Renae Plant was just 12 years old when she had a chance encounter that would set her on a life-changing course to honour Princess Diana. With her hair in braids and a lot of sass, the cheeky schoolgirl. Who was living in Queensland at the time, decided to wag school to try to meet the most famous woman in the world on what was her first-ever royal tour in 1983.
“Princess Di came down the dirt path and I had a little pocket camera to take photos of her,” Renae tells Woman’s Day.
“She came out of the ginger factory and there were all these photographers, but she beelined straight to me.”
Diana shook Renae’s hand, which left her speechless.
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“I was enamoured when I saw her – she was so beautiful,” the 54-year-old says. “There are no words to describe the moment when I met her, especially at a young age.”
Brimming with excitement, Renae snuck under a barricade to walk behind the security guards and ladies-in-waiting. Hoping to get close to Diana again, when the royal bride dropped a clay platypus someone had given her.
“I ran over to the police and said, ‘Lady Di dropped this,’” Renae shares.
“He looked at me and said, ‘She must have dropped this to give to you.’ That tiny platypus sent me on a trajectory I could never have imagined.”
Now 37 years later, Renae has one of the largest collections of Diana memorabilia in the world, worth tens and tens of millions.
Her hoard now includes the famous Caring Dress, worn on another Australian tour in 1988. Renae paid $872,000 for the frock because it reminded her of the moment she had a second encounter with Diana, who was wearing it at the time.
“I wasn’t expecting to meet her,” she recalls.
“I was on my way to Bondi Beach when Di arrived at St Andrew’s Cathedral. So I got a milk crate to stand on and started screaming, ‘Lady Di, Lady Di!’ “She reached up and I have a photo of her looking straight into my eyes wearing the dress I acquired.”
Along with the Caring Dress, Renae bought 29 other items, including Diana’s honeymoon hat and shoes at the Princess Diana’s Style & A Royal Collection auction in LA last month. Renae also paid $750,000 for a custom cream silk crepe embroidered evening gown known as the Falcon Dress. Catherine Walker designed the dress, which Princess Diana wore during the 1986 Gulf Tour of the Middle East.
It was back in 2014 that Renae first got serious about collecting, spending $218,000 on a burgundy Caroline Charles wool coat that Diana wore while carrying baby Prince William.
Since then, she and her Spanish-born husband Livinio Stuyck have mortgaged their LA home four times to keep buying famous items from Diana’s wardrobe. They also run the online-based Princess Diana Museum. Their collection boasts 2730 items, including the 1991 Versace dress Diana wore on the cover of Harper’s Bazaar. And a pair of diamond and pearl earrings gifted to Diana by Queen Elizabeth.
“Before I started the Princess Diana Museum, I wrote to William and Harry in 2015,” she admits. “I wouldn’t be doing this right now if I didn’t have their blessing.”
The virtual museum plans to tour the entire collection globally to raise money for the non-profit the couple now run called The Princess & The Platypus Foundation.
William also thanked Renae for respecting his mother’s memory. In a memoir that she co-wrote with Diana’s longtime hairdresser Richard Dalton.
She tells, “I feel so honoured and blessed to be able to preserve Diana’s legacy. “I truly believe she was looking down over us at the auction. She knew that those pieces had to end up in the Princess Diana Museum. “Angels were looking over me – and I know she was one of them.”
Outfit so fan icon
A few of Diana’s most memorable ensembles went under the hammer at an auction in LA last month
Red ski suit
Sold for $539k
Diana was photographed in this red nylon ski suit numerous times between 1985 and 1992 while holidaying in Switzerland, Liechtenstein and Austria. It has become one of Diana’s most signature styles.
Black taffeta dress
Sold for $43k
This black frock was created by Elizabeth Emanuel and optioned for Diana’s first appearance following her engagement to Charles. Elizabeth later went on to design her wedding dress.
Blue veRsace dress
Sold for $377k
Diana met Gianni Versace after she divorced Prince Charles and he quickly ushered in a new style for the princess. The pair remained close friends until he was murdered one month before Diana’s tragic death in 1997.
