17 June 1981: On the second day of the Ascot Races, all heads turn to see Lady Diana Spencer as she arrives in a carriage with Princess Alexandra. Prince Charles did not attend the second day of the races as he was on his way to America for a short visit to New York. With Prince Charles absent, Lady Diana was escorted by Lady Susan Hussey, a Lady-in-Waiting to the Queen.
Lady Diana wore a primrose yellow straw boater hat with a peach silk flower on the outer and inner wide brim. She coupled it with an eye-catching original Benny Ong designed peach crepe suit with a wrap top jacket. Under the flowing jacket, she wore her trademark “Lady Di” ruffle neck cream, crepe blouse with frilled cuffs which he also designed specifically for this suit.
The Singaporean designer, Ong, contributed to the “Lady Di Style” notion with this suit and other outfits he created for her from 1981-1983.
She wore the iconic pearl choker given to her by her parents as well as white gloves. The shoes by Edward Rayne, the Queen’s Shoemaker, included a belt and purse in light taupe.
Diana blushed slightly as she half-tripped over a sandwich wrapper while making her way through the heavy crowds. There were shouts of “isn’t she lovely” from racegoers as she passed by!
Princess Margaret made her own fashion statement that day. She was resplendent in a feathered caliph’s turban and large jewel at the neck of her Nehru collared jacket.
Diana visited Canada three times on royal tours and one gentleman saw as much of her as any other Canadian, it can be argued. Today he treasures the images.
A photojournalist in Canada for more than four decades, mostly with the Toronto Star, Boris Spremo has snapped shots of presidents, prime ministers and one very special Princess, Diana.
But Spremo’s lens adored Diana, who had a way of averting a direct gaze, instead “peaking at you” in an almost mysterious way, he explained in a recent interview.
The one shot he took of the princess that is a favourite found her on the steps of Alberta’s Legislature Building, shown above and below, when she visited Edmonton during the World University Games in 1983.
But it was in 1983 that Spremo got to meet – and flirt with – the princess during an off-the-record reception for journalists at the governor general’s residence, Rideau Hall, in Ottawa.
“She was very bubbly, friendly and good looking,” recalled Spremo, who lives in Toronto.
“It’s in southern middle Europe,” he offered. “She said, ‘Italy,’ and I said, ‘No, so you owe me,’ and she laughed it off.”
So Diana called on Charles to help. “He asked me, ‘What’s your name?’ and I said ‘Boris’ and just like that he [correctly] said ‘You’re from Yugoslavia,'” said Spremo, who was born in what is now Croatia.
During that royal tour, he photographed the State Dinner held in Halifax in honour of the couple’s first official visit to Canada and hosted by then-prime minister Pierre Trudeau – his favourite subject to shoot with a camera.
The arrival, though, of Charles and Diana in Halifax on June 14, 1983 for a 17-day royal tour revitalized Canadian attitudes toward the monarchy. The royal couple were already well known to Canadians from the publicity surrounding their 1981 wedding and the 1982 birth of their son, William, and the public was eager to see them in person. 
From her first day in Canada, Diana demonstrated her own approach to the classic royal walkabout.
Diana celebrated her 22nd birthday in Canada on that trip and Prince William’s 1st birthday was on June 21, 1983. Diana was given many gifts for him including a minature deer skin suit and a small canoe. Prince Charles is quoted as saying that his son could use the canoe in his bath!
Lady Diana Spencer at her first Ascot Races with Prince Charles on June 16, 1981. She is wearing designer David Neil’s mauve and gold silk striped suit with a matching straw hat trimmed in lilac ostrich feathers by milliner, John Boyd.
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