In his memoir, It's All About the Hair: My Decade With Diana, Richard Dalton recalls the extraordinary period when he styled Princess Diana's hair. From stressful moments to hilarious memories with Prince William and Prince Harry, the celebrity hairdresser had a front-row seat to royal history. Speaking to Marie Claire ahead of his August 30 book signing event in Richmond, Virginia with Renae Plant—co-writer of the book and founder of the Princess Diana Museum—Dalton shares some of his favorite behind-the-scenes moments, including one surprising beauty fact about the royal.
Plant—who recently won Princess Diana's famous Caring Dress for $400,000 at auction—is close friends with Dalton, and during our conversation pointed out that the hairstylist once told her Diana "never used a makeup artist," a revelation she finds "found really interesting."
Dalton confirms that "unless she was doing a portrait or something like that," Princess Diana preferred to do her makeup herself. "If it was like a photo shoot or, you know, official pictures with Charles or the boys. Yes, it would be a makeup artist," he says. Otherwise, "she did her own makeup."
Dalton says his favorite style he ever created for Diana was this flower-trimmed hairdo for a 1988 visit to Thailand. He says he "ran around the hotel" to "borrow" fresh flowers for the creation.
The princess did work with makeup artist Mary Greenwell for high-profile events such as her 1991 British Vogue shoot, with the beauty pro telling the "My Wardrobe Malfunction" podcast in 2023, "I used to go and see her at the palace and just hang out with her. She used to call me up say, 'Can you come and see me?' so I would go round there and give her makeup lessons and hang out with her and the boys."
Those makeup tips came in handy for Diana, who would apply cosmetics while Dalton was working on her hair. "I had to be very careful, you know, when she was putting her eye pencil on, like, 'Oh god, I don't want to blind the princess!'" he tells Marie Claire. Dalton adds that Diana "really, really didn't need any makeup."
"She was just flawless—her skin," the hairstylist continues. "Looking at her, I mean, she was so incredibly beautiful in real life, moreso than any picture. She never needed a foundation on her face, because her skin was just so beautiful. English rose."
When it came to her hair, Dalton says Diana "was open to ideas" even though she had her signature style. "Some days, I'd say 'Good morning, Your Royal Highness,' and she'd say, 'Hurry up, you've got 15 minutes,'" he shares. "Some days it was a bit longer, and we'd experiment."
Richard Dalton and Renae Plant co-wrote It's All About the Hair.
One such experimentation was the style he created for the 1984 State Opening of Parliament. "She actually wanted to grow it at one point, so we grew it and grew it," he says. "So we thought, 'Well, let's do the updo.' And we chose the Opening of Parliament, which is a very, you know, when else do you wear a full white evening gown at one o'clock in the afternoon with your tiara and your hair up?"
Addressing rumors that Queen Elizabeth was angry about being "upstaged" by Diana's new style that day, Dalton shoots them down. "You know, I love when I see on Facebook all these things that The Queen was very upset she was upstaged. The Queen, she couldn't have cared less."
As for Diana's wedding day hair, Dalton wasn't the one to create her tousled hairdo. "Unfortunately, that was my assistant," he says, sharing that he "hated" the style and so did Diana. "Diana said to me, 'I wish we could redo the wedding. Just to get the hair right,'" Dalton admits.
Dalton tried a different style on Diana for the 1984 State Opening of Parliament.
Along with exclusively sharing the exciting news that the Princess Diana Museum's collection is going on tour across America in 2026, Dalton and Plant shared their memories of Diana's life and style. For Dalton, working with the princess was an extremely full-on job, but that doesn't mean that they didn't enjoy lighthearted moments together.
"She had this wicked sense of humor," Plant says, referring to some of the "racy" cards from the princess that her museum has in its collection. "Oh, incredibly funny," Dalton adds. "Wicked." He shares that Diana—who was a huge fan of TV's Dynasty—"used to pretend she was in Dynasty" at her dressing table and even got Dalton to watch the show and recap it for her the next day when she had "boring" events on the night it aired.
The stylist also used to cut Prince Harry, Prince William and King Charles's hair (then the Prince of Wales). Dalton shares one hilarious encounter with William when he was applying chemicals to Diana's hair. "I was doing a treatment on it one afternoon, and the boys came in," he says. Adding "the treatment I was doing smells quite a bit," Dalton recalls that William complained about the odor.
"'It smells like bees!'" William said, with Dalton assuming the child meant "honey bees." However, the future King had something a bit more off-color in mind. "No, bees. Biggies! Big jobs!" he explained (Translation: poop). Dalton added that "Diana went, 'Get out, William!'"
Tickets are now available for Plant and Dalton's book signing on August 30 at the Dominion Energy Center at Mooney Hall in Richmond, Virginia.
