Princess Diana and John F. Kennedy Jr. understood each other in a way few people could. A newly revealed 1997 letter written by Diana to JFK Jr. shows just how deeply the two connected over their shared experience of living under relentless public scrutiny.
The note, featured in the upcoming book “The Kennedys and the Windsors: The Story of Two Dynasties, One Born, One Made” by Caroline Hallemann, was published in an excerpt by Vanity Fair.
How Princess Diana and JFK Jr. First Met in New York
Written in February 1997, just months before her passing, Diana‘s letter to JFK Jr. and his wife, Carolyn Bessette, was warm and quietly heartbreaking, given what was to come.
“I hope the media are leaving both you and Carolyn alone. I know how difficult it is, but believe it or not, the worst paparazzi are here in Europe!”
Diana wrote, with the word “hope” underlined for emphasis.
The connection between Diana and JFK Jr. began in 1995 at the Carlyle Hotel in New York City, as reported by People.
JFK Jr. had reached out to discuss the possibility of Diana appearing on the cover of his magazine, “George.”
GettyShe declined politely, but the two stayed in touch.
He pitched her on an interview on several occasions after that first meeting, and her 1997 letter suggested the door was not fully closed, just not yet open.
Both Diana and JFK Jr. knew exactly what it meant to be chased. Diana had lived under tabloid scrutiny for years, before and after her divorce from Prince Charles.
JFK Jr. and Carolyn faced the same relentless attention throughout their courtship and marriage.
Diana’s private secretary, Patrick Jephson, described the bond between the two in Hallemann’s book.
“She saw in him a fellow victim, if you can put it that way, of life in the public eye and difficulty of knowing who to trust,” Jephson said, per Vanity Fair.
“And I think that that did create a connection between them. I wouldn’t call it a bond, but an affinity, a recognition of each other’s unusual hardships and difficulties.”
Princess Diana’s Passing in Paris in August 1997
GettyDiana never got to see how her letter landed.
She passed away in August 1997 following a car crash in a Paris tunnel. Her driver and her partner, Dodi Fayed, died at the scene.
GettyHer bodyguard, Trevor Rees-Jones, survived but was seriously injured. Diana was pronounced dead at the Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital. She was 36 years old.
The very paparazzi pursuit she had written to JFK Jr. about just months earlier had played a role in the crash that took her life.
JFK Jr. and Carolyn Bessette’s Passing Less Than 2 Years Later
GettyLess than two years after Diana’s passing, JFK Jr. and Carolyn also tragically died. In July 1999, the couple died in a plane crash off the coast of Martha’s Vineyard. Carolyn’s sister Lauren Bessette was also on board. The three had been flying from New Jersey to Massachusetts.
GettyThe plan was to drop Lauren off at Martha’s Vineyard before heading to Cape Cod for Rory Kennedy‘s wedding.
Their bodies were recovered from the ocean floor several days later. Investigators determined they died upon impact.
“The Kennedys and the Windsors: The Story of Two Dynasties, One Born, One Made” by Caroline Hallemann is available for preorder now and releases June 2.
