More than 750 items that tell the story of Princess Diana will be on display at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library & Museum beginning Nov. 7.
The traveling exhibition is called “Diana: Love Life Legacy – A Life of Giving.” It will be making its first stop at the Simi Valley museum. No subsequent venues have been announced.
“We’ve always wanted to do an exhibition of Princess Diana and her life,” Melissa Giller, chief marketing and cultural programming officer, said in a phone interview. “She lived a short life but a very remarkable one. She gave so much. She donated her time. She donated the clothes off her back. She was a true humanitarian. There’s always such a fascination with her.”
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A duplicate ivory silk taffeta dress made for Lady Diana Spencer’s wedding is show in 2005. (Photo by Daniel Berehulak/Getty Images)
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A duplicate ivory silk taffeta dress made for Lady Diana Spencer’s wedding is show in 2005. (Photo by Daniel Berehulak/Getty Images)
The exhibition will feature some very glamorous clothes, as well as jewelry, letters and childhood treasures. It is curated by Southern California resident Renae Plant, with most of the items out of her personal collection. She maintains a virtual Princess Diana Museum online.
“Of her 750, only 10 have been displayed publicly, so this is truly a world premiere exhibition,” Giller said.
Diana, Princess of Wales, was born on July 1, 1961, and died at 36 in a Paris car crash on Aug. 31, 1997. In between, she became one of the most famous and photographed women in the world through her dream wedding to Prince Charles, now King Charles III; their rocky marriage; 1996 divorce; and her advocacy on behalf of AIDS patients, landmine victims and other causes.
The exhibition will be more than British history.
“There’s such a beautiful tie to President and Mrs. Reagan because when Diana Spencer married Prince Charles it was in 1981, and President and Mrs. Reagan were invited. Now, the president was just recovering from the assassination attempt, so only Mrs. Reagan went,” Giller said.
“It’s a friendship they carried throughout all of their lives. They wrote letters back and forth to each other for decades.”
For the wedding on July 29, 1981, Diana wore a famous silk taffeta and antique lace wedding gown with a 25-foot train. The exhibition will include a “spare,” made in case something went wrong at the last minute.
A duplicate of the black sheep sweater Diana wore in 1981 when she was engaged and still Lady Spencer will be on display. When Diana snagged a cuff, Buckingham Palace asked the maker for a repair and instead got an entirely new garment with one minor change in the design. A black sheep is facing in the opposite direction.
Visitors will also be able to see the last dress Diana was fitted for before her death with its pins still in place, Giller said.
Another highlight of the exhibition will be the “Travolta dress,” worn at 1985 White House state dinner. Through her social secretary Gahl Burt, Nancy Reagan encouraged actor John Travolta to dance with the princess.
“Princess Diana was dancing with President Reagan, and Gahl said to John Travolta, ‘ You should go cut in and you should dance.’ And apparently John Travolta was really resistant and nervous – I can’t do that – and Gahl said no, this is something Mrs. Reagan would like you to do.
“So John Travolta stood up, tapped President Reagan on the shoulder and began to dance with Princess Diana. And when he did, the Marine Band, who had been practicing behind the scenes, started playing a medley from ‘Saturday Night Fever.’ … That became the memory of the evening.”
Giller added that the photo is one of the most requested in the library’s archives.
At the Reagan Library, the midnight blue gown will be paired with the gown Nancy Reagan wore for the occasion.
The Reagan Library brings in two special exhibitions a year, and according to Giller, this will be one of the largest. It will occupy 10,000 square feet on two levels, the same as the recently closed “America: 250 Years in the Making.”
The Diana exhibit will run through May 31, and Giller expects the first couple of weeks will sell out. It will be included with museum admission, which is $16, $13 for seniors 62 and older, and $9 for youths age 11-17.
The Reagan Library is at 40 Presidential Way, Simi Valley.
An unrelated exhibition, “Princess Diana & The Royals,” is in The Shops at Crystals, 3720 Las Vegas Blvd., Las Vegas.
Information: reaganlibrary.gov/exhibits/upcoming-exhibits, theprincessandtheplatypus.org