Princess Diana was once turned away from a luxurious London store after the staff failed to recognize who she was.

David Sassoon, a fashion designer, detailed the encounter between his staff and the late Princess of Wales, who just got engaged to Prince Charles at that time. Back in 1981, the mom of two went to the post boutique to shop for an engagement outfit.

Princess Diana was just 19 years old and she was confronted by an intimidating shop assistant who asked her what she was looking for. When Princess Diana told the staff that she wasn’t sure about what she wanted to buy, the unnamed staff encouraged her to check out Harrods.

“When my partner Belinda Belville and I heard, we were absolutely horrified to discover that she didn’t recognize Lady Diana and suggested that she went to Harrods for the outfit. It then turned out that that was the one Diana would wear for the official photographs with Prince Charles on the announcement of her engagement,” he said.

Following his staff’s mistake, Sassoon decided to invite Princess Diana back to his shop, and she gladly obliged. The two fostered a friendship up until the Princess of Wales’ death.

For her engagement outing, Princess Diana wore an off-the-rack blue skirt suit with a cinched-in waist belt and white bow blouse. Ingrid Seward, a royal expert, said that Princess Diana once told her that she hated her engagement outfit.

Royal author Katie Nicholl also said that she doesn’t know how comfortable Princess Diana felt in her outfit.

“It was very much what we would expect of a young royal bride-to-be. She had that ring which was the centerpiece of the day… It complimented her eyes and obviously, she chose to reflect that blue in her choice of suit and the frilly white blouse… Very fitting of the time but I’m not sure how comfortable Diana felt in it,” she said.

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