When William and Kate’s engagement was announced, one of our first comments was, “what will they do for their official engagement portrait?” In 1981 Lady Diana Spencer sat for a number of official engagement portraits.

We absolutely love this one of her in the green silk gown. She’s very much the royal princess! These pictures were taken by Lord Snowdon, Princess Margaret’s husband, at the couple’s country estate, Highgrove.

Interestingly, these portraits of Charles and Diana were released at the time their engagement was announced, meaning that they were taken in the days or weeks prior, amidst the intense media frenzy and speculation surrounding Lady Diana. This is unlike the engagement portraits of William and Kate which were taken by Mario Testino in the weeks following the engagement announcement. William and Kate’s engagement was clearly an even bigger kept secret than that of Charles and Diana among members of the inner royal circle and family.

We love William and Kate’s informal engagement portraits (taken by Mario Testino), and wonder what other pictures were taken that day that were not released to the public.

Unfortunately, we doubt there was a grand portrait of William and Kate taken in the style of Charles and Diana shown here, but how amazing would that be! We suspect it will be a a couple of years before we see a formal portrait of the decked out Duchess, perhaps even a painted one in addition to photographic portraits. More on that in another post!