Diana at Home

[sirhon11234]

I wonder if the younger generations like Beatrice decorate their apartments with the same decor as Diana or do they use modern pieces...
Your right Kitty it is grand and timeless.

 

[georgiea]

I like the furniture, but the colors in all of BP could have been different. I think it was Prince Charles influence in this. If you look at Princess Diana's bedroom/dressing room the colors are light and airy. These pictures are during the marriage. I read the Prince of Wales carpet was the first thing to go. Then remodeling using blue decor.

BTY, I can not believe today is thirteen years that Diana, Princess of Wales is not with us. I wonder if her boys are sad today. Prince Henry said they think about their mother everyday.

I wonder if the younger generations like Beatrice decorate their apartments with the same decor as Diana or do they use modern pieces...
Your right Kitty it is grand and timeless.

It would be interesting to see the younger royals living spaces.

 

[sirhon11234]

I like the furniture, but the colors in all of BP could have been different. I think it was Prince Charles influence in this. If you look at Princess Diana's bedroom/dressing room the colors are light and airy. These pictures are during the marriage. I read the Prince of Wales carpet was the first thing to go. Then remodeling using blue decor.

I remember flipping through the pages of Paul Burrell's The Way We Remember Her book, and the living/entertaining room was the same color yellow as the room in the pictures. I believe he took the pictures around the time of Diana's death.

 

[Christo's Girl]

Not my taste, but I believe that Diana was looking to renovate her Kensington apartment in the Fall of 1997 but I am not sure as to the name of the magazine I read it in. It did say though she wanted a far more modern look, something Anglo Indian, light walls and dark floors. I can't believe it has been 13 yrs, where has the time gone!

 

[sirhon11234]

Anglo Indian that's very interesting. I definetly believe that she was redecorating her apartment. If she was here today it would've looked different.

 

[Osipi]

Anglo Indian that's very interesting. Christo do you remember by chance where you read that? I definetly believe that she was redecorating her apartment. If she was here today it would've looked different.

I also read it in Paul Burrell's "The Way We Were" that it had been redecorated/was being redecorated at the time of her death. I vaguely remember him writing something along the lines that she'd never really lived with the new colors in the sitting room but had just made a flying stop to pick up some things before rushing off to meet the Fayeds.

 

[sirhon11234]

Ah yes, now I remember he said the same thing in his first book. Thank you Osipi, is "The We Were" a good read I'm planning on borrowing it from the library?

 

[Osipi]

Ah yes, now I remember he said the same thing in his first book. Thank you Osipi, is "The We Were" a good read I'm planning on borrowing it from the library?

I found it interesting reading once I got into it. At first it really seemed that all Paul was doing was talking about Paul but it did give some interesting insights into the "at home" facets of Diana's life.

 

[sirhon11234]

I've been reading the book its actually very good. I've grown to like Diana's decor in the drawing room. I think is something an everyday person can throw on in their own houses. But I love the Princess's dining room! The crimson is a great color for a dining room. And the bamboo chairs were very nice too. I'm getting some ideas for my apartment.

 

[georgiea]

I've been reading the book its actually very good. I've grown to like Diana's decor in the drawing room. I think is something an everyday person can throw on in their own houses. But I love the Princess's dining room! The crimson is a great color for a dining room. And the bamboo chairs were very nice too. I'm getting some ideas for my apartment.

Crimson is a great color with greens and gold.

 

[Mermaid1962]

It's supposed to be a good colour to stimulate the appetite, too. Excellent for a dining room.

Crimson is a great color with greens and gold.

 

[sirhon11234]

Her apartment looked more like a 3 floor house. I wish they perserved it like Margaret's.

 

[georgiea]

He apartment looked more like a 3 floor house. I wish they perserved it like Margaret's.

I think it is strange that they preserved Princess Margaret's apartment. I thought the reason behind not preserving apartments at KP was because of the needed space for exhibits and office space. Or is there another reason to get rid Princess Diana's apartment?

 

[Warren]

The short story is that Princess Margaret's apartment had been used as an exhibition space while Diana's apartment (apartments 8 and 9) had been rented out in 2005 to provide some income to carry out further refurbishments.

From the Kensington Palace thread here are the two stories which give more detail:

It is time for Princess Diana to take her place in history | Life & Style

"...the opening of Princess Margaret's apartment, which since her death in 2002 has been used as a temporary exhibition space. The interiors will be restored to the Sixties and Seventies, when Princess Margaret and Tony Snowdon were the most stylish couple in London, including the smoke extractor in the kitchen that he designed himself...
...This part of the palace will carry a permanent display devoted to Princess Margaret and Princess Diana's extensive collection of dresses."


Express.co.uk - Home of the Daily and Sunday Express | UK News :: How Palace feared public backlash on plan to turn Diana home into offices

"Apartment 8 was subsequently rented out to four of Prince Charles’s charities after a £500,000 refurbishment in 2007 and 2008.
Apartment 9 was rented out to General Sir Richard Dannatt, the Ministry of Defence’s then Chief of the General Staff."

 

[sirhon11234]

IMO they would have gotten much more income if the Palace opened up Diana's apartment's to the public.

 

[Mermaid1962]

I think that it wouldn't have been wise to open Diana's apartment to the public, particularly soon after her death. Diana's most devoted--to the point of hysteria--"fans", from what I've seen, can idolize her too much. There was probably real concern about her apartment becoming some kind of a shrine or being overwhelmed by the number of people who would have wanted to see it. Also, I've noticed a tendency among the most radical of Diana's "fans" to have an anti-monarchist view--to the point of thinking of the Windsors as evil, and I think that the historical royal buildings such as Kensington Palace could be a target for vandalism. Sure, there's security there; but when there's a large number of people in one place, things can happen.

By "fans" I'm not referring to people who were interested in Diana and were fond of her; I mean the people who were on the "fringe."

IMO they would have gotten much more income if the Palace opened up Diana's apartment's to the public.

 

[Anne83]

This is where her 2 sons should have stepped in and protect their mother's memory.. Anyway, I can imagine Diana at home in comfy pj's playing with the boys She was royal but she also was a warm caring mother who loved to spend time with her kids A wonderful person

 

[sirhon11234]

I think that it wouldn't have been wise to open Diana's apartment to the public, particularly soon after her death. Diana's most devoted--to the point of hysteria--"fans", from what I've seen, can idolize her too much. There was probably real concern about her apartment becoming some kind of a shrine or being overwhelmed by the number of people who would have wanted to see it. Also, I've noticed a tendency among the most radical of Diana's "fans" to have an anti-monarchist view--to the point of thinking of the Windsors as evil, and I think that the historical royal buildings such as Kensington Palace could be a target for vandalism. Sure, there's security there; but when there's a large number of people in one place, things can happen.

By "fans" I'm not referring to people who were interested in Diana and were fond of her; I mean the people who were on the "fringe."

You do make a valid point, I didn't think of the obbessed fans.... But I didn't mean that they should have opened soon after her death.

 

[Mermaid1962]

I think that the Wales brothers have done as much as two young boys and then young men could have done. They bring her name up as having been a positive influence and a wonderful mother. They personally hosted a huge 10th anniversary concert to honour and remember her. Prince William spoke out personally about a former employee who wrote a book. They've honoured her in the way that was right to them, and that's as it should be.

This is where her 2 sons should have stepped in and protect their mother's memory.. Anyway, I can imagine Diana at home in comfy pj's playing with the boys She was royal but she also was a warm caring mother who loved to spend time with her kids A wonderful person

 

[sirhon11234]

I remember reading somewhere I think it was in one of Burrell's books that the Royals do not use wallpaper but embroidered fabric I believe? Can someone verify that?

 

[roseroyal]

Yes, I read the same in the Burrell book.

 

[Dianarules]

Hi,

Just wanted to say that if you use google earth you can locate Diana's apartments. Paul Burrell mentioned in one of his books about the oval "round-about" outside her front door and you can see this is google earth.

I visited Kensington Palace last year. I found it very moving standing outside "those" golden and black gates and thinking Diana stood here. It really is a beautiful place xxx

 

[Christo's Girl]

Here are some interior shots of the Princess' aparment from Dianaforever.com
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Her decor is nice not really my taste. I like the crown moldings and the yellow, I see Diana was going for a classic Georgian/Regency/Victorian look.

I agree with you not my taste at all, but I read at the time of her death that Diana had wanted to in the Fall of 1997 do an extensive overhaul of her apartment. I could see her leaning towards an Anglo-Indian look.

 

[sirhon11234]

Here are some more interior shots.
http://www.orwelltoday.com/dianabk7.jpg
http://www.orwelltoday.com/dianabk5.jpg
http://www.orwelltoday.com/dianabk4.jpg

I think the Anglo-Indian decor would have looked amazing.

 

[Christo's Girl]

Thanks for more the pictures. I think the furniture is very under scaled considering the height of the ceilings.

 

[sirhon11234]

Yes, I think the bamboo chairs should've been bigger in height. But once again I do love the color of the dining room.

 

[georgiea]

It looks like Princess Diana loved the color yellow. Yellow's definition is brightness and/or jealousy. I think it is interesting that the princess used that color. I heard that last summer she was getting KP redone in the color blue. Guess she was moving on with her life and the choice of blue-It is often associated with depth and stability.

 

[sirhon11234]

Blue is a wonderful calming color. I did not know yellow is associated with jealousy. One learns something new everyday.

 

[roseroyal]

I read in the Burrell book that she was redoing her sitting room in blue and yellow. In the pics in his book in her sitting room there was blue and gold accessories on a cream yellow sofa. This remodel was completed 10 days before she died. She saw it once.
She was not painting the apartment blue! Just updating the sitting room from pink/ white to blue/ yellow.
The sitting room was the last of the rooms to be completed in the remodel.
Here is a timeline of the remodel from Burrell's books:
Winter 92/ Spring 93- Turned C's study into boys' playroom
Summer /Fall 95- New carpets
Summer/ Fall 96- re-painted apartments, excluding playroom, dining room, drawing room, areas that were repainted went from peach to yellow.
Summer 97- re-did sitting room, described above

 

[georgiea]

I read in the Burrell book that she was redoing her sitting room in blue and yellow. In the pics in his book in her sitting room there was blue and gold accessories on a cream yellow sofa. This remodel was completed 10 days before she died. She saw it once.
She was not painting the apartment blue! Just updating the sitting room from pink/white to blue/ yellow.

Thanks for reminding me, roseroyal. Diana updated only her sitting room, but I remember reading too that the main color of the room was going to be shades of blue.