Rare photographs of a young Princess Diana during her school days have surfaced and are set to be auctioned. The images, taken by her friend Katherine Hanbury at West Heath Girls' School in Sevenoaks, Kent, show the then 16-year-old in her room, walking on the grounds, and relaxing with friends in 1977, just months before she first met Prince Charles.
Hanbury preserved the candid snaps for decades. The collection, including letters from Diana, is being sold by Gorringe's Auctioneers of Lewes, East Sussex, with an estimate of £4,000 to £6,000. Albert Radford, a specialist at Gorringe's, described the archive as a rare glimpse of Diana before fame, portraying her as unassuming and domestically minded.
Among the items is a three-page handwritten note from Diana to Hanbury, dated 27 September 1981, during the royal honeymoon at Balmoral. Diana wrote of a 'blissful honeymoon' aboard the Royal Yacht Britannia, with 'endless sun' and 'calm seas', and expressed her love for rural life in Scotland, adding, 'It's wonderful being married'. The auction is scheduled for July 7.
