By Jason Chester and Bridie Pearson-jones For Web 01:58 November 14, 2023, updated 02:11 November 14, 2023
Elizabeth Debicki has taken her remarkable portrayal of Diana, Princess of Wales to the next level by recreating her iconic Vogue cover for the Radio Times.
The late princess was the cover star for the fashion bible’s December 1992 issue, five years before her tragic death at the age of 36.
Debicki, who plays Diana in seasons five and six of the Netflix drama The Crown, has since reenacted the pose ahead of the November 16 launch of the recurring series.
The 33-year-old Australian actress wears a fitted black turtleneck reminiscent of the one worn by Diana in her original shoot and sports the same blonde hairstyle as she poses for the cover spread.
While the Vogue cover turned out to be one of the greatest, the image taken by French photographer Patrick Demarchelier was originally intended for the cover of Diana’s 1992 biography.
Eye-catching: Elizabeth Debicki took her remarkable portrayal of Diana, Princess of Wales to the next level by recreating her iconic Vogue cover for Radio Times. Previously: The late princess was the cover star of the fashion bible’s December 1992 issue for five years before her tragic death at the age of 36
Speaking to Radio Times, Andrew Morton, who wrote the unauthorized biography, admitted that they eventually settled on a photograph by famous British photographer and filmmaker Terence Donovan, but only after disputing the fee.
“He wanted £70,000.” . . when the going rate was 500 pounds,” he explained. “He told us that if the price wasn’t met, he would tell the world that Diana was involved in the book. “He had us at the crown jewels.”
Morton also claimed that the upcoming final season of “The Crown” will “further inflame the ultimate loss” to the royals.
The final installment of the Peter Morgan biopic, which will be released on Netflix on Thursday, will dramatize the weeks leading up to the death of the late Princess of Wales and the struggles within the royal family.
And Morton, who wrote Diana’s “unauthorized, authorized biography” five years before her death, said the “wild” series would reopen closed wounds.
“For many of us who lived through those dramatic days, it will stir up the solid mud of memory and loss.” For this reason, the Crown team has taken great pains to emphasize how sensitively it deals with the princess’s untimely death was bypassed,” he wrote.
He also recalled finding out that the then-Princess of Wales had died.
“Like millions of people around the world, I remember that fateful day vividly.” I was visiting friends for the Edinburgh Festival and was woken up by my host with the news. In disbelief at first, but as it slowly dawned on me, I booked the last seat on the morning flight to London.
Coming soon: Princess Diana’s biographer Andrew Morton has claimed that the upcoming series of The Crown will “fuel the final pit of loss” over the royal family. She is pictured in 1997. Dramatic: Pictures show Diana, played by Debicki, being followed by paparazzi shortly before her death
Re-creating the “holy” blue swimsuit moment
Princess Diana pictured in St. Tropez
The Crown pulled out all the stops when it came to recreating Diana and Dodi’s in St. Tropez last summer.
“Gottex, the company that made all of Diana’s swimwear, also made all of ours for us,” says costume designer Sid Roberts.
“We just adapted it to what Elizabeth felt comfortable with.” This ’90s style is cut very high on the thigh, goes all the way up, and is also quite high on the buttocks. So we just made those adjustments with Gottex.”
And for Elizabeth Debicki, the effort was worth it.
“I love the blue swimsuit that Diana wears when she goes to the end of the diving board on the yacht and sits down,” she says.
“There was just something about that swimsuit and the recreation of that moment that felt very sacred.”
“During the journey, a Frenchman came by and handed me a note that said: “I would like to apologize on behalf of the French nation.” At that time, the French paparazzi were blamed for the accident, not a drunk driver.”
The emotional first four episodes cover the tragic car accident in Paris in which Princess Diana died in August 1997 – along with her lover Dodi Fayed and her chauffeur Henri Paul – and the royal family’s reaction to it, as well as Diana and Dodi’s summer vacation enjoyed in St. Tropez before the tragedy.
The Paris scenes were filmed in the French capital, while a yacht was hired for the St. Tropez scenes, although these were actually filmed in Mallorca.
For reasons of sensitivity, the exact moment of Diana’s death is not recreated, but there are controversial scenes in which Charles converses tenderly with an imaginary Diana in the cabin of the royal plane as he accompanies her body from Paris to London, and later, as she also appears to the queen.
Critics who saw these scenes called them “ridiculous” because they depicted Diana as a ghost, but series creator Peter Morgan insisted that was not the intention.
“I never imagined it as Diana’s ghost in the traditional sense,” he told Variety magazine. “She continued to live vividly in the minds of those she left behind.”
“The Crown” was created by Morgan after the success of his 2006 film “The Queen,” about the royal family’s reaction to Diana’s death.
And the series — which has received 21 Emmys and dozens of BAFTA nominations, not to mention some criticism for its historical inaccuracies — covers the same ground but uses new information gathered in the 17 years since the Oscar-winning film was made became.
In fact, the scripts had to be constantly updated as the royal family was in headlines throughout filming, not only after the Queen’s death but also after the publication of Prince Harry’s memoir Spare.
“I assumed that Charles would be an emotional and outgoing guy, despite his buttoned-up appearance that he has to wear in public,” Dominic West, who plays the then-prince, told Weekend Magazine.
“But when Harry wrote his book and said he never hugged him or anything, we had to change that a bit.”
The sixth season of The Crown, episodes one to four, will premiere on Netflix from November 16th. Episodes five to ten will premiere on Netflix from December 14th.