Princess Diana Appears in 4 Never-Before-Seen Photos From Her School Days in Unearthed Collection Up for Auction

Rachel BurchfieldSun, May 31, 2026 at 2:35 PM UTC

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Princess Diana at Highgrove.
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A collection of letters and never-before-seen photos of Princess Diana is set to hit the auction block on July 7.

The sale is set to coincide with what would have been Diana’s 65th birthday on July 1, as well as what would have been her 45th wedding anniversary to Prince Charles on July 29.

The four previously unseen photos show Diana from before her marriage to Charles, when she was still Lady Diana Spencer and a student at West Heath Girls’ School.

Nearly 30 years after her tragic death in 1997, the world continues to be fascinated by the life of Princess Diana—and her life even before she married into the royal family in 1981.

A new collection of never-before-seen photos and letters of the former Princess of Wales is going up for auction in July, including never-before-seen photos from Lady Diana Spencer’s school days at West Heath Girls’ School in the 1970s. The items are from the collection of Katherine Hanbury, a childhood friend of Diana’s who attended West Health with her between 1973 and 1977.

Lady Diana Spencer on November 14, 1980.
Credit: Getty

The items will hit the auction block at Gorringe’s on July 7, timed to coincide with not only what would have been Diana’s 65th birthday on July 1, as well as what would have been her 45th wedding anniversary to Prince Charles on July 29.

The collection includes four color photographs that have never been made public before. The group includes two photos of Diana in her dormitory, as well as one of her outside. The fourth and final photo is of the future princess and schoolmates relaxing outside against a school building. They can all be seen via People.

Lady Diana Spencer in December 1980.
Credit: Getty

Other items in the collection include a handwritten birthday card from Diana to Hanbury and a letter to Hanbury dated September 27, 1981 that Diana wrote while still on her honeymoon with Charles. The letter is three pages in length and is written on paper bearing the royal crest at the top of each page.

“Dear Katherine, I can’t tell you what a lovely surprise I got opening your card,” Diana wrote. “Thank you so much for putting pen to paper and wishing me well.” She continued that she and her groom “had a blissful honeymoon with endless sun and luckily calm seas. A million heartfelt thanks for your lovely thought. Much love from an extremely grateful Diana.”

Princess Diana leaving for her honeymoon with Prince Charles.
Credit: Getty

Charles and Diana set sail on the Royal Yacht Britannia for a 12-day cruise of the Mediterranean before heading to Balmoral in Scotland for the rest of their honeymoon. Per The Telegraph, Diana wrote that she and her husband “are now up in Scotland until the end of October, which is a big treat for us—I adore being outside all day & hate London!”

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“Its [sic] wonderful being married—I think its [sic] safe to say that after two months…!” she continued. Of adapting to life inside the royal family, she added, “Its [sic] a case of playing with grown ups!”

Albert Radford, books and manuscripts specialist at Gorringe’s, said, “This intimate archive offers a rare glimpse of Diana, Princess of Wales, before duty and fame had the final say.”

Prince Charles and Princess Diana during their honeymoon at Balmoral on August 19, 1981.
Credit: Getty

“Through our client’s recollections from West Heath Girls’ School, Diana comes across as deeply unassuming and domestically minded; someone whose real ambition was simply to have a family and take pride in ordinary things,” he continued. “She remembers Diana volunteering to clean the house of the headmistress, and it is memories like this and the collection that has come to light that present the real young Diana in a way that is completely at odds with the public persona that was created by others.”

“She appears here as a young woman suspended between love and history—hopeful, unguarded, and not yet entirely claimed by the institution that would come to define her,” Radford said. “In these small, fragile traces, innocence lingers—along with a quiet, stubborn belief in something as simple and elusive as love.”

Lady Diana Spencer in September 1980.
Credit: Getty

In addition to the never-before-seen photographs and letters, the collection also includes an order of service for a thanksgiving service celebrating Diana’s life that took place at St. Martin-in-the-Fields on November 19, 1997, over two months after her death in a Paris car accident on August 31. She was just 36 years old.

Gorringe’s expects the sale of the collection to net between $5,383 and $8,076, per People.

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