Photograph of a young Lady Diana relaxing alongside an Old Etonian aristocrat in 1979 sells for $18,000
Worldwide, Daily news | ankakh | January 26, 2013 22:43
A photo marked ‘not to be published’ that shows an 18-year-old Diana Spencer before she became Princess of Wales was sold by a New Hampshire auction house for more than $18,000, yesterday.
The photograph shows a group of friends relaxing during a ski trip in 1979, with Diana reclining on a bed, with young aristocrat, Adam Russell, seated behind her and a bottle of whiskey on the window sill.
It was acquired by British newspaper The Daily Mirror just after her engagement Prince Charles was announced in February 1981, but someone at the paper wrote ‘not to be published’ across it in crayon, presumably because it would’ve embarrassed the royal family.
The ‘NOT TO BE PUBLISHED’ warning scrawled on the front of the photo perhaps reveals that the Daily Mirror’s picture editor at the time had second thoughts about publishing an image of the future Queen in an intimate pose with another man.
The picture remained in the paper’s archives until it was bought seven years ago by the private Caren Archive, which put it up for sale through RR Auctions in New Hampshire.
The 8×10 inch photograph would normally sell for around $1,184 (£750), but because it has the ‘not for publication’ note on the top, auctioneers expected it to fetch significantly more.
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