Princess Diana’s Iconic Necklace-Turned-Headband Happened Because of a Sunburn, Hairstylist Says

Some quick-thinking (and underwear elastic) coupled with a sunburn culminated in one of Princess Diana ’s most memorable fashion moments . According to her longtime hairstylist, Richard Dalton, the late British royal wore a necklace as a headband after getting too much sun.  Ahead, how he quickly transformed the necklace.

Diana wore an emerald and diamond necklace as a headband in 1985

Gifted to her by Queen Elizabeth II after marrying now- King Charles III in 1981, Diana wore an emerald and diamond choker necklace during a 1985 tour of Australia.

She was photographed dancing with her then-husband wearing the dazzling piece of royal family jewelry across her forehead, set off by a turquoise one-shoulder gown created by her wedding dress designers, David and Elizabeth Emanuel.

The choker necklace was originally given to Queen Mary by the Ladies of India in 1911. It then went to Diana, who wore it many times from 1981 up until her 1997 death. When she died, however, it wasn’t seen again publicly for decades.

That is, until Diana’s daughter-in-law, Kate Middleton , wore it to The Earthshot Prize awards ceremony in 2022—on her neck, not her head—with a bright green dress. (The Princess of Wales and Meghan Markle have inherited various pieces of jewelry from Diana through Prince William and Prince Harry .)

Diana wore it as a headband after getting a sunburn

Speaking to Daily Mail , Dalton revealed what led up to Diana wearing the emerald and diamond necklace as a headband. The hairstylist, who first Diana when she was just 17, is sharing his experience with the late royal in the new book, It’s All About The Hair: My Decade With Diana , written by royal expert Renae Plant.

He said it had to do with a sunburn, not an accident when the late royal tried to put the necklace over her head as claimed in a royal biography.

As Dalton remembers it, Diana had a sunburn on her neck at the time. Because of that, she’d said she couldn’t stand the necklace touching her skin. So, he retrieved “knicker [underwear in British parlance] elastic” from his “tool kit” along with some scissors and hairspray.

“I tied one end of the elastic to the emerald necklace and draped it across Diana’s forehead,” he said. “I attached it in the back to fit comfortably without falling off and styled her hair around it.”

“Diana absolutely loved it,” he added.

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Elastic helped make the Lover’s Knot Tiara more comfortable for Diana

Dalton also shared the elastic came to the rescue when Diana wore the Lover’s Knot Tiara. “We were in New Zealand at a state dinner. She took the tiara off and handed it to me, saying: ‘I can’t wear it, it’s killing me.’”

“I rushed to my room, pulled out the knicker elastic, and put the tiara on my head, and adjusted it,” he recalled. “I ran back down and put it back on her, and quickly arranged her hair to hide the elastic.”

The hairstylist’s quick fix worked because Diana “never complained about it hurting again.” Kate has worn the tiara on multiple occasions over the years leading Dalton to “often wonder if the knicker elastic is still there” when she wears it.