The Time Cindy Crawford Got To Meet Princess Diana And Prince William
The 90s were dominated by original supermodels like Cindy Crawford. These models were instantly recognizable since their pictures were everywhere. They captured the public's imagination and built long-lasting careers. Crawford, for instance, has worked with Revlon and starred in Pepsi Super Bowl commercials, among other ventures.
As a kid, William, Prince of Wales, was captivated by these famous models. William's fandom became a catalyst for Princess Diana's well-honed sense of mischief. Diana reportedly loved to concoct all kinds of funny schemes, including a hilarious cake for William's 13th birthday. Diana further shocked her kids by giving them cards with mortifying exteriors (but heartfelt notes inside). In this case, the princess used her royal connections to discover how William would react if he met his supermodel idols in person. "I came home from school to have Cindy Crawford, Christy Turlington, and Naomi Campbell waiting at the top of the stairs ... I went bright red and didn't know quite what to say," William recalled in 2017 (via Express). "I think I pretty much fell down the stairs on the way up."
William wasn't the only one speechless. Also in 2017, Crawford shared her memory of the experience. The supermodel reminisced that Diana personally invited her to Kensington Palace for tea. "I was nervous and didn't know what to wear, but [I] remember as soon as she came into the room and we started talking, it was like talking to a girlfriend," Crawford recalled on Instagram.
Crawford and Campbell reminisced about their palace visit decades later
Interestingly, William, Prince of Wales' memory of the supermodels' visit doesn't quite line up with Cindy Crawford and Naomi Campbell's recollections. In 2020, Crawford and Campbell discussed their memories of their royal visit and observed that they occurred independently. Crawford noted that she went solo to the palace, and Campbell said she went there on a different day with Christy Turlington and Claudia Schiffer. When Campbell asked her friend if William was embarrassed when he met her, Crawford instead related her own feelings of discomfort. "I was blushing," she admitted on the "No Filter with Naomi" podcast. "There's so much protocol ... not being English, I don't understand some of it."
Christy Turlington offered a logical explanation for the discrepancy between William and the supermodels' reminiscences. Turlington noted that although William got the number of women correct, he misidentified one of them. "It was Claudia Schiffer, not Cindy Crawford," Turlington wrote on X, formerly Twitter.
Another divergence in memory occurred regarding Princess Diana's wardrobe. While Crawford's photo with Princess Diana shows the supermodel in a black dress and Diana in a white shirt, dark green blazer, and black pants, Crawford remembered Diana in a different outfit when she arrived at Kensington Palace. In her memory, Crawford recalled Diana meeting her at the door. "I feel like she was in jeans and a cashmere sweater," she told Campbell.
William's supermodel fandom was recreated on The Crown
In late 2023, Cindy Crawford was delighted to see that she and some of her fellow supermodels were celebrated in an episode of Netflix's "The Crown." Photos of Crawford, Naomi Campbell, and Claudia Schiffer are displayed during a scene with William, Prince of Wales (Ed McVey), and Prince Philip (Jonathan Pryce). In this fictional depiction, William and his grandfather find common ground between William's fandom of supermodels and Philip's esteem for the glamorous stars of Hollywood's past.
Crawford, Campbell, and Schiffer were part of the elite group of models known as the "Big Five." Christy Turlington and Linda Evangelista were the other members. Thanks to Princess Diana's efforts, William got to meet four of these iconic models. As a fashion enthusiast, Diana revered these women and looked to them for fashion inspiration. Diana eventually met the fifth member after she arranged to meet Evangelista at a restaurant.
Along with his brother, William, Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, was also a participant at Crawford's visit to Kensington Palace and Campbell, Turlington, and Schiffer's joint appearance. For Harry, however, his mom's joke fell a little flat. "Very confusing," Harry recalled in his memoir "Spare," adding, Especially for two shy boys, at or about the age of puberty."