She wished she could get a do-over, says her former hairdresser.
When Princess Diana walked down the aisle to marry Prince Charles at St. Paul’s Cathedral on July 29, 1981, all eyes were on her iconic silk taffeta wedding dress and its record-breaking 25-foot train. And that was a good thing, because the late princess reportedly didn’t want the focus to be on her hair that day.
According to Diana’s former hairdresser Richard Dalton, she regretted her wedding hair, calling it a “disaster.” In his new book It’s All About the Hair—My Decade with Diana, Dalton revealed that while he wasn’t responsible for styling Diana’s blonde locks that day (his colleague Kevin Shanley took his place), the royal later confided in him about her disappointment in her appearance.
“Diana did express to me that she wished she could do the wedding over again to ‘get the hair right,’” Dalton told People. “However, she never mentioned any other regrets while I did her hair.”
As for happier hair memories, Dalton referenced the time he pulled Diana's hair back into a chignon updo with orchid flowers pinned to one side. “I loved taking risks with Diana’s hair by trying new things like the orchids in Thailand,” he said, describing it as his favorite hairstyle he ever did for the princess.
"I literally went around the hotel all day pinching orchids from the floral arrangements to use as accessories in Diana’s hair to match her dress,” Dalton wrote in the book. “Whatever I saw, I took—and nobody stopped me. Eventually, I got all the colors I wanted to use—they represented Thailand and also matched her dress.”