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The world stopped on Aug. 31, 1997 when a car crash killed Princess Diana and two others. Twenty-five years later, Diana still has an impact on those whose lives were intertwined with hers

Princess Diana was starting a new chapter following her divorce from Prince Charles, but her life was tragically cut short on Aug. 31, 1997, when a car accident killed her and two others, Dodi Al Fayed and driver Henri Paul. She was 36.

“There are very few moments like those in history. I remember where I was in every tiny detail when I heard about Diana,” says royal biographer Ingrid Seward, who knew Diana personally. “It affected everybody.”

Twenty-six years later, Princess Diana’s legacy continues to impact those whose lives were intertwined with hers.

PEOPLE presents The Story of Diana: Archival footage and conversations with those who knew the Princess of Wales best reveal how her story remains relevant today. Now on PeopleTV.

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Queen Elizabeth

Shutterstock; Max Mumby/Indigo/Getty

The Queen, who died in Sept. 2022, was criticized for her silence in the days that followed Diana’s death, but she spoke out in a televised speech on Sept. 5, 1997, as both “your Queen” and “as a grandmother.”

Although the monarch is usually stoic, she’s shown her ability to express warmth, especially in the years before her death — participating in comedy skits like at the 2012 Olympics with James Bond and sharing the screen with Paddington Bear for her Platinum Jubilee in summer 2022.

“The Queen can now see Diana’s legacy is a huge force for good,” says Seward.

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King Charles

Antony Jones/UK Press via Getty; Chris Jackson/WPA Pool/Shutterstock

Andrew Morton, Diana’s biographer, says that despite King Charles’ many achievements as the longest-serving Prince of Wales and current monarch, his first marriage will “always haunt him.”

“Just as Henry VIII is remembered for his six wives, Prince Charles is remembered for his first wife,” Morton says. “It will always haunt him. His life has been defined by his marriage.”

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Prince William

James Gray/Shutterstock; Julian Finney/Getty

Prince William was just 15 when his mother died. Today, as a 41-year-old man and father of three, he carries on Diana’s legacy— from supporting her causes to his hands-on approach as a dad to Prince George, 10, Princess Charlotte, 8, and Prince Louis, 5. His decision to move his family from London to the countryside of Windsor last year reflects Diana’s wishes for him to have as normal an upbringing as possible.

“William is the living example of his mother,” says Diana’s former bodyguard Ken Wharfe.

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Prince Harry

Tim Rooke/Shutterstock; Michael M. Santiago/Getty

Prince Harry was just 12 when he walked behind his mother’s casket during her funeral, something he later criticized.

“I don’t think any child should be asked to do that, under any circumstances,” he said in 2017.

Harry, now 38, has called himself “my mother’s son,” keeping her presence close through his charitable causes and his own family.

“Harry has made it perfectly clear that every decision he has made he refers upstairs to his mother,” says Morton. “His decision to go to America — he felt she was watching over him and giving him the thumbs-up.”

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Charles Spencer

John Stillwell/PA Images via Getty; Dave Benett/Getty

Princess Diana’s brother memorably slammed the royal family and the press for their treatment of Diana in his eulogy, and he continues to defend her. Last year, Spencer, 59, called for a police investigation into the methods used by BBC journalist Martin Bashir to secure the infamous Panorama interview with Diana.

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Queen Camilla

The public’s blame largely fell on Camilla and her affair with the then-Prince Charles. However, the pair married in 2005, and Queen Elizabeth announced her desire for Camilla to be known as “Queen Consort” when Charles took the throne in 2022.

“Her life has turned around perhaps more than anybody else’s,” says Morton. “Diana’s death has put her right in the constitutional center of Britain.”

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Sarah Ferguson

Princess Diana Archive/Getty; Shutterstock

Fergie, as the Duchess of York is known, was often pitted against her sister-in-law: “We were positioned as saint and sinner,” she told PEOPLE in 2021.

When Princess Diana died, the already fractured royal family broke apart even more, leaving Sarah outside the orbit. “She taught me so much of public life,” said Fergie. “She was so brave.”

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Hasnat Khan

Stan Karczmarz/Sygma via Getty; Simon Parry/Shutterstock

Princess Diana and the Pakistan-born heart surgeon had a quiet romance from 1995 until shortly before her death, as he wasn’t comfortable with the spotlight that came with dating the royal.

Khan, 65, spoke to the Daily Mail in 2021 against Bashir for the methods he used to secure his Panorama interview. “One of her most attractive qualities was her vulnerability,” he said. “I later realized that Martin picked on those vulnerabilities and exploited them.”

The 9th Earl Spencer shared a shot of a monument honoring Diana

Charles Spencer in 2015; Princess Diana in 1987. Photo: Amanda Edwards/WireImage; Georges De Keerle/FSP/Liaison Agency

Charles Spencer is giving a glimpse of Princess Diana’s memorial at the Spencer family’s Althorp estate.

On Tuesday, the 9th Earl Spencer, 59, posted a picture of the memorial honoring his late sister at Althorp. Diana, who died in a Paris car crash in 1997 at age 36, is buried at the Spencer family’s ancestral home in Northamptonshire, England.

“A special corner of Althorp, this morning,” Charles wrote on Instagram on Tuesday.

While Diana’s gravesite, which is located on an island within the Round Oval Lake.

The photo, which was taken from a distance, shows the monument in autumn light. The Grecian-style memorial is topped by Diana’s name and features four columns, opening to show a silhouette of the late princess flanked by two tablets. One displays the concluding tribute the Earl Spencer gave at Diana’s funeral at Westminster Abbey, and the other features a quote from Diana about her deep love for charitable work.

Charles Spencer Shares Childhood Photo with Sister Princess Diana on 26th Anniversary of Her Death

Charles, an author, historian and podcast host, walked behind Diana’s coffin during her funeral procession with Prince William, Prince Harry, now-King Charles and Prince Philip. Later, he delivered a fiery eulogy condemning the treatment she’d faced from the tabloid media and honoring her extraordinary legacy of compassion and care.

The events surrounding Diana’s death are explored in the sixth and final season of The Crown, which premiered earlier this month.

The Earl Spencer is known to pay tribute to Diana on social media for occasions like her birthday and All Soul’s Day. He also marked the 26th anniversary of her death over the summer.

On Aug. 30, the eve of the anniversary, he posted a throwback photo of himself and Diana as children. The image, posted without a caption, showed Charles standing next to his much taller sister — who wore a pink and white striped dress — as she put an arm around his shoulder.

In his memoir, Spare, Prince Harry recalled taking his wife, Meghan Markle, to Diana’s burial place for the first time in 2022 on the 25th anniversary of his mother’s death.

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An aerial view of the burial site of Diana, Princess of Wales at Althorp.David Goddard/Getty

“I helped Meg into the boat. It wobbled, but I quick-stepped to the middle, got it righted in time,” Harry wrote in the text, published in January. “As she found a seat in the stern, I took up the oars. They didn’t work. We’re stuck. The thick mud of the shallows had us in its grip.”

“Uncle Charles came down to the water’s edge, gave us a little shove,” he continued, referring to his mother’s brother. “We waved to him, and to my two aunts. ‘Bye. See you in a bit.’ “

“No visit to this place was ever easy, but this one… twenty-fifth anniversary,” Prince Harry wrote in Spare. “And Meg’s first time. At long last, I was bringing the girl of my dreams home to meet mum.”

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

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“We hesitated, hugging, and then I went first. I placed flowers on the grave. Meg gave me a moment, and I spoke to my mother in my head, told her I missed her, asked her for guidance and clarity,” Prince Harry wrote. “Feeling that Meg might also want a moment, I went around the hedge, scanned the pond. When I came back, Meg was kneeling, eyes shut, palms against the stone.”

“I asked, as we walked back to the boat, what she’d prayed for,” he added. “Clarity, she said. And guidance.”

Sales of one-piece swimming costumes soar by 333% in the US after the latest episodes of The Crown

Elizabeth Debicki recreating the iconic swimwear looks worn by Princess Diana in season 6 of The Crown . Photo: Pool RAT/REY/Gamma-Rapho via Getty;Netflix

Princess Diana’s iconic swimwear looks are making a comeback for a reason.

The casual attire she chose for her final summer while cruising through the Mediterranean on various sun-soaked vacations with Prince William, Prince Harry and new boyfriend Dodi Fayed was symbolic in more ways than one.

Gone were the fancy designer gowns (having literally just sold them in a high-profile auction at Christie’s in Manhattan earlier that year) and embracing a new phase in her life post-divorce from Prince Charles, the summer of 1997 was a time of sartorial metamorphosis for the princess, as depicted in the opening episodes of season six of The Crown.

“If you look at the wedding dress, which is humongous and very over the top, and then you get to the revenge dress and then you strip it right back to the swimwear,” Sidonie Roberts, one of the show’s costume designers explains to PEOPLE. “There’s this sense of exposing and allowing yourself to unfold. There’s an actual unfolding. We said it [was] like the cocooned butterfly.”

Princess Diana in St Tropez on July 20, 2023.Lionel Cironneau/AP Photo

For that fateful summer, just months before her death in Paris on August 31, Princess Diana was seen in a perfectly curated collection of swimsuits (a crew member confirms she packed very little else!). Many of them were bespoke designs by the Israeli brand Gottex, whose founder Leah Gottlieb met with the princess in London and offered to supply her with some one-off pieces for her upcoming trip to St. Tropez where she was due to spend time on Dodi’s father Mohammed Al Fayed’s yacht.

The opening episode of season six of the Netflix drama shows exactly that. Wearing a medley of stylish one-piece swimsuits, from glamorous leopard print to vivid lime green and purple ombre, actress Elizabeth Debicki showcases Diana’s new less-is-more approach brilliantly, wearing swimsuits recreated by the same brand.

So iconic were the looks that Gottex recently launched a limited edition version of Diana’s leopard print design, which the royal wore to try and steer the paparazzi gaze away from her children during her first trip to the South of France with the Al Fayed’s, in a scene recreated in the show. The “Diana” collection features two versions of the animal print design, with prices starting from $160.

Princess Diana in the Gottex leopard print swimsuit in the summer of 1997.Michel Dufour/WireImage

 In another scene from part one of the final season (part two premieres on Dec. 14), Diana is seen wearing a low-back Tiffany blue swimsuit, her back to the camera, re-creating one of the final and most poignant paparazzi images of Diana. Caught in a reflective moment, perched on the end of a diving board on Fayed’s yacht staring out into the endless ocean, it’s also the image Netflix chose for the cover.

“I really love the blue swimsuit that Diana wears when she walks out to the end of the diving board and sits down,” Debicki recently told Harper’s Bazaar, adding; “There was just something about that swimsuit and recreating that moment that felt very sacred and important, and it was very important we got it right.”

 Testament to the longevity of her style status, one-piece swimsuits have been flying off the shelves since the new season premiered. According to Google, searches for “one-piece swimsuit” skyrocketed 176% worldwide and 333% in the U.S. Searches for “blue swimsuit” also soared by 158% worldwide and a staggering 846% in the U.S.

According to Jacques Azagury, her go-to designer during the last decade of her life, the style transition we saw during those final months had been a long time coming.

“It was the time of the supermodel, and everyone was wearing more body-conscious dresses and she was super fit,” the Moroccan-born, London-based designer tells PEOPLE. “After the break-up of the marriage, she rediscovered herself and she turned into this unbelievably stunning woman, that’s when her personality really started to shine.”

On whether he thinks the moments they shared nearly 40 years ago seem like a lifetime ago, he shakes his head: “No, it seems like it was yesterday because she is ever-present and still so prominent.”

“They were chatting away while they were dancing. I was very impressed,” Donahue’s wife Marlo Thomas said

Princess Diana (left) and Phil Donahue (right). Photo: Ken Goff/Gett

The late Phil Donahue and Princess Diana once shared a special moment together.

In an interview with host Andy Cohen on Watch What Happens Live in 2020, Donahue — who died on Aug. 18 at 88 years old after a “long illness” — sat down with his wife, Marlo Thomas, and played a game about celebrities he had met. And in doing so, Donahue opened up about an unforgettable night he once had with Princess Diana.

“I danced with her,” he revealed before joking, “I had to fight off all the guys who wanted to cut in!”

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Thomas explained that she was speaking at a charity luncheon in Chicago in 1997 when she was asked if her talk show host husband would do a favor.

“They said, ‘We need a man to dance with Princess Diana and there are three rules,’” she recalled. “‘A: he has to be married, B: she has to be in the room, the wife has to be in the room, and C: he has to be at least 6 feet tall, so we’d like Phil to be that person.’ So I told Phil and he said, ‘Oh I don’t want to do that,’ because Phil’s very shy, people don’t realize that. He did though.”

She continued, “He had his first dance with Princess Diana at the party and they got along great. They were chatting away while they were dancing. I was very impressed.”

Phil Donahue (left) and Princess Diana (right).Mike Forster/Daily Mail/Shutterstock

Later appearing on The Drew Barrymore Show, Donahue noted that he “never had so many pictures taken of me” as he did that night.

The couple also revealed they kept the photos of the dance, in which Diana can be seen in a floor-length purple gown and Donahue was dressed in a tux with a bowtie.

“My dancing partner,” Donahue called her.

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Phil Donahue.Daniel Zuchnik/WireImage

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Donahue died on Sunday, Aug. 18, his family announced the next day in a statement first given to Today. They said he had Thomas, who he had been married to for 44 years, by his side along with “his sister, his children, grandchildren and his beloved golden retriever, Charlie.”

The 20-time Emmy winner forged a path for future daytime talk show hosts like Geraldo Rivera, Sally Jessy Raphael, Ricki Lake, Montel Williams and Oprah Winfrey — several of whom posted sweet tributes to Donahue after the news of his death.

“There wouldn’t have been an Oprah Show without Phil Donahue being the first to prove that daytime talk and women watching should be taken seriously,” Winfrey wrote in an Instagram post. “He was a pioneer. I’m glad I got to thank him for it. Rest in peace Phil 🙏🏽🕊️.”

Raphael shared a similar sentiment, writing, “His show changed the way we talked, what we talked about, and gave a voice to everyone. If there wasn’t a Phil Donahue, there would have never been a Sally Jessy Raphael. Quite simply, Phil was a legend, and his demise is a great loss to the world. My thoughts and prayers go out to Marlo and their family.”

The final season of ‘The Crown’ showed how Princess Diana’s two sons dealt with the aftermath of their mother’s tragic death in 1997

Prince William, Princess Diana and Prince Harry in May 1995. Photo: Anwar Hussein/Getty

The Crown‘s final season covers the tragic death of Princess Diana — and how her young sons, Prince William and Prince Harry, coped with the news.

As portrayed in the Netflix show, Prince William and Prince Harry — just 15 and 12 at the time — were at Balmoral Castle in Scotland when their mother died at age 36 in a Paris car crash in August 1997. Queen Elizabeth usually spent her summer months in Scotland with members of the royal family regularly visiting her, and King Charles has kept the tradition going.

In the BBC documentary Diana, 7 Days released in 2017, Prince William recalled “just feeling completely numb, disorientated, dizzy” upon learning about his mother’s death.

“You feel very, very confused,” William, now 41, said. “And you keep asking yourself, ‘Why me?’ All the time, ‘Why? What have I done? Why? Why has this happened to us?’ “

At the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland in 2022, Prince William spoke about his personal connection to the country and how it holds both his “happiest” and “saddest” memories.

“I was in Balmoral when I was told that my mother had died. Still in shock, I found sanctuary in the service at Crathie Kirk that very morning,” he said. “And in the dark days of grief that followed, I found comfort and solace in the Scottish outdoors. As a result, the connection I feel to Scotland will forever run deep.”

Prince William and Princess Diana in 1991.Manuela DUPONT/Gamma-Rapho via Getty

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Prince Harry was told the news about his mother’s accident by his father, Charles. Harry, now 39, wrote in his memoir Spare, released early this year, that he was woken up by his father and informed of the crash.

“I remember waiting patiently for Pa to confirm that indeed Mummy was all right,” Harry recalled. “And I remember him not doing that.”

Charles told his younger son that Diana “didn’t make it.”

“These phrases remain in my mind like darts in a board,” Prince Harry said. “He did say it that way, I know that much for sure. She didn’t make it. And then everything seemed to come to a stop.”

Prince Harry and Princess Diana in 1991.Martin Keene/PA Images via Getty

Although Prince Harry reflected on his mother’s death and the aftermath in Spare, The Crown‘s creator Peter Morgan recently told Variety that he didn’t read the revealing book.

“I’ve not read a word of it,” Morgan said. “Not that I wouldn’t be interested. But I didn’t want his voice to inhabit my thinking too much. I’ve got a lot of sympathy with him, a lot of sympathy. But I didn’t want to read his book.”

Elizabeth Debicki at The Crown premiere on Nov. 12, 2023.Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/FilmMagic

Elizabeth Debicki, who played Princess Diana in The Crown’s final seasons,  exclusively told PEOPLE at the Los Angeles premiere that she “learned a lot” playing the late royal.

“I don’t think you come anywhere near sort of learning as much as I learned about this character and not feel that the only thing worth doing in life is putting love into the world,” she said.

The actress also opened up about what she discovered about Princess Diana’s personality.

“I mean, I think I learned things about the degree to which she had an enormous and wicked sense of humor, the difficulties that she was facing, the way that she triumphed through them, the way she used her voice in a way that was sort of very progressive at the time,” Debicki said to PEOPLE. “Yeah, I learned a lot.”

The actress plays Diana in the upcoming sixth and final season of ‘The Crown’ — coming to Netflix on Nov. 16

The Crown star Elizabeth Debicki is on the cover of this week’s ‘Radio Times’; ‘Vogue’ Magazine December 1991 – Princess Diana. Photo: Radio Times; Patrick Demarchelier/Vogue Magazine

Elizabeth Debicki is honoring Princess Diana in her latest cover shoot.

The Crown star, 33, recreated Diana’s iconic 1991 Vogue cover for the new issue of Radio Times ahead of the upcoming sixth season — in which she plays the late princess — premiering on Netflix on Nov. 16.

In the image, Debicki is seen smiling while looking straight at the camera in character as Diana as she wears a black turtleneck sweater just like the one worn by the royal on the classic cover. The Australian actress wears a short, choppy blonde wig, emulating Diana’s hairdo, and wears similar makeup.

Elizabeth Debicki recreates Diana’s 1991 ‘Vogue’ cover for ‘Radio Times’.Radio Times
Elizabeth Debicki on the Most Important Thing She Learned While Playing Princess Diana in The Crown

Debicki portrays Princess Diana in her final days in the upcoming sixth and last season of The Crown. Princess Diana was killed in a car crash on Aug. 31, 1997, after being chased by photographers in Paris’ Pont de l’Alma tunnel.

The actress’s final appearance in the role follows her Emmy-nominated turn first playing the princess in the fifth season.

Andrew Morton, the author of Diana’s 1992 biography Diana: Her True Story who worked closely with the princess on the book, told Radio Times that Debicki played the role with “uncanny empathy” in the new issue.

Princess Diana on the cover of ‘Vogue’ in the December 1991 issue.Patrick Demarchelier/Vogue Magazine
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“Hers was a tangled life, often buffeted by forces outside her sway. A woman searching for herself when everyone wanted a piece of her,” Morton told the outlet.

Speaking on Debicki’s portrayal of Diana in her last days, he added that the events portrayed will “stir up the settled silt of remembrance and loss,” per Daily Mail.

At the premiere of The Crown on Saturday, Debicki shared with PEOPLE that she “learned a lot” playing Princess Diana in the final series.

“I don’t think you come anywhere near sort of learning as much as I learned about this character and not feel that the only thing worth doing in life is putting love into the world,” she told PEOPLE.

Debicki also discussed what surprised her about Diana’s personality.

“I think I learned things about the degree to which she had an enormous and wicked sense of humor, the difficulties that she was facing, the way that she triumphed through them, the way she used her voice in a way that was sort of very progressive at the time,” she told PEOPLE. “Yeah, I learned a lot.”

The first part of the final season of The Crown debuts on Netflix on Nov. 16. The second and concluding part of the season will arrive on Dec. 14 with six episodes.

Princess Diana died following a car crash on Aug. 31, 1997

Charles Spencer, Princess Diana. Photo: Jon Kopaloff/FilmMagic; Tim Graham Photo Library via Getty

Charles Spencer is remembering his older sister, Princess Diana.

The 9th Earl Spencer, 60, shared a post on Instagram on Saturday, Aug. 31, commemorating 27 years since Diana was killed following a car crash.

Spencer shared an image that showed various photographs and newspaper clippings centered around Princess Diana, including one article about her christening and a photo of the late royal playing outside as a young girl.

He did not include a caption with his social media post.

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All About Charles Spencer, Princess Diana’s Brother and Closest Sibling

Spencer is the youngest of five children born to John Spencer and Frances Shand Kydd.

He grew up with his three older sisters: Sarah, the eldest, born in 1955, followed by Jane in 1957 and Diana in 1961. Spencer also had an older brother named John, who was born in 1960 but died just hours later.

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Following Princess Diana’s death, Spencer said he wondered if there was more he could have done to save his sibling. “You always think, God, I wish I could’ve protected her. It was just … it was devastating,” he told PEOPLE in 2017. “I always felt … intensely protective towards her.”

Since Diana’s death, Charles has become an outspoken defender of her legacy and champion of her causes.

Charles Spencer, Princess Diana. Amanda Edwards/WireImage; Tim Graham Photo Library/Getty
Charles Spencer Shares Rare Childhood Photo with Sister Princess Diana and Their Mom

Spencer was the one who gave the eulogy during Princess Diana’s funeral on Sept. 6, 1997.

Serving as “the representative of a family in grief, in a country in mourning, before a world in shock,” he paid tribute to his late sister as the “very essence of compassion, of duty, of style, of beauty.”

Spencer also called out how Diana was treated by the tabloid media, describing her as “the most hunted person of the modern age.”

While later speaking with PEOPLE, Spencer reflected on the moment and said the line “summed up so much of the anger I felt toward those who had done that to her.” He added of his eulogy, “In the final paragraph I had run out of energy, almost out of oxygen. I had to punch each syllable out of the base of my stomach.”

The ‘Blue Bloods’ actor said he was asked to cut in on the Princess of Wales’ second dance with John Travolta

Sabienna Bowman is a Digital News Editor at PEOPLE, where she has been working since 2023. She previously worked at POPSUGAR, Bustle and Scarymommy.

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Tom Selleck (Left); Princess Diana. Photo: Paul Zimmerman/WireImage; Tim Graham Photo Library via Getty

If not for John Travolta, Tom Selleck may have never danced with Princess Diana.

In a recent interview with Town & Country, the Blue Bloods actor, 79, discussed a passage in his new memoir You Never Know, where he recounted how he ended up dancing with the Princess of Wales at the 1985 White House Dinner.

At the time, Selleck was filming Magnum, P.I. in Hawaii and was unsure if he would attend the event, until his publicist told him, “‘Look, this is Princess Diana’s personal guest list and there’s only three actors on it: you, Clint Eastwood and John Travolta.’ “

In his memoir, the Friends alum recalled how he and Eastwood attempted to keep a low-profile while Travolta and the princess shared their now iconic dance.

Princess Diana (Left) with Tom Selleck in 1985.Shutterstock

“We slipped away from all the dancers and moved to a spot slightly around the corner,” Selleck wrote, per USA Today. “By now John and Princess Di were dancing to an up-tempo number and rocking out. Everybody else stopped dancing and formed a circle around them, clapping their hands.”

However, when the Saturday Night Fever actor and Diana began a second dance, a British woman approached Selleck and urged him to step in and ask the princess to dance before the pair’s second spin could “start rumors.”

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He wrote, “Clint and I said nothing,’ ” before he recalled the woman saying, “‘Mr. Selleck, you must step in and replace him.’ “

“’I’M NOT CUTTING IN ON JOHN TRAVOLTA!’ was my reply, probably in too loud a voice. She was not pleased,” Selleck continued.

While he didn’t cut in on Travolta, he did step up before the pair could embark on a third dance, and according to the Emmy-winner, Diana “was lovely, and there was a very shy quality about her in spite of her being well-schooled in the art of conversation.”

He added to Town & Country that while he doesn’t often get starstruck, he was dazzled by Diana. “Oh yeah, I was starstruck.”

You Never Know by Tom Selleck.Dey Street Books

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In terms of conversation, Selleck recalled to the outlet that he apologized for his lack of skills on the dance floor, revealing that he “skipped cotillion” at dance school.

“All I could do dancing was box step like we did in high school dances, a box step and a dip,” he revealed. “And I wasn’t about to dip with Princess Di! So I just talked. But she was very gracious … It was certainly memorable.”

While Selleck was dancing with Diana, his wife, Jillie Mack, got to dance with Diana’s then-husband Prince Charles (now King). “The prince danced with my wife, who’s a Brit. And he asked her for a second dance, so that was pretty neat for Jillie,” he told Town & Country.

John Travolta on His ‘Storybook’ Dance with Princess Diana: ‘The Whole Room Cleared’

John Travolta (Left) and Princess Diana in 1985. Shutterstock

In the 2021 PBS special In Their Own Words: Diana, Princess of Wales, Travolta, now 70, opened up about his famous dance with Diana at the White House, revealing that Nancy Reagan was the one who introduced him to the princess.

“About 10 o’clock at night, Nancy Reagan tapped on my shoulder and said, ‘The princess, her fantasy is to dance with you. Would you like to dance with her tonight?’ ” he recalled. “And I said, ‘Well of course.’ “

Travolta gamely made Diana’s dream come true with not just one, but two dances that night.

“It was a storybook moment,” he said. “We bowed when it was over, and, you know, she was off, and I was off, and my carriage turned into a pumpkin.”

It was a style surprise to see the Queen with a handbag closely associated with the late Princess of Wales

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Queen Camilla at Wimbledon on July 10, 2024; Princess Diana at London Lighthouse in October 1996. Photo: Jordan Pettitt/PA Images via Getty; Mathieu Polak/Sygma via Getty

Queen Camilla has added a new accessory to her royal wardrobe with an unexpected connection to Princess Diana.

The Queen, 76, debuted a surprising new handbag this week, sporting the Small Lady Dior Bag in beige at two royal engagements. The luxury handbag (which retails for $6,000) was famously renamed the Lady Dior after Princess Diana, who was known as Lady Diana Spencer before her marriage to the future King Charles. The style was one of Diana’s favorite go-to handbags.

Queen Camilla first showcased the Dior purse at Wimbledon on July 10, where she watched the tennis tournament from the front row of the Royal Box alongside her sister, Annabel Elliot. At one point, the Queen placed the bag on her lap and reached inside for something.

Queen Camilla at Wimbledon on July 10, 2024.ANDREJ ISAKOVIC/AFP via Getty

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The Queen carried the handbag once more on July 11, when she and King Charles visited the Senedd in Cardiff, Wales. The royal couple made the trip to mark the 25th anniversary of the Welsh Parliament’s devolution from the U.K. government. Queen Camilla was seen with the bag draped over her arm as they exited the building

It was a style surprise for Queen Camilla to make a fashion statement so closely associated with the late Princess Diana, as such choices are not typically in her repertoire. Diana reportedly avoided wearing the logo of another luxury French label, Chanel, after her 1996 divorce, as the interlocking “C” insignia reminded her of Charles and Camilla, who famously had an extramarital affair during Diana’s marriage to Charles.

Queen Camilla leaves the Senedd on July 11, 2024 in Cardiff, Wales.Samir Hussein/WireImage

A black version of the Lady Dior Bag, initially named the Chouchou (French for “favorite”), was gifted to Princess Diana in 1995 before its official release. Diana was reportedly smitten with the bag, carrying it on numerous occasions and even requesting a navy blue version “to match her eyes,” according to Dior’s history.

Diana showcased the blue version at the Met Gala in New York City in 1996, and later that year, Dior renamed it the “Lady Dior” bag in her honor, as reported by Vogue.

Princess Diana at the Met Gala in New York City in December 1996.Richard Corkery/NY Daily News via Getty Images

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Today, the fashion house offers the Lady Dior bag in a variety of sizes, colors and materials. Queen Camilla isn’t the only royal with a version of this iconic accessory in her collection.

Meghan Markle accessorized with a black Dior Lady D-Lite handbag, an iteration of the original released in 2019, after appearing with husband Prince Harry at the Global Citizen Live concert in New York City in 2021.

Meghan Markle and Prince Harry leave the the Global Citizen concert in Central Park on September 25, 2021 in New York City.Gotham/GC Images

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While maintaining the same silhouette as the classic Lady Dior, the D-Lite has the additional feature of a reversible and removable shoulder strap that makes it slightly sportier and more versatile than the classic pocketbook shape — a fresh spin for a modern wearer on the move.

The actor talks to PEOPLE about portraying the couple’s relationship in the Netflix series’ final season

Princess Diana and Dodi Fayed. Photo: Tim Graham Photo Library/Getty; Getty

The Crown is back with season 6 as the first four episodes depict the flourishing romance between Princess Diana and Dodi Fayed during the summer leading up to their fatal car crash in Paris on Aug. 31, 1997.

Returning for a second installment of creator Peter Morgan’s historical drama is Khalid Abdalla, who portrays Dodi opposite Elizabeth Debicki as the Princess of Wales, who at this point is divorced from Prince Charles (Dominic West) and navigating a new life outside the royal fold.

The 42-year-old actor exclusively tells PEOPLE it was “an extraordinary honor” to be part of the final season of the decorated Netflix series, saying, “It has been one of the great honors of my life.”

For Abdalla, getting to portray Princess Diana and Dodi’s story, “especially as this is a moment that is so dear and important to people,” is special. “To have finally got there and feel like we’ve honored it, feels immense,” he says, hoping that as “people see it, they feel like we have approached and handled it with the dignity and respect that it deserves.”

Abdalla also shares his own thoughts about the couple’s whirlwind relationship — and whether the princess was falling in love with the Egyptian film producer, something the show touches on when Dodi proposes to Diana.

Elizabeth Debicki as Princess Diana and Khalid Abdalla as Dodi Fayed.Netflix

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In real life, their courtship was very short before the two became forever entangled in each other’s lives.

Although they first met at a polo match in 1986, it wasn’t until Dodi’s father, Mohammad Al Fayed (portrayed in the series by Salim Daw), invited Diana and her teenage sons — Prince William and Prince Harry (played by Rufus Kampa and Fflyn Edwards, respectively) — to vacation in Saint-Tropez in the summer of 1997 that she became romantically linked with the producer.

After being spotted several times on the $32 million yacht, the Jonikal, and a brief visit to Dodi’s Park Lane apartment in London, the two flew to Paris with a stop at the Ritz hotel.

Hounded by photographers during that trip, things took a disastrous turn when the couple decided to leave the hotel for his Paris apartment. Seated in the back of a black Mercedes driven by Henri Paul, the Ritz’s assistant director of security, and accompanied by bodyguard Trevor Rees-Jones, the couple attempted to evade the paparazzi before their vehicle crashed in the tunnel beside the Place de l’Alma. (PEOPLE previously confirmed the fatal accident will not be shown in the series.)

Princess Diana and Dodi Fayed.Antony Jones/UK Press/Getty ; Aaron Rapoport/CORBIS OUTLINE/Corbis/Getty

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“Right from the beginning, in season 5, I had to ask myself a question about whether I thought Diana and Dodi were falling in love or not. The first answer to that question came in the CCTV footage,” Abdalla says, referring to a seven-minute long video of the couple seen at the Ritz hotel in Paris on their final night together.

“They are very tenderly holding each other’s hands behind their backs and nuzzled in with each other. That tenderness of how they caress each other has in it something of the nature of their falling in love,” the actor adds.

Giving Abdalla an added appreciation of Princess Diana was “her way of seeing people, where she saw the light inside them. She didn’t see them through the color of their skin or whatever it was. There was something about the light inside them,” he says, explaining, “That, I think, is part of what she saw in Dodi for that moment, the six weeks that they were together, which has shined through all the way now.”

Abdalla, however, notes that he’s “not interested in the question of whether they would’ve been together or not, forever,” something so many admirers of Diana still wonder today. Instead, “I’m interested in the question of the complexity of how we all fall in love,” he says, adding that “exploring that [was] very important to me.”

Khalid Abdalla and Dodi Fayed. Venturelli/WireImage; Aaron Rapoport/CORBIS OUTLINE/Corbis via Getty Images
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For the actor, Diana and Dodi’s relationships with their families, particularly Dodi’s complex dynamic with his father, was also something he factored into his portrayal. Understanding “the complexity of his relationship with his father” was key for Abdalla, with him explaining that “this will resonate for many people if they have complicated relationships with their parents, where it’s hard but there’s a lot of love.”

He adds, “So to have that trio of dynamics play out and sing harmoniously was a big part of the challenge.”

With his portrayal of Dodi on The Crown, Abdalla also hopes that people will finally learn more about his life and his story.

“This is the big one — Dodi is a figure who, for 26 years despite the fact that he died in that crash, people have known almost nothing about,” the actor says. “People still ask, ‘What did he sound like?’ They don’t know. What do they know about his life? Very little. Why?”

“So, finally after 26 years, he can be known a little, felt a little as well, which is important. Then maybe loved a little,” Abdalla says, noting that it’s not often that Arab characters are mourned on-screen if they die. “I can hardly think of any. That tells you a lot about our cultural and political imagery. So, I’m incredibly proud of that in relation to my heritage in relation to Dodi.”

The Crown season 6, part 1 is now streaming on Netflix.