Tejal Somvanshi
A memoir published this week by Earl Charles Spencer has revived an account of Princess Diana being told off by Queen Elizabeth II following the 1984 State Opening of Parliament. Here's what the memoir says — and what the available record can and cannot confirm.
Earl Charles Spencer's 384-page memoir Swan Song: Diana, My Sister, released in late September 2026, includes an account of Diana wearing a dramatic chignon to the 1984 State Opening of Parliament. Spencer writes that media coverage focused heavily on Diana's hairstyle rather than Queen Elizabeth's official parliamentary address. According to the memoir, Diana was subsequently told off, and Spencer says she became more restrained with her appearance choices at joint royal events after the incident.
Vogue confirmed the memoir as the source of the account and attributed the details directly to Spencer's recollection. Marie Claire published similar coverage drawing on the same source.
The account is a memoir author's recollection of a private interaction. There is no independent documentary record of Queen Elizabeth's reaction in the available source material. No official royal record or palace statement establishing the reprimand exists.
The 1984 State Opening of Parliament was a public event, and the extent of contemporary newspaper coverage given to Diana's appearance versus the Queen's speech can be verified through archival press records. The private conversation Spencer describes cannot be independently confirmed from sources found.
The story's current search spike follows the memoir's publication this week. Diana hairstyle searches are evergreen — the 1984 chignon remains one of the most referenced looks of her royal years — and Spencer's book provides a fresh news hook.
