Diana's 'Revenge Dress' strikes again in Paris

Grevin Museum places the princess in her famed off-the-shoulder dress

PARIS:

The Grevin waxwork museum in Paris unveiled a new star attraction on Thursday: Princess Diana in the "revenge dress" she famously wore following public revelations of her then-husband Prince Charles's 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 had been a notable absentee, despite her tragic connection to the city where she died in a car crash in August 1997.

Her wax figure was displayed in a replica of the black gown 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 that an interview aired in which Charles admitted to infidelity.

"More than 28 years after her tragic death in Paris, Diana is still a major figure in global pop culture, celebrated for her style, humanity, and independence," the Grevin Museum said in a statement. "The gown became a statement of reclaimed self-assertion, a powerful image of determined femininity and renewed confidence," it added.

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

"From Charles's point of view and Buckingham Palace, they wouldn't be delighted about this entry at Grevin," Bertrand Deckers, a royal expert who appears regularly on French television, told AFP.

"They'd clearly prefer that we forgot about all this and never spoke of it," he added. But Diana's image as a "wronged and wounded 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, BBC interview in which she said: "there were three of us in this marriage, so it was a little bit crowded," referring to Charles's mistress, Camilla Parker Bowles, whom he later married.

Diana also admitted to an affair with James Hewitt, but the BBC later apologised in 2021 over the "deceptive" way the interview was secured.

The high-pressure waxwork commission, which will be closely scrutinised by defenders of Diana's memory, was entrusted to 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 spokesperson said.

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

"It's almost as if they consider the Windsors as their royal family, even though it would have been more logical to adopt the Grimaldis in Monaco," Deckers, who is Belgian, told AFP.