Princess Diana’s life is to feature in a major new exhibition featuring more than 750 personal possessions – only a handful of which have been seen in public before.
The Mirror has been given an exclusive preview of items to be displayed, which showcase her style, charity work and enduring love for her two sons, Princes William and Harry. The Princess Diana: Love Life Legacy – A Life of Giving exhibition will be given its world premiere at The Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum in Simi Valley, California, in November.
Melissa Giller, chief marketing officer of the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Institute, says the exhibition comes as Princess Diana’s life is under the microscope again, thanks to controversial claims made about the King in Earl Spencer’s book, Swan Song: Diana My Sister, published this week.
She tells The Mirror: “I have not picked up or read the new book yet, but it is all over the news here in the US. It just goes to show Diana is a timeless person who has never been forgotten, especially in America. She is beloved here. Princess Diana still holds that fascination. She is absolutely loved here in the United States and I would think all over the world.”
The exhibition features some of Diana’s famous gowns, handwritten letters, childhood treasures and jewellery, and aims to tell her story as a daughter, sister, wife, mother, humanitarian and global icon. Coupled with treasures from the Reagan estate, it includes the off-the-shoulder midnight blue velvet dress Diana wore to dance with Saturday Night Fever star John Travolta during a state dinner at The White House in November 1985, attended by stars such as Clint Eastwood and Tom Selleck.
One of Diana’s ‘black sheep’ sweaters, by British designer Sally Muir, which she first wore to a Windsor polo match in June 1981 – a month before her wedding to the then Prince Charles at St Paul’s Cathedral – is also featured. But items that depict Diana’s caring nature are expected to grab visitors’ attention, including jewellery gifts sent to bosses of an AIDS charity, her teenage amethyst-and-diamond friendship ring engraved ‘D.S.’ and a miniature silver photo frame bearing the inscriptions ‘My Love My Life’ and ‘My Joy Always,’ beside childhood snaps of her sons William and Harry.
A colourful floral gown, often worn by Diana while visiting hospitalised children, dubbed ‘The Caring Dress’, will be displayed alongside Jacques Azagury’s ‘Final Goodbye’ dress, the last unfinished piece the Princess tried on before her death in Paris, revealed publicly for the first time. The silk ‘Caring Dress’ dress by Bellville Sassoon was first worn publicly during her visit to Sydney, Australia, on January 31, 1988, and became a favourite for hospital visits, charity engagements, and moments spent with children.
Designer David Sassoon later recalled how Diana understood the emotional power of clothing, often choosing bright colours and approachable prints,because they helped soften formal settings and made children feel more comfortable around her. The official programme from Charles and Diana’s royal wedding will also be shown alongside Diana’s white wedding slippers, playing cards signed by the pair, her Dior and Chanel handbags, shoes, hats and designer accessories, coupled with jewellery – from childhood keepsakes to iconic royal pieces.
A vinyl LP of Elton John’s classic album Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, signed “Diana Spencer”, is giving the exhibit added poignancy, as it included the hit Candle In The Wind, which Sir Elton reworked to sing at Diana’s funeral service at Westminster Abbey on September 6, 1997.
News of the exhibition comes just weeks after Prince Harry and wife Meghan Markle chose to relocate from California back to the UK, meaning their children Archie, seven, and Lilibet, five, are being educated in Britain. Exhibition organisers are sad that they won’t be around for the launch of the new Diana exhibition.
Ms Giller says: “Harry and Meghan were in Santa Barbara, which is probably 45 miles north of The Reagan Library. People loved that they chose California and are sad they have gone. But we would like to hope they are going to reconnect with their family. If they had still lived here ,it would have been great to have got them to come to the exhibition, of course. But we are doing this to honour Diana. It is a love story to show how, even as a young child, she was giving back, giving the clothes off her back to homeless people. That is the story we are trying to tell. That is truly who she was.”
The exhibition has been made possible thanks to Diana superfan Renae Plant, who remortgaged her home in Los Angeles to set up the Princess Diana Museum. Renae, originally from Queensland, Australia, first fell in love with Diana, aged 10, when she watched the royal wedding on TV.
Just two years later, schoolgirl Renae headed to the Yandina Ginger Factory on a school trip to see Diana on her first major royal tour of Australia. To date, Renae, 54, is said to have splashed out hundreds of thousands of pounds collecting Diana memorabilia at auction – paying almost £600,000 ($790,000) for the princess’s ‘Caring Dress’ when it went up for sale in Los Angeles in July 2025.
Ms Giller adds: “Our exhibition is thanks to Renae Plant, who today runs the non-profit charity, The Princess & the Platypus Foundation, to preserve Diana’s life and legacy. Renae lives in Los Angeles and she has spent much of her adult life collecting items belonging to Princess Diana. She has collected them to highlight and show the kind person Princess Diana was.
“Of the 750 items we have on show at our exhibition, only five or six have ever been seen by the public before. We have also managed to get some extra items. The photo of Diana dancing with John Travolta is one of our most requested images, so we reached out to Kensington Palace and they were very kind to loan us that dress. That will be in a case next to the dress that Nancy Reagan wore to the same state dinner.”
She continues: “We also have what Renae calls ‘The Goodbye Dress’. It was the final gown that was made for Princess Diana. She was going to wear it to a gala but passed away. The dress still has the pins in it from where it was being hemmed. We have extraordinary pieces of history which have never been seen by the public.”
It is hoped all ages will be drawn to the exhibition before it moves on to six or seven other countries around the world from the middle of next year. Ms Giller adds: “Princess Diana crosses all age ranges. My daughter is 26 and she can’t wait for the exhibition. She loves her. We are just really honoured to tell Diana’s full story.”
*Princess Diana: Love Life Legacy – A Life of Giving, runs at The Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum in Simi Valley, California from November 7 until May 31, 2027. For tickets visit www.ReaganLibrary.com/Diana
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