Diana’s ‘Revenge Dress’ hits Paris again

The Grevin wax museum in Paris unveiled a new attraction on Thursday: Princess Diana in the “revenge dress” she famously wore after the public revelations of her then-husband Prince Charles’ affair.

The popular tourist destination, similar to Madame Tussauds in London, already featured models of Charles, now King Charles III, and his late mother, Queen Elizabeth II. But Diana was a notable absentee, despite her tragic connection to the city where she died in a car crash in August 1997.

Her wax figure appeared in a replica of the black dress designed by Christina Stambolian, which Diana wore in 1994 during a media frenzy surrounding the breakdown of her marriage. She stepped out in the off-the-shoulder dress on the same day an interview aired in which Charles admitted to infidelity.

“More than 28 years after her tragic death in Paris, Diana remains a major figure in global pop culture, celebrated for her style, humanity and independence,” the Grevin Museum said in a statement. “The dress became a statement of regained self-assertion, a powerful image of determined femininity and renewed confidence,” she added.

Diana’s waxwork is displayed among entertainment and fashion figures, away from King Charles and Queen Elizabeth, who are in a gallery dedicated to heads of state. The decision to unveil the iconic ‘revenge dress’ draws attention to one of the most damaging episodes for the British royal family.

“From the point of view of Charles and Buckingham Palace, they would not be happy with this entrance to Grevin,” Bertrand Dekkers, a royal expert who regularly appears on French television, told AFP.

“Clearly they would rather we forget all of this and never talk about it,” he added. But Diana’s image as a “wronged and hurt woman” helped cement her enduring popularity, Deckers said.

The date chosen for the unveiling – November 20 – was another “sly reference”, the museum noted. It marks the 30th anniversary of Diana’s bombshell, and still controversial, interview with the BBC, in which she said: “There were three of us at that wedding, so it was a bit crowded,” referring to Charles’ mistress Camilla Parker Bowles, whom he later married.

Diana also admitted having an affair with James Hewitt, but the BBC later apologized in 2021 for the “misleading” way in which the interview was secured.

The high-pressure wax commission, which will be scrutinized by defenders of Diana’s memory, was commissioned by Paris-based sculptor Laurent Mallamaci. The Grevin Museum had been in contact with Diana before her death, but abandoned the idea of ​​creating a figure at that time, a spokesman said.

Deckers, whose recent book focuses on Princess Catherine, noted that the French remain fascinated by British royals despite famously executing their own monarch after the 1789 Revolution.

“It’s almost as if they think of the Windsors as their royal family, even though it would make more sense to adopt the Grimaldi’s in Monaco,” Deckers, who is Belgian, told AFP.