Princess Diana’s Egypt Tour

Photographs and text by Norbert Schiller

Introduction:
Late one evening in April 1992 I received a phone call from someone in England claiming to be a journalist, who asked me whether the British ambassador’s residence in Cairo had a swimming pool. I had been invited to the residence before but for the life of me I could not remember if there was a pool. I found the question rather odd so I asked “why?” The person on the other end said “I notice that your name is on the official list of photographers assigned to cover Princess Diana’s tour of Egypt.”

At the time there was so many news stories going on in Egypt that I completely forgot that the Associated Press had put me on Diana’s tour as AP’s official photographer. There was an Islamic insurgency beginning to take hold and it seemed like every day there were attacks targeting tourist, politicians, and police. When I realized that Diana’s visit was scheduled for five days and not one I began to have second thoughts about having accepted the assignment.

In the end I didn’t have much choice because once the traveling press was assigned it was almost impossible to switch out for someone else. So rather than fret about spending a week with the Princess I decided to take it in stride and see what it was like to not cover conflict and politics and be a celebrity photographer for a change.

On this the 20th anniversary of Princess Diana’s death and the 25th anniversary of her visit to Egypt I have created an exhibition from my personal archive showcasing her tour as well as a little insight into what it was like being part in her entourage.