Prince Charles Teased Princess Diana Following Embarrassing Wardrobe Malfunction Photo Scandal

Princess Diana garnered admiration around the world for her compassion toward others and her grace in front of cameras. However, she wasn’t always confident about having her photo taken. When she first began dating Prince Charles, Diana suffered an embarrassing wardrobe malfunction.

Charles and Diana were married in a lavished royal wedding in 1981, but before they walked down the aisle, the Prince of Wales began to publicly court the young woman. News of the romance thrust Diana into the spotlight and left her in unfamiliar territory.

Although she was born into an aristocratic family, Diana was not aware of the precautions she needed to take when dealing with the press. During BBC Radio 5 Live’s 2017 podcast, “Images of Diana,” host, Natasha Kaplinsky recalled the time Diana was photographed wearing a skirt that was “completely see-through.”

Diana felt humiliated when she learned about the photo. “I didn’t want to be known as the girlfriend who didn’t have a petticoat,” she reportedly told Prince Charles.

However, the royal found humor in the incident and teased his future bride. “I didn’t know you had such lovely legs,” Charles replied.

While speaking with Kaplinsky, Arthur Edwards, the photographer who took the picture, told the host he didn’t set Diana up to take an embarrassing photo.

“As I was photographing her, the sun came out, and that’s the gospel truth. It wasn’t a set-up, no, never. A couple of other photographers had been trailing her, following her and they joined in with the picture. But I actually asked her, and I put her in that position, and the sun came out,” he said.

“I’ve been back to that place so many times, explaining it to the Japanese, the German, the French, everybody who thinks that was a set-up, it wasn’t just halfway the session, the sun came out. And that’s the truth.”

Although Edwards was aware of Diana’s wardrobe malfunction in the photo, he claimed it was a “great picture” and didn’t hesitate to publish the image.

“For any woman, that kind of wardrobe malfunction is absolutely mortifying. But this was Diana, he explained.

After Princess Diana married Prince Charles, she became skilled at working the camera and using the media to her advantage. When the couple divorced in 1996, she remained favored by the press and the public.