A rare set of never-before-seen photos show Princess Diana aboard a luxury yacht with her trusted fashion designer pals.
Although the late bikini-clad princess is flashing a mischievous grin in the unearthed pictures, they were snapped in Italy in 1990, two years before her separation from Prince Charles, and seven years before her death on Aug. 31, 1997.
A damp-haired Diana can be seen basking in the sun as she holds a drink and poses in a colorful print bikini next to Kyril, Prince of Preslav and Valentino co-founder Giancarlo Giammetti.
The photos are believed to have been taken aboard the Valentino private yacht, T.M.Blue One, and were shared on Instagram yesterday by Giancarlo.
When the holiday snaps were taken, Diana was nine years on from her 1981 “fairytale wedding” to Prince Charles, and their marriage was on the rocks.
Charles had picked up his relationship with former girlfriend Camilla Parker-Bowles, who Diana had confronted at a party a year before.
Meanwhile, Diana had been engaging in a two-year affair with Household Cavalry officer James Hewitt, who she later revealed that she “adored.”
However, their relationship was over by the time of the photos, and James had been posted to Germany, which was a huge blow to Diana.
She had also been in a relationship with her bodyguard Barry Mannakee, who died in 1987 in a road traffic accident.
On top of this, she was dealing with her marriage falling apart and bulimia — which were both depicted in the recent season four of Netflix’s “The Crown.”
Diana and Charles split in 1992 and finalized their divorce in 1996.
In the background of the yacht photos is the small island of Stromboli, which is located off the north coast of Sicily.
Giancarlo captioned the images: “And here two moments of friendship with her #princess Diana.”
This follows him sharing another photo of Diana on board the yacht, with Prince Kyril’s then wife, Rosario Saxe-Coburg — a former model and Valentino muse, which is believed to be from the same trip.
Kyril married Rosario in 1989, and they had three children together — Princess Mafalda-Cecilia, Princess Olimpia and Prince Tassilo — before they are believed to have separated in October 2009.
Diana was known to have enjoyed yachts, reportedly as she felt like they enabled her to unwind in private.
She famously spent her final holiday on a boat called “Cujo” in July 1997 with Dodi Fayed, just weeks before their deaths in the Paris car crash on August 31 the same year.
She was famously seen kissing her lover and sunbathing his father’s yacht’s diving board that summer.
Dodi’s boat sold for £171,000 ($230,447 USD) earlier this year.
We previously shared how Netflix’s “The Crown” series 4 had more global viewers in first week than Prince Charles & Diana’s REAL wedding had in UK.
Meanwhile, Princess Diana’s bulimia scenes in The Crown have been slammed as “too graphic” by royal experts.
