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The Duchess of Sussex wore the necklace from her late mother-in-law for the first time

Meghan Markle wears Princess Diana’s necklace in Abuja, Nigeria, on May 11, 2024 (left). Princess Diana on her arrival in Enugu, Nigeria on March 18, 1990 (right). Photo: Emmanuel Osodi/Anadolu via Getty; Tim Graham Photo Library via Getty

Meghan Markle found a special way to honor Princess Diana during her trip to Nigeria.

The Duchess of Sussex, 42, wore a sentimental necklace that belonged to Prince Harry’s mother to a reception for military families in Abuja on May 11.

PEOPLE exclusively reveals that the necklace, featuring a delicate diamond cross on a gold chain, was a recent gift from Harry to his wife and once belonged to Princess Diana.

Meghan often pays tribute to Harry’s mother through fashion, and has several pieces in her jewelry box that belonged to the late Princess of Wales, including butterfly earrings and an aquamarine ring. Prince Harry, 39, also famously included two diamonds from his mother’s personal collection in the tri-stone engagement ring he designed for Meghan when he proposed in 2017.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex follow in the footsteps of Harry’s parents, King Charles and Princess Diana, who visited Nigeria for an official visit in March 1990. Meghan may have subtly paid tribute to Diana during the first day of their trip on May 10 by wearing a gold collar necklace reminiscent of one Diana wore during her time in Nigeria over 30 years ago.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle at Lightway Academy in Abuja, Nigeria on May 10, 2024.Andrew Esiebo/Getty

On May 11, Meghan wore the cross necklace with a St. Agni white strapless column linen dress and her hair swept up, allowing the accessory to shine. She received a warm welcome at the reception held at the Defense Headquarters Officers Mess, where an official acknowledged Meghan’s Nigerian heritage in their address.

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Princess Diana in Lagos, Nigeria, on March 16, 1990.Tim Graham Photo Library via Getty

“Princess Meghan is a Nigerian!” Abike Dabiri Erewa, chairman of the Nigerian Diaspora, said at the event. The exclamation won a round of applause from the crowd, plus a smile and applause from Meghan herself. The Duchess of Sussex previously shared on her podcast Archetypes that she discovered she is 43% Nigerian through a genealogy test. Throughout the trip, she spoke of the connection she feels to the country.

Meghan Markle at the Defense Headquarters in Abuja, Nigeria on May 11, 2024.KOLA SULAIMON/AFP via Getty

The chairman went on to say that she was “excited but not surprised” when Meghan shared the news about her Nigerian heritage, “because she is beautiful, intelligent, diligent and hardworking and she stands firm in the midst of challenges.”

“Prince Harry, you married the best — our daughter, our friend, Princess Meghan,” she said. “I hope you come back again, again and again.”

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Harry and Meghan are in Nigeria at the invitation of the Chief of Defense Staff, the country’s highest-ranking military official, and arrived in Africa on May 10 for the official three-day stay. The visit is significant as their first international tour since stepping back from their royal roles in 2020, and PEOPLE’s chief foreign correspondent Simon Perry exclusively joined the trip to Nigeria.

The busy itinerary highlighted the Invictus Games, which Prince Harry founded in 2014 as a vehicle for healing for wounded, injured and sick service personnel through adaptive sport. Harry and Meghan made the trip following Nigeria’s event debut at the latest iteration of the Invictus Games in Düsseldorf, Germany in September 2023, and the Minister of Defense has expressed interest in hosting the Games in the future.

The Duke and Duchess’ trip kicked off in Abuja and concludes in Lagos on May 12 with a basketball clinic from charity Giants of Africa, a cultural reception at the State Governor Hosue and a polo fundraiser for Nigeria: Unconquered.

Ending the stay in Lagos also calls back to Princess Diana and King Charles’ trip to Nigeria, as they visited the city in 1990.

Prince Harry previously said, “If I’d known that that was the last time I was going to speak to my mother, the things that I would — the things I would have said to her…”

Princess Diana, Prince Harry and Prince William. Photo: Antony Jones/Julian Parker/UK Press via Getty Images

The Crown portrays Princess Diana having a final phone call with her sons, Prince William and Prince Harry — something that happened in real life.

Prince William, now 41, and Prince Harry, now 39, opened up about speaking to their mother for the last time before her death in the 1997 documentary ITV documentary Diana, Our Mother: Her Life and Legacy. As portrayed in the Netflix drama, William and Harry — just 15 and 12 at the time — were at Balmoral Castle in Scotland when their mother died in a Paris car crash in August 1997.

In the documentary, Prince William said he recalled his last conversation with Princess Diana but did not reveal details. He shared that he and his brother were having a good time with their cousins at Balmoral when the call occurred.

“Harry and I were in a desperate rush to say goodbye, you know, ‘See you later’… if I’d known now obviously what was going to happen, I wouldn’t have been so blasé about it and everything else,” the Prince of Wales said.

Prince William and Princess Diana in 1991.Rebecca Naden/PA Images via Getty

Prince Harry confirmed that Princess Diana was in Paris when the phone call took place.

“I can’t really necessarily remember what I said but all I do remember is probably regretting for the rest of my life how short the phone call was,” the Duke of Sussex said.

He added, “If I’d known that that was the last time I was going to speak to my mother, the things that I would – the things I would have said to her…”

Princess Diana, Prince Harry, Prince Charles and Prince William in 1985.Diana Archive/Getty

Richard Kay, a longtime royal reporter and friend of Princess Diana, looked back on the telephone conversation that would turn out to be the Princess of Wales’ last for a 2021 documentary.

“I spoke to her that night,” he recalled. “[The] police said that the last call she made was to me.”

She was “in quite a good place,” shared Kay. But above all, “she wanted to come back and see her boys.”

In a scene from their 2017 documentary for ITV and HBO, Diana, Our Mother: Her Life and Legacy, Prince Harry revealed that they hadn’t seen their mother for several weeks while speaking with two landmine victims, Zarko Peric and Malic Bradaric, who Diana met when she went on her last mission to Bosnia to raise awareness about the brutality of landmines.

“You guys were the, almost the last people to see my mother,” Harry told them in the documentary. “Well, you saw my mother more recently than I did, I guess.”

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As children of divorced parents, William and Harry also spent time traveling between the two homes in the years before Diana’s death.

“There was the point where our parents split and . . . we never saw our mother enough or we never saw our father enough,” Prince Harry said in the documentary. “There was a lot of traveling and lot of fights on the back seat with my brother — which I would win.”

“There was all that to contend with,” he added. “And — I don’t pretend we’re the only people to have to deal with that, but it was an interesting way of growing up.”

Her hairdresser of 10 years tells never-been-shared anecdotes about the late Princess of Wales’ “amazing, wicked sense of humor” in a new book

Princess Diana on Jan. 27, 1988. Photo: PATRICK RIVIERE/AFP via Getty

As Princess Diana’s former hairstylist Richard Dalton put it, in his decade working with the late Princess of Wales, he probably spent more time alone with her than anybody.

His new book, It’s All About the Hair—My Decade with Diana — written with friend Renae Plant, the curator of The Princess Diana Museum — is filled with behind-the-scenes glimpses of a woman everyone thought they knew (after all, she was the most photographed woman in the world during her lifetime) but few actually did.

“After seeing her every day for over a decade, it was fun to relive the memories,” Dalton tells PEOPLE, adding one of his goals in writing the book was showing “how funny Diana was,” he says. “Just what a wonderful, genuine person that she was.”

In the book, Dalton recalled the royal’s “amazing, wicked sense of humor,” he wrote. “Her jokes were hysterical.” He said Diana was constantly telling jokes and playing pranks, adding that her sense of humor was “very naughty at times.”

Princess Diana in 1990. Photo by Jayne Fincher/Princess Diana Archive/Getty Images
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“She always had plastic vomit or plastic dog poop in her bag to place on people’s seats when we traveled on long flights,” according to Dalton, who worked with the princess from before her 1981 wedding to the future King Charles until 1991. He added, “She was hysterically funny and loved playing jokes on all of us.”

Plant, who turned Dalton’s memories into a 444-page book, tells PEOPLE, “I do find the humorous side of Diana to be very sweet,” she says. “She just wanted to be ‘normal’ and was just like the rest of us.”

‘It’s All About The Hair – My Decade with HRH Diana Princess of Wales’.The Princess and the Platypus Foundation

Diana was often able to laugh through life, Dalton writes, recalling a time when, after styling the Princess of Wales’ hair, he was followed by one of Queen Elizabeth’s corgis to a dressing room.

“I was patting it, as I love dogs, when Diana came up and the corgi started to lick her legs,” he wrote. “She said, ‘Whose dog is that?’ I said, ‘It’s your mother-in-law’s new corgi.’ She replied with a laugh, ‘Well, get it out of here, as it’s licking all the fake suntan off my legs.’ “

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Princess Diana watches Prince Charles playing polo at Guards Polo Club on Smiths Lawn in Windsor, Berkshire in July 1986.

David Levenson / Contributor / Getty Images

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As much fun as she was prone to have, Princess Diana was serious about her royal work, right down to her hairstyle.

“Diana was very conscious that she did not want her hair to overshadow the charity she was representing that day and supporting,” Dalton tells PEOPLE.

In his book, Dalton highlights Diana’s unwavering dedication to her work, noting, “She was genuinely interested in people and she always did her homework and remembered the smallest detail which made that connection.”

He adds of the princess, “She was more beautiful in real life than she was on camera.”

Beyond her appearance and sense of humor, Dalton says he hopes his new book shows the public “just what a wonderful, genuine person she was,” he says. “I hope it inspires them to be kind and treat others with compassion, just like she did while she was alive.”

It’s All About the Hair—My Decade with Diana is out now.

Diana worked as a nanny and nursery school assistant before marrying the future King Charles

The future Princess Diana leaves her London home on Nov. 12, 1980. Photo: Central Press/Hulton Archive/Getty

Even Princess Diana exaggerated on her work résumé.

What is believed to be the late royal’s first work contract sold at auction for $10,500. Lady Diana Spencer filled out the form for the nanny agency Solve Your Problem Ltd. in May 1979 by hand — and the contract included a lie about her age.

The 17-year-old Diana put her date of birth as “July 1st, 1960,” a year off from her actual birthday in 1961 to make her appear over 18. According to Auctioneum Ltd. in Bristol, “The vendor having always been told that this was thought to be deliberate, Diana making herself appear older in order to get a job quicker, or receive more pay.”

The lie appeared to be caught, with “nearly 18” penned in blue ink next to her stated date of birth.

The form also included Diana’s London address, telephone number, religion and desired start date, to which she wrote, “Soon as possible.” Her listed skills included “cook – basic,” “housework,” “animals” and “ballet dancer.”

On the lower part of the form is the note that seems to be from the reviewer: “Lovely girl — send anywhere.”

Princess Diana’s work contract from 1979, which sold at auction in 2024.Auctioneum Ltd

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Auctioneer Andrew Stowe told the BBC that interest in the work contract came from all around the world, with bids from America, Hong Kong, Canada and Australia.

“Princess Diana, her life and her story hold a very special place in so many people’s hearts, and the result of this auction shows that she is still well remembered all around the world,” he said. “At face value, this is just an everyday work contract; a piece of office stationery that lived in a filing cabinet alongside hundreds of others. Yet just over two years later, Diana Spencer would become Princess Of Wales, and her life, and the whole of our history, would never be the same.”

Stowe added that the contract was “one of the last remaining snapshots of Diana’s ‘normal’ life.”

Lady Diana Spencer, later Princess Diana, pictured at the London kindergarten where she worked on September 18, 1980.Bill Rowntree/Daily Mirror/Mirrorpix/Getty

Diana worked as a nanny, mother’s helper and nursery teacher’s assistant before she married Prince Charles in July 1981 and became a full-time working member of the royal family.

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Author Wendy Holden, who did in-depth research into the late Princess Diana for a novelization of her extraordinary life, previously told PEOPLE that Diana was the “particular kind of girl” they wanted the then-heir to the throne to marry.

Princess Diana and Prince Charles after their wedding on July 29, 1981.Terry Fincher/Princess Diana Archive/Getty

“It was a collision between different aspirations and ideas. The royal family wanted Charles to get married because he was 30, and they wanted a particular kind of girl,” Holden told PEOPLE last year. “She needed to be young, she needed to be aristocratic and she needed to be without a past. It was a very pragmatic decision. She was practically the only person who was left. He had had so many girlfriends by then.”

“There was a period of great love between them,” says Ingrid Seward

Then-Prince Charles and Princess Diana on their honeymoon at Balmoral Castle in Scotland in August 1981. Photo: Kent Gavin /Mirrorpix/Getty

Princess Diana hoped the world would know about the love that the future King Charles sent her through letters, a royal biographer claims.

Though Diana and Charles’ relationship ended in divorce in 1996, the late Princess of Wales wanted the public to see the love letters that the future monarch sent early in their romance so people would know that their affection had been genuine, The Times reported on July 23.

“Diana told me very shortly before she died that she wished people could see the love letters that she had from Charles,” royal biographer Ingrid Seward said at an Oldie magazine lunch, according to the outlet.

“She really wanted people to know that she loved Charles and he loved her. And I always remembered that. And she wanted the boys [Prince William and Prince Harry] to know that,” she continued. “There was a period of great love between them.”

Princess Diana and Prince Charles on their July 29, 1981 wedding day.Terry Fincher/Princess Diana Archive/Getty

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Seward said that Princess Diana expressed the sentiment about the correspondence from the then-Prince Charles just a few weeks before she died following a car accident in Paris in 1997. Though Diana was then dating Dodi Fayed, who also died in the accident, the royal commentator claimed that she wanted “the early days of her romance with the heir to the throne to be properly reflected,” The Times reported.

It remains unclear which years the late Princess of Wales received the love letters that she was referencing. Diana and Charles married in 1981 following a short courtship (she said they only met 13 times before he proposed) and went on to welcome Prince William in 1982 and Prince Harry in 1984.

Princess Diana reportedly told Andrew Morton, journalist and author of Diana: Her True Story, that she and the future King Charles “were very, very close to each other the six weeks before Harry was born, the closest we’ve ever, ever been and ever will be,” referring to the late summer of 1984.

Princess Diana, Prince William and Prince Charles in the gardens of their home at Kensington Palace in London on June 12, 1984.Keystone/Hulton Archive/Getty

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Retired British Army captain James Hewitt also claimed to have begun an affair with Diana around 1986, which he said lasted for the next five years. In a 1994 ITV interview with biographer Jonathan Dimbleby, the future King Charles said that he was faithful to his wife, “Until it became irretrievably broken down, us both having tried,” The New York Times reported.

By the time she sat for an interview with the BBC’s Panorama in 1995, however, Diana shared a harsher side of the story. A breakout revelation was her comment on the disintegration of her marriage to Prince Charles when she famously said, “There were three of us in this marriage, so it was a bit crowded,” referring to his extramarital affair with the future Queen Camilla.

Prince Charles and Princess Diana at a Presidential banquet at the Blue House in Seoul during their last official trip together in the Republic of Korea.Tim Graham Photo Library/Getty

Today, the whereabouts of the alleged love letters are unclear. Interest in the “People’s Princess,” as then-Prime Minister Tony Blair famously memorialized Diana following her untimely death at age 36, remains sky-high.

Some of her intimate letters to friends during her divorce from then-Prince Charles sold at auction last year for just under $170,000.

The designer had to make an excuse to leave her client during a fitting so she could share the exciting news with her team

Princess Diana (left) and Elizabeth Emanuel (right) in June 1997. Photo: Tim Graham Photo Library via Getty

Princess Diana’s call to ask a big question to her wedding dress designer came at a slightly inconvenient time.

Elizabeth Emanuel, who with her ex-husband David designed the gown that Diana wore for her walk down the aisle in 1981 as she married the future King Charles, recalled the moment she realized her “life was going to change” at PEOPLE’s Styling Princess Diana panel at Fotografiska New York on May 21. Elizabeth was with a client for a fitting when the call came.

“The phone started to ring, and it rang and rang, and nobody was picking it up. I said, ‘I’m so sorry, I’m just going to have to take this call,’ ” the designer said. “And it was Diana. And she said, ‘It’s me,’ you know? ‘Would you do me the honor of making my wedding dress? You can’t tell anybody about this, there’s not going to be an announcement, so you’ve got to keep it very secret.’ “

She continued, “It was such a special moment because I thought, ‘My life was going to change, David’s life. It’s never going to be the same again.’ “

After hanging up, Elizabeth came up with an excuse for her client so she could tell her team the big news immediately: “My brother had a baby,” she fibbed.

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Elizabeth added during the panel that Princess Diana didn’t “have any idea” about what she wanted for her bridal gown. The designer explained she did “lots and lots of sketches” and also had Diana try on some ready-to-wear dresses, including one that became the template for the final product.

“A lot of it was trust, and she liked our style,” Elizabeth said.

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Princess Diana and Prince Charles at their wedding on July 29, 1981.Jayne Fincher/Princess Diana Archive/Hulton Royals Collection/Getty

Elizabeth plans to make a modern version of the late Princess of Wales’ iconic bridal gown.

“I’m going to try and capture the spirit of the original but through my eyes now,” she previously told PEOPLE. “I want to preserve all the sparkles and pearls but with a completely different vision.”

The designer added of the “sequel” to the original gown, “It’s a really exciting thing because I often get asked, ‘Would you do the same dress again?’ Well, I wouldn’t change a thing on the dress in 1981, but if I was looking at it through my eyes now, there’s so many possibilities.”

Elizabeth Emanuel (left) and Princess Diana prepare for a royal tour on August 6, 1986.Tim Graham/Getty Images

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Unbeknownst to the 20-year-old bride and the millions watching on television in 1981, the Emanuels crafted a second wedding dress as a precautionary measure.

“I was a bit neurotic, and I thought, ‘What happens if somebody breaks in and steals the dress or something spills or there’s a fire or it gets stolen?’ ” Elizabeth said. “So I thought, ‘I’m gonna make a backup dress.’ “

Diana’s spare outfit was never fully completed and “disappeared” in the years following the wedding after going unused.

After searching through old sketches and thumbnail images from an old documentary, Elizabeth recently recreated the backup royal wedding dress to exhibit at the virtual Princess Diana Museum.

“We never got to see that dress on Diana and thought it would be lovely to envision it,” said Renae Plant, the museum’s director and curator, who acquired it for an undisclosed sum. “You cannot put a price tag on history.”

The three-part ‘Who Killed Diana?’ is set to feature key sources that have never been interviewed before

Princess Diana attends the Armistice Day wreath-laying ceremony at the Arc de Triomphe in Paris, France, Nov. 11, 1988. Photo: Jayne Fincher/Princess Diana Archive/Getty

Ahead of the anniversary of her death on Aug. 31, a new docuseries has been announced that will examine the 1997 Paris car accident that ended Princess Diana’s life at just 36 years old.

The series, called Who Killed Diana?, will explore the circumstances surrounding the death of the Princess of Wales 27 years ago. It will feature rare and, in some cases, first-ever interviews with several key sources, Deadline reported, and will aim to cast new light on the case that captured the world’s attention in 1997 — and has kept it for nearly three decades.

Princess Diana on what would become her final birthday on July 1, 1997.Tim Graham Photo Library via Getty

Who Killed Diana? will mark the first series in a broader franchise that will examine “the shocking deaths of iconic figures, hoping to uncover new information about the circumstances,” Deadline reported. The franchise will also examine “the human stories and historical context at the center of these cases,” the outlet continued.

The team behind Who Killed Diana? was also behind Netflix’s 2023 release Who Killed Jill Dando?, as well as fellow Netflix offerings like Depp vs. Heard and The Mystery of Marilyn Monroe.

“This new franchise will not merely revisit deaths of famous figures, it will actively drive the story forward with new voices and fresh insight into compelling and complex details,” said Jon Adler, head of talent and content development at EverWonder which, along with Empress Films, is bringing the series to life.

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Diana, Princess Of Wales in St, Tropez in the summer of 1997.Michel Dufour/WireImage

Empress Films’ Emma Cooper, who is directing and executive producing Who Killed Diana?, told Deadline of Princess Diana “I am committed to approaching this beloved and iconic woman’s story with fresh perspectives, new voices and previously untold information,” she said.

Princess Diana prepares to address a gala benefit for victims of land mines at the National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington, June 17, 1997.AP Photo/Karin Cooper

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The late Princess Diana died alongside two others, Dodi Al Fayed and driver Henri Paul, in the accident in the French capital city. “There are very few moments like those in history,” royal biographer Ingrid Seward, who knew the royal personally, previously told PEOPLE. “I remember where I was in every tiny detail when I heard about Diana. It affected everybody.”

While no release date has been shared yet, Who Killed Diana? will be a three-part docuseries.

The supermodel shared an undated image with the Princess of Wales after being shouted out in ‘The Crown’

Princess Diana and Cindy Crawford smile in an undated throwback photo Crawford posted to Instagram in August 2017. Photo: Cindy Crawford/Instagram

Cindy Crawford is thinking of Princess Diana amid her “little cameo” in The Crown.

On Tuesday, the supermodel posted a snippet of season 6, part 2 episode of the Netflix drama inspired by the lives of the British royal family where she was shouted out in a conversation between Prince Philip (Jonathan Pryce) and Prince William (Ed McVey), along with a throwback photo with the late Princess of Wales.

“A little cameo on @thecrownnetflix 👀 I still vividly remember visiting Kensington Palace to meet Diana and a teenage William (who had just discovered the “Super Models”) ♥️,” Crawford, 57, captioned the quick clip on Instagram. In the scene from episode 5, which debuted in the part 2 drop of The Crown‘s sixth and final season on Dec. 14, Prince William opened the door to his dorm room at Eton to discover that his grandfather had paid a surprise visit.

The Crown imagined that William tacked up glam shots of Crawford, Naomi Campbell and Claudia Schiffer, and found Prince Philip looking at the photos of the supermodels on his wall.

Cindy Crawford’s Instagram Story on Dec. 19.Cindy Crawford/netflix/Instagram
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“Nothing to be ashamed of! Do they have names?” Pryce asked in character as Philip. “In my day it was Rita Hayworth, Betty Grable and Lana Turner.”

Crawford also shared the scene to her Instagram Story and reposted the tribute she paid to Princess Diana on the 20th anniversary of her death in 2017, adding a heart and dove emoji.

On Aug. 31, 1997, Diana and her boyfriend, Dodi Fayed, were traveling by car in Paris with a driver and bodyguard pursued by paparazzi when their vehicle slammed into a support column of a tunnel, flipped and came to a rest in front of oncoming traffic. Dodi and the driver died instantly while Diana died later in the hospital. She was 36 years old.

On the anniversary of Diana’s death six years ago, Crawford posted an undated throwback photo with the princess and recapped the story of her trip to Kensington Palace. The shot showed the pair smiling and wearing similar outfits.

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“Remembering this inspiring woman today. This photo was taken at Kensington Palace. Princess Diana had somehow got the number to my office and called herself to ask for me,” the supermodel began the Instagram tribute in 2017.

“My assistant was in shock! We finally connected and she asked if the next time I was in London I would come by for tea — I think Prince William was just starting to notice models and she thought it would be a cute surprise for him and Prince Harry,” she continued. “I was nervous and didn’t know what to wear, but remember as soon as she came into the room and we started talking, it was like talking to a girlfriend. She was a class act and showed us all what a modern day princess should be. Rest In Peace.”

Princess Diana at a dinner at the British Embassy in Washington, D.C. in November 1985.Terry Fincher/Princess Diana Archive/Getty

Crawford previously spoke about meeting Princess Diana and Prince William in conversation with Campbell for a No Filter with Naomi live chat on YouTube in April 2020.

Campbell referred to the story of how Princess Diana arranged for her, Schiffer and Christy Turlington to surprise Prince William after school one day when he was around 13 years old. The supermodel, 53, asked her guest if she had met William as well, and if he also blushed when they met.

“I think he was 16 when I met him,” Crawford said. “I don’t remember but look, I was blushing. I was so intimidated meeting Princess Diana and being at Kensington Palace and just how completely down-to-earth she was because there’s so much protocol, I guess, and not being English, I don’t understand some of it,” she explained.

Crawford added that Diana made her feel so welcome it was like “going to a friend’s house.”

“I feel like she was in jeans and like a cashmere sweater and almost that vibe of being super laid back. So I also was probably a little, I mean, it was uncomfortable, but it was sweet. It was a very sweet day and a great memory,” she said of her impressions.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are urging people to register to vote for the US election, sparking criticism from a royal commentator.

Harry and Meghan have received criticism for urging Americans to vote in upcoming election. (Image: Getty)

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are urging people to register to vote in the upcoming US election, sparking criticism from a royal commentator who says “they should not be getting involved with anything to do with the American presidential election”.

The 2024 United States elections will be held on November 5, 2024, With Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump battling for the White House.

Talk TV’s royal commentator, Rupert Bell, told the platform: “They are the Duke and Duchess of Sussex and the last I looked there aren’t any royal titles in America.”

He added: “For Meghan, she probably wants to see herself as a political advocate, but as the Duchess of Sussex she can’t expect to have status in the American political system, that’s not the way they operate.”

Via Harry and Meghan’s charity, the Archewell Foundation, the couple released a statement on national voter registration day. It read: “At the Archewell Foundation, we recognise that civic engagement, no matter one’s political party, is at the heart of a more just and equitable world.”

Princess Kate has been urged to “pace herself” and ensure she plans a gradual return to royal duties for the sake of her health, the country and her family.

It comes after she undertook her first official meeting of the year on Tuesday, which has been widely welcomed as a good sign in the course of her cancer recovery.

The meeting at Windsor Castle came just eight days after she revealed she had completed her chemotherapy.

In an emotional video message, the Princess spoke of her relief that her “incredibly tough” treatment had come to an end and thanked the public for their “kindness, empathy and compassion” as the family faced dark times.

While Kate, 42, cautioned that the road to recovery would not be easy, she said she hopes to undertake “a few more public engagements in the coming months when I can”.

However, Dickie Arbiter, who served as the late Queen’s press spokesman from 1998 until 2000, said she shouldn’t be pushing herself to return to work too soon.

“It will be a slow adjustment to getting back on duty and we mustn’t expect anything mammoth overnight,” he said.

“The fact that she had a meeting earlier this week is a good sign, a good sign that she is engaging with other people other than just her family.”

But Mr Arbiter said that she mustn’t feel rushed into a more fulsome schedule.

He said: “We shouldn’t be pushing her and she certainly shouldn’t be pushing herself to keep people happy that she is coming back, she will do it gradually and in her time … She’s not out of the woods yet and we must allow her to pace herself.”

The former communications secretary added that any decisions about future engagements will be made on the advice of her medical team, adding: “It’s not just about her, it’s not just about the monarchy and the United Kingdom it is about her family as well.”

Princess Kate will only undertake a few public engagements this year (Image: Will Warr/Getty)

Veteran royal commentator Richard Fitzwilliams agreed and said: “It’s extremely important for the future of the monarchy that she adopts a gradual approach and does what she feels able to do, subject of course to medical advice.

“When dealing with this deadly illness, she must do what she intends to do, ‘stay cancer-free’, as the only priority.”

Sources have been keen to stress that the meeting about her early years project this week does not signal a full-time resumption of duties – and that won’t come for some time.

The road ahead still needs to be carefully navigated, as her recovery is expected to extend into the new year even though her treatment has stopped.

“Although I have finished chemotherapy, my path to healing and full recovery is long and I must continue to take each day as it comes,” the Princess said last week.

Over the coming weeks and months, Kate will work closely with her top team, namely her private secretary Tom White and assistant private secretary Natalie Burrows to meticulously plan her gradual return to public life.

A still from the Princess of Wales’s cancer update (Image: PA)

She is set to slowly ease herself back into work and has her sights set on attending some public engagements over the coming months.

Key events in the royal diary are set to be prioritised, including Remembrance Sunday on November 10, at which Kate is keen to support the King and the rest of the Royal Family.

However, sources stressed that a final decision will only be made in the days before the event.

“Her physical and mental recovery will take some time, and although she wants to return to work she is mindful to prioritise her health, for her family’s sake as much as hers,” one said.

Mr Arbiter noted that the Festival of Remembrance at the Royal Albert Hall the night before could also be a possibility.

The Princess is hopeful that she can attend her “Together at Christmas” carol service at Westminster Abbey in December and join the family for the traditional walkabout on Christmas Day.

 

Princess Kate’s last public appearance was at the men’s singles final at Wimbledon in July (Image: Getty)

Princess Kate made her first public appearance of the year at Trooping the Colour (Image: Getty)

She has already started working with her team on plans for the Carol Service, which has fast become an important component of her diary since the Princess launched the event in 2021.

A source close to the royal said she is keen to uphold the tradition with her family again this year, alongside other causes, issues and charities “that are closest to her heart”.

The new year is set to follow a similar gradual return to royal duties, with aides mindful not to rush a resumption of a fuller diary.

Some have suggested that the six-month mark – which would suggest March – is a likely timescale of when the public can expect to see Kate attending more day-to-day engagements.

One well-placed source said the couple haven’t ruled out rescheduling their visit to Rome, which was initially planned for spring 2024 but was postponed following the Princess’s cancer diagnosis, to a similar time next year.

But as Kate cautioned in her message last week, “the cancer journey is complex, scary and unpredictable”, so it is difficult to devise definitive plans during this period of uncertainty.