The new Princess Diana documentary is a somber reminder of why Prince Harry was so concerned about 'history repeating itself' with Meghan Markle

The Princess Diana documentary is a new account of an old story, but the trailer is a shocking reminder of how she wasn't always depicted by all as 'The People's Princess'

Princess Diana documentary: Diana, Princess of Wales (1961 - 1997) sitting on a step at her home, Highgrove House, in Doughton, Gloucestershire, 18th July 1986.
(Image credit: Tim Graham Photo Library/Getty Images)

A trailer for the new Princess Diana documentary trailer shows a very different version of how many people remember a woman who eventually became known as 'The People's Princess'. 


The trailer for the new Princess Diana documentary, which hits cinemas on June 30, 2022, has sent royal fans into overdrive. 

According to the film's synopsis, it tells the late Princess Diana's story, "exclusively through contemporaneous archival footage creating a bold and immersive narrative of her life and death."

Chillingly, it continues, "turning the camera back on ourselves, the film illuminates the profound impact she had and how the public’s attitude to the monarchy was, and still is, shaped by these events."

Producer Simon Chinn admitted to Danny Leigh in the Guardian that he didn't feel that bothered about making the Princess Diana documentary initially. That was until he saw the media circus surrounding the Duchess of Sussex. Simon explained, “I’d thought Diana was overfamiliar. A bit of a dead end. Then I realized it was an origin story. Not just about Meghan but so much of modern Britain.”

Lady Diana Spencer who is engaged to Prince Charles is hounded by the media at her flat in Coleherne Court in November 1980.

(Image credit: Alisdair Macdonald/Mirrorpix/Getty Images)

As Danny put it, "it wasn’t just the spite of the papers. Something else had resurfaced: a giddy public investment in misogyny and soap."

The comments by the documentary's producer echo the concerns and remarks made by Diana's son Harry, during Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's Oprah interview last year.

During the now infamous interview, Prince Harry opened up about Princess Diana's pain and aired his fears that history would repeat itself, with Meghan suffering at the hands of the press, paparazzi and public opinion much in the same way as Diana is depicted having done in the documentary.

Speaking to Oprah during the televised interview, Prince Harry said, “My biggest concern was history repeating itself. And I’ve said that before, on numerous occasions, very publicly."

He added, “What I was seeing was history repeating itself. More perhaps, or far more dangerously, because then you add race in, and social media in. And when I’m talking about history repeating itself, I’m talking about my mother.”

Princess Diana documentary: Photographers focus on US actress Meghan Markle, fiancee of Britain's Prince Harry as she leaves a Commonwealth Day Service at Westminster Abbey in central London, on March 12, 2018. Britain's Queen Elizabeth II has been the Head of the Commonwealth throughout her reign. Organised by the Royal Commonwealth Society, the Service is the largest annual inter-faith gathering in the United Kingdom.

(Image credit: KIRSTY WIGGLESWORTH/AFP/Getty Images)

In what surely was a difficult decision to make, back in 2019, the Sussexes began the first of several legal battles against the British tabloid press. In a heartbreaking statement via Sussex Official, Prince Harry said, “I’ve seen what happens when someone I love is commoditized to the point that they are no longer treated or seen as a real person. I lost my mother and now I watch my wife falling victim to the same powerful forces."

Aoife Hanna
Junior News Editor

Aoife is an Irish journalist and writer with a background in creative writing, comedy, and TV production.

Formerly woman&home's junior news editor and a contributing writer at Bustle, her words can be found in the Metro, Huffpost, Delicious, Imperica and EVOKE.

Her poetry features in the Queer Life, Queer Love anthology.

Outside of work you might bump into her at a garden center, charity shop, yoga studio, lifting heavy weights, or (most likely) supping/eating some sort of delicious drink/meal.