Princess Diana exhibit debuts in US
(Agencies)
Updated: 2004-03-25 15:59

A collection of Princess Diana's evening gowns, family photographs and childhood treasures will be featured in an exhibit that will make its United States debut in October.

"Diana, a Celebration," which includes Diana's wedding gown, diamond tiara and dramatic 25-foot train, will be on display at the city's Museum of Art Oct. 10-Dec. 31. Presenters said they hoped the collection would provide context to her life as a glamorous humanitarian and offer a window into her connection with the public.

"She could have done the usual royal thing of just turning up and cutting ribbons or whatever but she was never like that," said Diana's brother, Earl Spencer, who met with reporters Tuesday. "She wanted to do much more and to give of herself to people."

Photographs and home movies from their ancestral home of Althorp show Diana as a youngster, posing in her ballet shoes or diving into a swimming pool.

Her relationship with Prince Charles is displayed through a 1980 Christmas card from the prince — inscribed "from your tap dancing partner, Charles."

In a nod to her sense of style, the exhibit offers 28 dresses, suits and gowns designed by Versace, Valentino and Chanel, including the light green protective vest Diana wore over denim during 1997 trips to Angola and Bosnia to fight land mines.

The display offers tributes that followed her fatal Paris car crash in August 1997, including the score and handwritten lyrics from Elton John and Bernie Taupin's reworking of "Candle in the Wind," and the original text of the tribute Spencer delivered during Diana's funeral at Westminister Abbey.

The 150-piece exhibit is on display now in Toronto and attracted as many as 5,000 visitors a day during a 2002 stop in Japan.

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