Diana at the Polo

[umbrellagirl]

It's polo season! How about a thread showing photos of Diana attending Charles' polo matches? She went to them all through the '80s, wearing a wide variety of outfits, and many times the boys were there too. I would especially appreciate it if you know the exact date of the photo. Thanks!

 

[Squidgy]

Great idea for a thread Umbrellagirl!!

Here's Diana at Cowdray Park, Sussex, watching Charles play polo on July 29 1980 (exactly a year before the wedding). I can't decide if the woman behind Diana in the colour picture is Camilla Parker-Bowles??

Photos: Arthur Edwards

 

[Lady Jean]

Thanks for starting the photos with the first pictures of her there! Yes I think that is Camilla looming in the background.

 

[umbrellagirl]

Camilla? Hmm -- may very well be. There's certainly more than a passing resemblance.

This is the first color photo I've seen of that occasion. There are two black-and-white in A. Edwards' books (this one in his Photographic Tribute, and a slightly different version with a slight smile in I'll Tell the Jokes Arthur).
If her vest is red, then presumably there's some red in the floral print skirt. Too bad we can't see the whole outfit in color.

 

[Katemac63]

I can't decide if the woman behind Diana in the colour picture is Camilla Parker-Bowles??

It could be her. The shape of the smile and the hairdo of course!!

 

[Squidgy]

Oct. 24 1980. Ludlow Races, Shropshire. This time we know for sure it is Camilla. I think Charles & Diana might have been staying at Andrew & Camilla's place on this weekend.

I know this is not polo - but it is Diana being a spectator at a horsing event, so I hope that is close enough.

Photos (left to right):the Express, Press Assoc, Malcolm Rouse, Press Assoc., Rex

 

[Squidgy]

March 13 1981 Grand Military Gold Cup, Sandown Park. Diana, along with Margaret & the Queen Mother watch Charles race. Diana looks a little anxious as she watches Charles fall off his horse & suffer a bloody nose.

Photos (left to right): Mike Roberts, A Hussein, T Graham, Camera Press

 

[Lady Jean]

Now there is Andrew Parker-Bowles behind her in the picture on the left. She just couldn't get away from them!

 

[Heidi P.]

It is odd looking at these old pictures of Di. I really enjoyed seeing pictures of her in magazines when she was really that young.

 

[Squidgy]

Now there is Andrew Parker-Bowles behind her in the picture on the left. She just couldn't get away from them!

That is a funny picture. It looks like he is chasing her & she is trying to get away!

You know, I didn't even notice that was Andrew until after I had posted the pictures. It's not like I went through my picture files and said, OK, I'm going to find all polo/racing pictures of Diana with the Parker-Bowles. I was basically posting in chronological order & these were the pictures I had on my computer. But yes you are observant Lady Jean (as usual) and I'm seeing more and more why Diana remarked that the Parker-Bowles (& Camilla in particular) were always "around". You'll probably recall the Colonel was there in this picture I posted a few weeks ago of Diana at her uncle's memorial.
http://img143.imageshack.us/my.php?image=zz19841029billkennedy2hm.jpg

 

[Lady Jean]

I love the pic in Post 9 where Diana seems to be frustrated, banging her head on the railing. It's as if she is thinking "why can't the P-B's just go away." Although it really isn't funny. Now that we know better.....

I am also tickled by how covered up Diana is at Sandown (head to toe), only a few days after wearing her very revealing
strapless black dress.

 

[Squidgy]

Every button on that blouse is done up!

Wouldn't you love to know what's going through her mind? You know, over the past year, I have been scanning all of my pictures from the very early Diana books (1981-1983). What strikes me now is how nervous and truly terrified she looks in many of the pictures leading up to the wedding. I don't believe everything that Diana said in her interviews. I often think she over-dramatised things and in some cases told outright lies. But I am beginning to believe that she was truthful when she said that she panicked before the wedding & wanted to call the whole thing off. Poor girl! Imagine the pressure she was under. Yet, when these pictures first came out, I must say I never noticed her anxiety. I guess I was caught up, like many of us, in the romance & fairytale aspect of it all. I only saw what I wanted to see.

 

[pinkylou]

or it could be squidgy that was part of her appeal, there was a young women barely out of her teens who seemed just like us but living the dream by bagging a prince, if she seemed confident and professional then she would have ruined it and we would think she was just arrogant, just a suggestion thats all.

 

[Squidgy]

I agree Pinkylou! Her naturalness and awkwardness was very much part of her appeal to me. She was someone that you dared to relate to.

 

[umbrellagirl]

I am also tickled by how covered up Diana is at Sandown (head to toe), only a few days after wearing her very revealing
strapless black dress.

I'd never thought of that, but it's so true! It's as if the media coverage of her strapless black dress was so embarrassing to her that she went in the totally opposite direction.

Did she ever wear that suit (which I've seen described as "tobacco brown") again? Just the other day I came across a b/w photo -- I think it was in a book -- which made me wonder if it was that same suit. Only now I can't remember where I saw it.

 

[Squidgy]

Did she ever wear that suit (which I've seen described as "tobacco brown") again? Just the other day I came across a b/w photo -- I think it was in a book -- which made me wonder if it was that same suit. Only now I can't remember where I saw it.

I think she may have worn it again on May 7th 1981. I have a really, really bad quality picture. I don't think it's worth posting here. It's quite blurry, but it does look like it's that jacket. I hope you can find your picture Umbrellagirl (& share it with us)

 

[Lady Jean]

THe dark brown suit doesn't "go" with the Windsor (QEII's) tendency towards wearing bright colors in order to be seen in a crowd so maybe it was worn mostly for private occasions. Then again, statuesque Diana didn't need much to stand out in a crowd.

 

[Lady Jean]

Photo: Daily Mail archives

Andrew Parker-Bowles and Diana at Sandown, Mar. 13, 1981

This one is begging for a caption but I will resist

 

[umbrellagirl]

I think she may have worn it again on May 7th 1981. I have a really, really bad quality picture. I don't think it's worth posting here. It's quite blurry, but it does look like it's that jacket. I hope you can find your picture Umbrellagirl (& share it with us)

I give up! I've tried to retrace my steps, looking through books and magazines I can remember recently having out, but I can't find that picture. It will probably turn up when I've forgotten about it. If I've learned how to post pictures by then, I'll be happy to share it. I do know it wasn't 1981, but later.

What was Diana doing on May 7th -- returning from Balmoral, maybe? Even if your picture isn't worth posting, we'd like to know what she was up to.

 

[Squidgy]

What was Diana doing on May 7th -- returning from Balmoral, maybe? Even if your picture isn't worth posting, we'd like to know what she was up to.

Yes, as far as I can tell, she was flying back from Balmoral. I was able to fix up the picture a bit to make it more presentable, but it's still not great. It is the front page of the May 8th issue of the Picture Mirror.

Photo: Picture Mirror

 

[umbrellagirl]

Yes, it definitely looks like that tobacco brown suit to me -- and doesn't she look sweet? And as you say, apprehensive.

Thanks for posting. Even a not-so-good photo, when it's from an occasion we've not seen before, is a treasure.

 

[umbrellagirl]

Diana at polo in 1981. Both photos: Bob Thomas/Alamy
Alamy gives the date only as June. Does anybody know if this is the correct month, and the exact day?

 

[umbrellagirl]

June 16, 1981, first day of Ascot. After the races, Charles and Diana departed for the polo field. She's holding the hat she wore earlier.

Photo: Bob Thomas/Alamy

Photo: Tim Graham/Getty Images

P.S. Are these posts OK, or should I be doing smaller thumbnails?

 

[umbrellagirl]

I need help dating these. Arthur Edwards says this polo occasion was "just before her 20th birthday," thus, late June. Alamy, however, says it was July.

Below, Diana is watching Charles play with a little dog.

Both photos: Bob Thomas/Alamy

 

[umbrellagirl]

Here's another one for which I don't know the date -- does anyone know?
Tim Graham gives the date as May 1; I think he probably means simply that it was sometime in May.

Diana is wearing the blue sailor suit that she wore previously on Mar. 27, when the Privy Council approved the forthcoming marriage and she and Charles were photographed with the Queen. She and Charles also visited Cheltenham the same day.

This photo isn't a very clear view, but it's the only one I could find online for the moment. I seem to remember from other photos that she wore different shoes here at polo than on Mar. 27. On one of those days, her shoes were red -- it was probably at polo, a much less serious occasion.

Photo: Tim Graham/Getty Images

 

[Squidgy]

I loved the pictures of Diana in her "sheep sweater". That was her first polo match since the engagement was announced and pictures from that day were spread across the world. As a result, that sweater became a bestseller and must have brought in tons of money for the shop that sold it (Warm & Wonderful).

Here are a few more pics from the early polo matches.

Photos: Tim Graham (Left & centre); Anwar Hussein (right)

 

[Squidgy]

June 28 1981 I just have these old newspaper clippings. I would love to see colour pics from this day.

Photo: Art Edwards (left) & Bill Kennedy (right)

 

[Lady Jean]

with Miss Sarah Ferguson 1981
(L) Bill Kennedy/Rex Features, in "ITN Book of the Royal Wedding" 1986, (R) Ken Goff
(Below) Tim Graham, "Diana Princess of Wales Fashion Handbook."

 

[Squidgy]

Thanks for the colour photo from June 28th 1981. I never even thought of looking in the Fergie books. Good detective work!

 

[umbrellagirl]

Terrific work, Lady Jean! I've long wondered what color that dress was. There's a b/w photo of the same outfit in "The Country Life Book of Diana, Princess of Wales."(p 73) Same dress, same white coat, but was it a different occasion? Your photo with Fergie definitely looks like a polo match, but the caption in Country Life says that Charles (who isn't pictured) was "tak[ing] the salute at HMS Mercury near Petersfield."

[I promise to learn to scan, and I'll post the picture.]