Princess Diana’s Iconic Blue Swimsuit from 'The Crown' Has a Fascinating Backstory

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Royal family followers have been devouring The Crown, the popular Netflix series focused on Queen Elizabeth II and her heirs, since it first debuted in November 2016. Now in its sixth and final season, the drama has evolved to shine a spotlight on another powerful presence: Princess Diana.

Even if you haven’t watched an episode, you’re probably familiar with the lead image used to promote the culminating season. Either you saw it on a billboard or online ad recently (with actor Elizabeth Debicki recreating the iconic scene in her role Diana), or spotted it in its original form back in August 1997.

In case you missed it, here’s a brief recap: The ex-royal, who’s donning an open-back turquoise swimsuit, is sitting on a diving board on a yacht, looking out over the sea during what would become her last vacation.

This was just weeks after Diana attended the funeral of close friend Gianni Versace, and mere days after an emotional trip to Sarajevo related to her work publicizing the fight against landmines in that country.

In an effort to try to recover after that daunting month, Diana went on a Mediterranean vacation with her rumored boyfriend Dodi Fayed, which included time on his yacht. While there, the duo were swarmed by paparazzi who were hustling at the chance to snap an image of Diana and Dodi together. At the time, even less-than-sharp images of the couple were garnering more than £900,000 in today’s currency, which is the equivalent of about $1.12 million.

It’s in this climate that Diana was captured, solo, in that swimsuit on August 24, 1997. With her back to the camera and her face turned to the side looking pensive, the photo feels especially melancholy once you consider the fact that Diana, Dodi and their driver Henri Paul would pass away after a car crash in the Pont de l’Alma in Paris during a chase from the paparazzi.

One of The Crown’s costume designers, Sidonie Roberts told Harper’s Bazaar that season 6 was one swimming with swimsuits.

“She’s wearing them for four episodes—in fact, the majority of her outfits on her rail for this season were swimsuits. That blue swimsuit is so iconic…That image of her, what we call ‘walking the plank’ and sitting at the end there, it’s so iconic that I think for an actor when they’re in that, it makes them feel completely in their character,” Roberts adds.

As for Debicki, she told Entertainment Weekly that recreating this specific moment “felt like a peak of a sort of iconic mountain that we were climbing towards. I suppose in a way [the peak of] the last season was the recreation of the ‘revenge dress’ moment. I think the blue swimsuit was that for us in this season. I was really nervous that day, swimsuit aside,” she explains. “We’d had many swimsuit fittings. We have an amazing woman that makes them, because nobody wears that shape of swimsuit anymore, so we had to structure it and make it that really iconic '90s shape. But there was something about walking out across that diving board and understanding what we were recreating. We know what that shot is, it represents this moment, this sort of calm before a storm.”

Debicki herself ponders what Diana was thinking at the time.

“Was she aware [of the photographers]? Was she not? But also, [it’s] a moment of profound isolation and loneliness,” she tells Entertainment Weekly. “There was a part of my brain that really reveled in exploring that moment when I walked out to the diving board. I didn’t really know what it was going to feel like, and what I found on the end of that board was something both meditative but also deeply sad…It really moved me, making that shot.”

We’ll never know what Diana was feeling at that moment, but we do know that this image has grown to become one of her most iconic fashion moments.

1990s fashion is back, so this blue suit’s rise back to fame is right on cue. If you’d like to suit up in something similar, consider one of these timeless options.

The Backless One Piece Swimsuit

Classic One Piece Bathing Suit

Waterside V-Neck Swimsuit

Flu3nte Solid Convertible One piece

Luxe Crinkle Stretch One Piece

MIAIULIA Women's Bathing Suit

Royal family followers have been devouring The Crown, the popular Netflix series focused on Queen Elizabeth II and her heirs, since it first debuted in November 2016. Now in its sixth and final season, the drama has evolved to shine a spotlight on another powerful presence: Princess Diana.

Even if you haven’t watched an episode, you’re probably familiar with the lead image used to promote the culminating season. Either you saw it on a billboard or online ad recently (with actor Elizabeth Debicki recreating the iconic scene in her role Diana), or spotted it in its original form back in August 1997.

In case you missed it, here’s a brief recap: The ex-royal, who’s donning an open-back turquoise swimsuit, is sitting on a diving board on a yacht, looking out over the sea during what would become her last vacation.

This was just weeks after Diana attended the funeral of close friend Gianni Versace, and mere days after an emotional trip to Sarajevo related to her work publicizing the fight against landmines in that country.

In an effort to try to recover after that daunting month, Diana went on a Mediterranean vacation with her rumored boyfriend Dodi Fayed, which included time on his yacht. While there, the duo were swarmed by paparazzi who were hustling at the chance to snap an image of Diana and Dodi together. At the time, even less-than-sharp images of the couple were garnering more than £900,000 in today’s currency, which is the equivalent of about $1.12 million.

It’s in this climate that Diana was captured, solo, in that swimsuit on August 24, 1997. With her back to the camera and her face turned to the side looking pensive, the photo feels especially melancholy once you consider the fact that Diana, Dodi and their driver Henri Paul would pass away after a car crash in the Pont de l’Alma in Paris during a chase from the paparazzi.

One of The Crown’s costume designers, Sidonie Roberts told Harper’s Bazaar that season 6 was one swimming with swimsuits.

“She’s wearing them for four episodes—in fact, the majority of her outfits on her rail for this season were swimsuits. That blue swimsuit is so iconic…That image of her, what we call ‘walking the plank’ and sitting at the end there, it’s so iconic that I think for an actor when they’re in that, it makes them feel completely in their character,” Roberts adds.

As for Debicki, she told Entertainment Weekly that recreating this specific moment “felt like a peak of a sort of iconic mountain that we were climbing towards. I suppose in a way [the peak of] the last season was the recreation of the ‘revenge dress’ moment. I think the blue swimsuit was that for us in this season. I was really nervous that day, swimsuit aside,” she explains. “We’d had many swimsuit fittings. We have an amazing woman that makes them, because nobody wears that shape of swimsuit anymore, so we had to structure it and make it that really iconic '90s shape. But there was something about walking out across that diving board and understanding what we were recreating. We know what that shot is, it represents this moment, this sort of calm before a storm.”

Debicki herself ponders what Diana was thinking at the time.

“Was she aware [of the photographers]? Was she not? But also, [it’s] a moment of profound isolation and loneliness,” she tells Entertainment Weekly. “There was a part of my brain that really reveled in exploring that moment when I walked out to the diving board. I didn’t really know what it was going to feel like, and what I found on the end of that board was something both meditative but also deeply sad…It really moved me, making that shot.”

We’ll never know what Diana was feeling at that moment, but we do know that this image has grown to become one of her most iconic fashion moments.

1990s fashion is back, so this blue suit’s rise back to fame is right on cue. If you’d like to suit up in something similar, consider one of these timeless options

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