A photographer has alleged that Kensington Palace suppressed a photo of Princess Diana with David Bowie because it was taken following a concert she attended with Army Major James Hewitt during their affair.
In a May 10 interview with The Telegraph, music photographer Denis O’Regan shared the story behind the image, which he said was captured after one of Bowie’s Glass Spider Tour shows at Wembley Stadium in June 1987. The published photo shows Princess Diana and Bowie smiling in casual clothes, with a “Dressing Room” sign behind them. Diana appears visibly starstruck.
O’Regan recalled that Diana, then 25, had sweetly asked him if Bowie might be willing to pose for a picture with her. However, according to him, palace officials intervened due to growing speculation about Diana’s relationship with Hewitt, with whom she was romantically involved from roughly 1986 to 1991.
“The next day, my agent got a call from the palace, saying don’t use the pictures because word had gone out about James Hewitt,” O’Regan told The Telegraph. “So that’s when it kind of erupted. It was interesting, on a number of levels.”
The revelation came as O’Regan discussed his upcoming book, David Bowie by Denis O’Regan, set for U.S. release on August 5. The collection, showcasing images from over 200 of Bowie’s concerts, includes the previously unreleased photograph with Diana. O’Regan said she had attended that particular show alongside Hewitt.
“They just didn’t want Diana in the press,” he said, explaining the palace’s stance. “They didn’t want to fuel the fire.”
O’Regan added, “So the more pictures that weren’t out there, the better, because someone would have said: ‘This is her at the show that she turned up to with James Hewitt,’ even though I didn’t get the multi-million-dollar shot of the two of them together, because no one knew who he was.” He referred to the story as “a tiny moment in history.”
Princess Diana was later publicly photographed with Bowie at the 1993 Concert of Hope on World AIDS Day. She and the singer had also attended the 1985 Live Aid concert at Wembley Stadium, where they were seen in the same box along with the then-Prince Charles.
While the public remained enchanted by Diana and Charles following their highly publicized 1981 wedding, both reportedly began extramarital relationships by 1986. Charles is believed to have resumed his connection with Camilla Parker Bowles around that time, while Diana met Hewitt when he offered to give her horseback riding lessons.
Their relationship reportedly lasted five years, ending well before Diana’s tragic death in a 1997 car crash in Paris.
Hewitt, now retired from the British Army, made a rare television appearance on Good Morning Britain in February. Discussing his humanitarian work in Ukraine with Operation Safedrop, he also reflected on what Diana might think of the current estrangement between her sons, Prince William and Prince Harry.
“I think any mother would be worried and concerned about such a rift, as you put it. And she’d do her best to try and get them together,” Hewitt said.