Advertisement
Home Lifestyle

EXCLUSIVE: Samantha Armytage reflects on the death of Diana, Princess of Wales

Make very day count - Samantha tells The Australian Women's Weekly the lessons Diana taught her.
Samantha Armytage reflects on the death of Diana, Princess of Wales

Samantha Armytage vividly recalls that Sunday morning when she, a uni student recovering from a 21st the night before, huddled with friends around a TV set in Sydney and watched the terrible news unfold. “We were all in tears – it was like a movie but it was real life. You felt like you’d lost a member of the family.”

Advertisement

Samantha has squirreled away all The Weekly souvenir editions from the royal weddings, devoured all the tell-all books about Diana – and still looks to the late princess for style pointers .

“I’ll often trawl through pictures of her for outfit inspo still, because she really is one of the all-time classically elegant women,” says the 40-year-old Sunrise host. “By the end of her life, she had really just hit her stride.”

For Samantha, Diana’s death left a lasting impression that “nobody’s life is perfect and you never know what’s going on behind the scenes. You can have everything in the world and still not be happy – that’s quite a powerful message.”

Advertisement

With age, she adds, has come a growing awareness of her own mortality and a desire to live more in the present. Her motto, she says, is “don’t die wondering” – which was her dad’s standard response whenever she was agonising over something as a kid.

“It always rattles around in my brain whenever I’m having doubts or second-guessing myself: have a go – you could be wrong, you could be judged, sometimes you will be upset and things won’t go your way, and that’s life – but you’ve got to make the most of it because you’ve only got one.”

Loading the player...

The Princess of Wales is remembered by close friends and relatives in a special tribute in this month’s issue of The Australian Women’s Weekly, on sale now.

Advertisement

Related stories


Unwind and relax with your favourite magazine!

Huge savings plus FREE home delivery

Advertisement
Advertisement