Princess Diana enters Paris waxwork museum in ‘revenge dress’

PARIS: The Grevin waxwork museum in Paris unveiled a new star attraction on Thursday: Princess Diana in the “revenge dress” she wore after public revelations about her then-husband prince Charles’s infidelity.

The Grevin Museum in central Paris, similar to Madame Tussauds in London, already has models of Charles, who is now King Charles III, and his late mother, Queen Elizabeth II.

But Diana was a notable absentee, despite her tragic association with the city where she died in a car crash in August 1997.

She is displayed wearing a copy of the black gown by designer Christina Stambolian that she wore for a public appearance in 1994 amid a media frenzy about the breakdown of her marriage to Charles.

She stepped out in the dazzling off-the-shoulder dress on the same day as an interview was broadcast in which Charles admitted to being unfaithful.

“More than 28 years after her tragic death in Paris, Diana is still a major figure in global pop culture, celebrated for her style, humanity and independence,” the Grevin Museum said in a statement.

“The gown became a statement of reclaimed self-assertion, a powerful image of determined femininity and renewed confidence,” it added.

Her waxwork is displayed far from King Charles and Queen Elizabeth, who are in a gallery for heads of state, with the late “Lady Di” standing alongside fashion and entertainment figures such as Jean Paul Gaultier and Franco-Malian singing star Aya Nakamura.

The date chosen for the unveiling – November 20 – was also a “sly reference” to a bombshell interview she gave to the BBC on the same date exactly thirty years ago in which she said “there were three of us in this marriage, so it was a little bit crowded”.

That was a reference to Camilla Parker-Bowles, whom Charles has since married.

The high-pressure waxwork commission – which will be highly scrutinised by defenders of Diana’s memory – was handed to Paris-based sculptor Laurent Mallamaci.

The Grevin Museum had been in contact with Diana at the end of her life but abandoned the idea of making a figure of her after her death, a spokesperson said.