Former Buckingham Palace press secretary Dickie Arbiter recalled that Princess Diana could stop speaking to people when events did not go as she wanted. In one example, he said he advised against holding a reception for England’s football team after a loss. Diana went ahead with the idea, and Arbiter says he did not hear from her for two weeks. This is Arbiter’s recollection as reported in a 2025 article, not an independently verified account of the incident.
What Arbiter said happened
Arbiter’s example concerned a proposed reception for England’s football team. He thought the timing was poor because the team had recently lost and advised Diana against holding the event. According to the account, Diana wanted to proceed; Arbiter says he then did not hear from her for two weeks.
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The report does not give a date for the disagreement or additional detail about the reception. The two-week silence is presented as Arbiter’s description of what followed, not as a separately confirmed timeline.
How Arbiter described Diana’s response
In the passage attributed to his memoir, Arbiter wrote: “In a word, she was complicated.” He also recalled that if something conflicted with what Diana wanted, “you were frozen out and left to stew until she decided to invite you back into the fold.” The article quotes him saying that these “freezes” might “last days or even weeks, and no one was immune.”
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- Book - diana: her true story--in her own words
- Language: english
- Binding: paperback
Those phrases convey Arbiter’s interpretation of his working relationship with Diana. The report does not independently establish that this was a systematic pattern across her staff or relationships.
The source behind the anecdote
The account appeared in Dickie Arbiter’s memoir, On Duty with the Queen: My Time as Her Majesty’s Press Secretary, as described by Rachel Burchfield in an AOL article dated September 3, 2025, which republished an InStyle article. The article also says Arbiter first met Diana three days before her July 29, 1981 wedding to Prince Charles and worked closely with her for about five years.
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The memoir passage itself and the cited Marie Claire coverage were not independently checked for the 2025 report. The account should therefore be understood as a secondary report of Arbiter’s recollection, rather than independent confirmation of the event.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.A more rounded picture in Arbiter’s account
The same article also quotes Arbiter describing Diana as “engaging” and “fun to be with,” as well as a “true professional—warm, approachable, and incredibly charismatic.” His recollection, as presented there, combines those positive traits with his account of the periods when she would freeze people out.
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