Remembering Princess Diana's royal visits to Melbourne
Every time the Prince and Princess of Wales visited Melbourne, Princess Diana was the clear favourite with the crowds who greeted them. Here's a look at what the couple did when in town, from visiting Altona to opening Bourke St mall.
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Back in the 1980s, Princes Charles and Princess Diana were at the peak of their popularity.
But it was the young princess who seemed to win the most hearts during the royal couple’s visits to Victoria.
The couple came to Victoria in 1983 after the Ash Wednesday fires, with Charles and Diana visiting Cockatoo on March 25, 1983.
The Cockatoo Rural Fire presented the Prince with a helmet.
The pair officially opened the Bourke St mall, with thousands watching.
The couple met local celebs at the Melbourne Concert Hall, including Paul Hogan and John Farnham.
Charles and Diana made their second visit to Victoria together in October and November 1985 for the end of Victoria’s 150th anniversary celebrations.
Three weeks before the royal tour, Victorian Governor Sir Brian Murray was forced by the Cain government to resign after he and his wife accepted $15,000 in free travel from an airline.
The row at one stage threatened to derail the visit, but it was all forgotten when Charles and Diana touched down at Tullamarine on October 23.
Vast crowds gathered at public appearances as the couple toured the state.
As always, Victorians flocked for a chance to briefly run shoulders with royalty, and the prince and princess obliged by chatting with admirers and accepting gifts during impromptu street walks.
Princess Diana’s natural charm is obvious in this picture, in which she accepts a posey from the crowd and chats to several little girls in their best dresses, one clutching an Australian flag.
Charles and Diana even attended the Melbourne Cup at Flemington on November 5.
Did you see the royals when they came to Melbourne? Tell us below.
There, Princes Charles opened the Princes of Wales stand, named in his honour.
The royal couple dined on a Victorian-themed banquet named the Garden State Basket and they watched Pat Hyland ride What A Nuisance to victory.
Charles and Diana danced together at a function at the Southern Cross Hotel, thrilling onlookers with a glimpse of what we all believed was a fairytale romance.
At a rock concert hosted by Molly Meldrum 15,000 screaming teenagers gave Prince Charles and Princess Diana a riotous greeting at the Melbourne Concert Hall.
The Princes and Princess of Wales returned to Victoria once more as a couple in 1988 as part of their bicentenary tour of Australia.
The royal couple divorced in 1996 and Princess Diana was killed in a car accident in Paris in 1997.
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