The royal didn't hold back when she encountered a soon-to-be newlywed during a trip to Sydney, Australia.
Published on July 02, 2025 10:57AM
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Key Takeaways
- In the months before the wedding of Prince Charles and Princess Diana, Spare Rib, a feminist magazine, produced buttons that read, "Don't Do It, Di!"
- While the princess never acknowledged the product in 1981, she appeared to nod to its message 15 years later.
- In 1996, while in Sydney, Australia, Diana rolled down her window saying, "Don't do it!" to a bride standing outside of a church.
In the months leading up to the wedding of Prince Charles and Princess Diana, the British public eagerly prepared for the royal nuptials. So much anticipation surrounding the occasion that additional measures had to be put into place, including the bride's designers, David and Elizabeth Emanuel, hiring security to ensure that the dress was kept a secret. However, it appears that not everyone was excited about the union. In Edward White's book, Dianaworld: An Obsession, he details how ahead of the ceremony, Spare Rib, a feminist magazine, produced buttons that read, "Don't Do It, Di!" in an apparent bid for the soon-to-be princess to ditch her plans to say "I do," Marie Claire reported. According to White, each one sold for twenty pence. "They proved exceptionally popular," he wrote.
That wasn't the only product the publication produced on behalf of their cause. The outlet also created tea towels stating, "You start by sinking into his arms and end up with your arms in his sink," opting to even mail one to the newlyweds as a gift. While Diana never explicitly commented on either item, White theorizes that a comment in 1996 proves that she may have been listening to their warnings.
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While Charles and Diana remained married for a number of years, their relationship was a tumultuous one. In 1986, just five years after their royal wedding, the prince began his affair with Camilla Parker Bowles. Over time, Charles and Diana began to live increasingly separate—and private—lives. Their union eventually proved to be at its breaking point on December 10, 1992, when they announced their separation. It took almost four years before the duo was able to finalize their divorce, which they did on August 29, 1996.
After losing her title and officially splitting from Charles in 1996, Diana traveled to Sydney, Australia. While there, she had an unexpected encounter with a bride where she appeared to pay homage to those 1981 buttons. "Fifteen years later, her divorce in the bag, Diana was in the back of a car in Sydney when she spotted a wedding congregation on the steps of a nearby church," White wrote, according to Marie Claire. "As the car drove past, she wound down her window and shouted at the bride, 'Don't do it!'" The biographer notes that even though Diana was known to love a practical joke, this comment seemed to underscore her true feelings on the topic.
