Princess Diana Was a Wellness Guru Before It Was Cool
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Spoilers ahead: If you don't want anything spoiled about the new season of The Crown, stop reading now.
Princess Diana will forever be regarded as one of the most influential style style icons of the late 20th century. From her iconic revenge dress to her infamous black sheep sweater, her fashion choices continue to resonate with people around the world more than 25 years after her tragic passing. While her influence is still felt strongly among many today, there is no disputing that the late Princess of Wales focused just as much care of her health and well-being as she did on her fashions.
In season five of The Crown, viewers are reminded that Diana was, in a way, ahead of her time when it comes to wellness. During one scene, Diana (played by Elizabeth Debicki) provides a friend with several sources to give to Andrew Morton, the author behind her blockbuster biography, Diana: Her True Story. Debicki's character goes on to name an aromatherapist, an astrologist, an acupuncturist, and a mind and body therapist. And as it turns out, the royal actually relied on several holistic treatments to make her feel good, physically and mentally, as she struggled with her mental health and when her tumultuous marriage with then-Prince Charles began to crumble.
The first person named is her aromatherapist, Sue, which is presumably Sue Beechey—a c0-founder of Aromatherapy Associates. The royal was reportedly one of her first customers and often turned to the brand's luxury essential oil blends for de-stressing. In Morton's book, it's revealed that Beechey would concoct oil creations in her Chelsea practice and would then take them to Kensington Palace for Diana to implement during her wellness sessions. Though it was never revealed which scents the mom of two opted for, her longtime makeup artist Mary Greenwell once claimed that Diana usually preferred geranium, sandalwood, patchouli, and ylang-ylang.
Her acupuncturist, Oonagh Shanley-Toffolo, was named a source as well. According to the biography, Diana often turned to the ancient Chinese needle treatment and usually implemented Beechey's essential oil blends during each session. With the help of acupuncture, Shanley-Toffolo told Morton that Diana got "in touch with her own nature" and "found a new confidence and sense of liberation which she had never known before."
Stephen Twigg, a mind and body therapist, played a significant role in Diana's life during her low moments as well. As Morton wrote, he was "crucial and the Princess readily acknowledged the debt she owed him." Twigg began working with the royal in 1988 at Kensington Palace, where he performed therapeutic massages on her and conducted one-hour consultations, discussing everything from vitamin supplements to the meaning of the universe so Diana could better understand herself physically, mentally, and spiritually. He would also urge Diana to give herself positive affirmations and teach her how to examine threatening situations in her life. For instance, during her many visits to Balmoral Castle—a place that often made Diana feel miserable—Morton claimed Twigg would remind her: "Remember, it’s not so much that you are stuck with the royal family, rather they are stuck with you."
While working with Beechey, Toffolo, and Twigg, Diana turned to hypnotherapy with Roderick Lane, the healing powers of crystals, tai chi, and works dealing with holistic philosophy, healing, and mental health. According to Morton, she would often explore the thinking of Bulgarian philosopher Mikhail Ivanov in the morning and found solace in reading The Prophet by Lebanese philosopher Khalil Gibran.
At one point, Diana would go on to welcome spirituality and astrology into her world, too. She worked closely with astrologist Felix Lyle, as well as Debbie Frank, whose method combined general counseling and analysis concerning the present and the future with Diana's birth time and date. "I listen to it but I don’t believe it totally," Diana allegedly said, according to Morton's book. "It’s a direction and a suggestion rather than it’s definitely going to happen. She’s been sweet, particularly when I was going through a rough patch... She just said you’ve got to hang on because things will get brighter but she never forced me with information at all."
Over time, all these treatments are said to have helped Diana cope with the lows in her life. Until the end of her life in 1997, Diana continued to seek help from wellness experts, focus on her mental health, and strive to live a happier and healthier life. As Morton put it: "The counselling, the friendships and the holistic therapies she embraced during this period enabled her to win back her personality, a character which had been smothered by her husband, the royal system, and the public’s expectations towards their fairytale princess. The woman behind the mask was not a flighty, skittish young thing nor a vision of saintly perfection."
Season five of The Crown is available to stream on Netflix now.
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