Old photo of Princess Diana ignites serious debate over what colour her hair actually was

Despite it almost being three decades since her tragic death, the everlasting grip Diana, Princess of Wales, still seemingly has on the world of beauty and style is impossible to ignore.

Phrases like the ‘Revenge Dress’, the ‘Black Sheep Sweater’ and the ‘Lady Diana Haircut’ have seamlessly woven themselves into our lexicon. Her slouchy sweatshirt and leg-baring biker shorts ensembles and iconic blazer moments still litter Pinterest moodboards across the globe.

And her penchant for Guerlain and Clarins continues to inspire skincare shopping baskets.

However, debate continues to rage on about what natural hair colour Princess Diana possessed - some arguing it was auburn, strawberry blonde and even bronze.

Amazingly, some royal fans are only just learning she used highlights in her later years to achieve a ‘sun-kissed’ look.

Diana, Princess of Wales, remains a fashion icon and beauty inspiration for many almost three decades after her death (Tom Stoddart Archive/Getty Images)

One Redditor recently headed to the popular r/RoyalTea thread and claimed: “She wasn't a redhead as someone suggests, and neither blonde, she had auburn hair.

“That's why in some photos her hair looks brown and in others so red. I think that she should have kept her natural hair, I prefer it way more than her blonde hair.”

A social media user disagreed with the original poster, using the platform to write: “Auburn is reddish brown. This is not that. Diana had strawberry blonde hair, naturally.”

Someone else typed: “I think Diana and I have a similar hair colour that I have never quite been able to label.

Diana's 'natural' hair colour continues to cause a storm online (© Hulton-Deutsch Collection/CORBIS/Corbis via Getty Images)

“My hair is kind of a bronze-ish colour, a light blondish-brown with reddish undertones. I call it Neapolitan because it’s like a mix of chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry!.”

“TIL Diana didn’t have blonde hair,” a fourth remarked, while another commented: “She had really dark blonde hair. The cameras developed highly discoloured in the past decades. She never had a warmish coloured root.”

Both before and during her reign as the Princess of Wales, Diana stepped out in public sporting some iconic hairstyles, including the long, pin-straight locks of her youth and the iconic bixie cut.

The late royal often changed up her hair (Tim Graham Photo Library via Getty Images)

The close-cropped bob and pixie blend came about on a whim in the early 1990s when she met hairstylist Sam McKnight on a Vogue photo shoot, as per the outlet.

It’s understood she asked McKnight, 70, what he would do to her hair if he could do ‘anything [he] wanted’, to which he replied: “I’d just cut it all off and start again.”

Speaking about the Lady Diana Haircut, the hairstylist added: “When I met Diana, things were changing.

“We were moving on from the '80s romantic frills and going much sleeker with short, sharp hair to wear with Chanel and Versace suits of the time. It was all about the power woman look.”

Diana's hairstylist of 10 years Daniel Galvin created a custom blonde for her (Terry Fincher/Princess Diana Archive/Getty Images)

Daniel Galvin, 81, another hairstylist who looked after Diana’s luscious locks, revealed he produced a ‘customised blonde’ to suit her.

“Highlights were placed in such a way which gave her a natural, sun-kissed look,” he told Hello! Magazine in 2019.

“Diana’s eyes sparkled and stood out, and this was thanks to my bespoke blonde – as I always say, when you have the perfect hair colour, the first thing people should notice is their eyes."