Rare Photo of Princess Diana Graces the Cover of “Tatler ”— The Story Behind the Snap

The late Princess of Wales offered a slight smile in the shot by David Bailey

A rare photo of Princess Diana is heading to newsstands on the next issue of Tatler.

On Wednesday, the British magazine published by Condé Nast unveiled the January 2024 cover featuring the late Princess of Wales. Diana wore an asymmetric outfit with sparkling statement earrings and looked into the camera with a slight smile in the black and white snap, which is listed with the National Portrait Gallery in London.

Last year, another image from Princess Diana’s photoshoot with Bailey went on display at Kensington Palace, her former home. The Life Through a Royal Lens exhibit ran from March to October 2022.

In the image that graces the upcoming issue of Tatler, which is available for digital download and on newsstands starting Thursday, Diana leans slightly forward, while the picture shared in the exhibit captured her profile from the side.

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The royal sat for the session in 1988 when she was around 27 years old. Although it was commissioned by the National Portrait Gallery, the image was retained by Bailey for his archive and had never been seen in public before.

The picture shows Princess Diana, who died in 1997 at age 36, appearing "reserved, stoic and looking away from the viewer," according to the curators at Historic Royal Palaces. The former Princess of Wales is said to have chosen the photographer for his "bold minimalism" and was part of her hope to establish a new photographic identity for herself.

"For me, it is the most powerful of images from the sitting," said curator Claudia Acott Williams.

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The January issue of Tatler was published with the cover line "Diana The Battle for Her Legacy." The feature story touches on the release of the "controversial" sixth season of The Crown on Netflix and includes a critical piece from royal author Hugo Vickers about the drama inspired by the lives of the British royal family.

The sixth and final season of The Crown, which debuted in 2016, is split into a two-part premiere for its final chapter. Part 1 premiered on Nov. 16 and focuses on the events surrounding Princess Diana’s tragic death, while part 2, debuting on Dec. 14, is expected to take the show into the early 2000s — including the start of Prince William and Kate Middleton’s love story.

Speaking to PEOPLE before the part 1 premiere, actress Elizabeth Debicki opened up about how she focused on showing Princess Diana’s inner strength as she closed the role. The cast of the show changed every two seasons to reflect the royals aging through the decades, and Debicki picked up the part from Emma Corrin in seasons 5 and 6.

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“The script offered different sort of colors in a way of Diana, and I was really grateful for that. I think in season 5, the character is much more isolated. She's on her own a lot, and she's going through incredible trials that really test her and test her sense of reality and her sense of herself,” Debicki told PEOPLE about season 5, which chronicled the breakdown of Diana’s marriage to then-Prince Charles, finalized by divorce.

"When I opened up the scripts to season 6, what I saw Peter [Morgan] had created for me to follow, was this sense of someone who was freer, who was kind of blossoming into a different version, who had been through the fires and had sort of come through stronger and more focused,” the actress added of what she took into channeling Diana.

See the full feature in the January issue of Tatler available via digital download and on newsstands from Thursday 7 December.

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