Princess Diana Had a Clever Trick to Avoid Getting Papped at the Gym and It Was Undeniably Witty

Princess Diana was well-known for her wits and beauty. However, she had to pay a heavy price for her fame—she was hounded by lensmen everywhere she went. Over time, the late Princess of Wales knew exactly how to deal with intrusive paparazzi graciously. Diana hated being clicked while arriving or leaving the gym and hence devised a foolproof plan to avoid getting papped— she purposefully repeated her outfits so that the British media couldn't profit off her pictures. 

Diana famously wore a navy blue Virgin Atlantic sweatshirt for days to deter news agencies from paying top dollar to paparazzi. A TikTok video clip from 1992 also shows her walking backward straight into a building to hide her face from the paparazzi. At the time Diana had just announced her separation from Prince Charles which created a media frenzy, with photographers following the Princess everywhere. According to Newsweek, the video was shot at Chelsea Harbour Club gym which is a stone's throw distance from Kensington Palace. 

A year later, in 1993, the princess sadly fell victim to hidden photography. A spy cam recorded her working out in a private gym in a leotard. The video, taken by the owner of L.A. Fitness Gym in West London, was posted on a British national daily, Daily Mirror. In response, the Princess resolved to drag the media group to the court and slapped it with a legal lawsuit.

According to L.A. Times, the late Princess won the injunction against the gym owner, Bryce Taylor, who apologized for the deed with a hefty fine. She also received all of the negatives of the pictures and the money made from their sale, which was later donated to charity. The princess’ lawyer, Anthony Julius also helped in issuing a writ against the Mirror Group of Newspapers for the breach of confidence and contract. Charles also assisted his estranged wife in the case and provided her with access to his lawyers. 

His attorneys knocked the judiciary with copies of the Sunday Mirror which had first published the color pictures fetched from the hidden camera. The case was taken to Justice Maurice Drake in the British court who passed the judgement in Diana's favor. This incident sent a clear message to all the newspapers. In the end, however, the Princess met her tragic end while being chased by the paparazzi in Paris. The princess along with her rumored lover, Dodi Al Fayed, lost their lives after their car crashed in a tunnel that ran next to the Seine River. According to People magazine, the princess was still breathing when ambulances arrived. She succumbed to internal bleeding and took her last breath in the hospital on August 31, 1997.