Princess Diana’s Friend Shared a Rare Photo of Her Vacationing on a Yacht

• Princess Diana's friend, Valentino co-founder Giancarlo Giammetti, shared a rare photo of the royal vacationing on a yacht in the '90s.
• Diana wears bikini bottoms and a shirt tied at the waist in the snap, which was reportedly taken in September 1990.
• Diana had been married to Prince Charles for eight years when the photo was taken, and would separate from him two years later.

This is pretty lovely: Giancarlo Giammetti, the co-founder and honorary president of Valentino, posted a rare photo on Instagram of Princess Diana vacationing on a yacht. Giammetti, a close friend of the late royal, shared a total of four photos of Diana earlier this week, offering a glimpse into some happy, carefree moments of her life.

First, Giammetti shared two photos of Diana wearing red Valentino dresses, captioning the post, "TV 'The Crown' has once again reminded us of the struggle of Princess Diana ! Here two photos of her in Valentino red dresses that show the smiling and sweet side of Diana."

Then, the Valentino co-founder shared two more candid photos of the royal, captioning the post, "And here two moments of friendship with her." In the first, she speaks with Giammetti and fellow co-founder Valentino Garavani, as Tatler reports. But it's the second that's especially remarkable (swipe right below to see it), depicting Diana not as a formal public figure but as a relaxed, happy young woman on board a yacht with her friends, wearing a tied purple shirt with patterned bikini bottoms and holding a drink.

In the photo, reportedly taken in September 1990, she poses with Kyril, Prince of Preslav and Valentino, as the group vacation off the coast of Stromboli, an Italian island north of Sicily. The snap was taken eight years after Diana married Prince Charles, and two years before their separation, according to Tatler. 

The Crown has revived public interest in Diana's difficult experience as a member of the royal family, depicting her troubled marriage to Prince Charles, the restrictions of royal life, and her struggle with bulimia. Unsurprisingly, the royals themselves aren't exactly thrilled about the show, with Diana's brother, Charles, Earl Spencer, one of its most outspoken critics. Appearing on British TV show Love Your Weekend with Alan Titchmarsh last weekend, Charles said The Crown relied on "invention" to fill in the details of Diana's life, and urged viewers to take it as "fiction." 

"The worry for me is that people see a program like that and they forget that it is fiction," Charles said. "They assume, especially foreigners, I find Americans tell me they have watched The Crown as if they have taken a history lesson. Well, they haven’t." He continued, "There is a lot of conjecture and a lot of invention, isn’t there? You can hang it on fact but the bits in between are not fact."