A previously unseen picture of the late Princess Diana is going under auction.
The image shows a teenage Lady Diana Spencer relaxing during a ski holiday, before she had met future husband Prince Charles, and the words ”not to be published” are scrawled on it.
It shows her lying on a bed in a chalet with a male friend, who is resting his book on her shoulder.
The identity of the photographer is not known but the picture was sold to the Daily Mirror newspaper on February 26 1981 – two days after Diana’s engagement to the Prince of Wales was announced.
However, the publication decided not to run it and the pictured remained in the paper’s archives until it was bought seven years ago by the private Caren Archive.
Caren has now put the picture up for sale through RR Auctions in New Hampshire, USA.
Eric Caren, owner of the Caren Archive, said: ”It’s an intimate photo – I don’t know the man in the picture and he could be a friend or a boyfriend. This would certainly not be the way the Royal Family would have wanted Diana to be presented at that moment, given that two days before her engagement had been announced. The fairytale between her and Charles was still intact at that point.
”My guess is that it was a privately taken photograph that the Mirror purchased but for some reason did not publish. Why the heck not I don’t know – I don’t know if it was pressure from the royal family or an internal decision.”
The photograph would normally sell for around $1200, but because it has the ‘not for publication’ note on the top, the auctioneers expect it to fetch significantly more.
Bidding will take place over the internet between January 17 and 24.