the new lad on the scene who just happens to also be a prince, and the next you’re curtseying, stripping the nail polish off your hands, and desperately struggling to smile as 1,000 paps take your photograph at the latest royal engagement.

Bit of a change, in fairness.

And while the transition period from commoner to royalty might come easy enough for some, for others it wasn’t all that smooth.

Princess Diana was one of those people – so much so that for a while, she felt “terrified” to be attending any events at all.

Often confused for simply sulking, Diana would tend to show up to events with her head down upon arrival, literally just because she was scared.

The princess told writer Andrew Morton in his book Diana: Her True Story – In Her Own Words: 

“When I first arrived on the scene I’d always put my head down.

“Now that I interpret it, that did look sulky. I’ve never sulked. I’ve been terrified out of my tiny little mind.”

We would’ve been the same tbh, yeah.

Diana went on to say that a lot of the time, the attention was “too much.”

She said:

“I was just so frightened of the attention I was getting; it took me six years to get comfortable in this skin and now I’m ready to go forward.

“One minute I was nobody, the next minute I was Princess of Wales, mother, media toy, member of this family, you name it, and it was too much for one person at that time.”

We’d be in agreement there, yeah.