Long before Harry and Meghan ever packed their bags for Montecito, Diana had already been dreaming about her own slice of California sunshine.
It’s kind of wild to think about, but Diana wanted to leave the royal bubble behind for beachy Malibu vibes, and honestly? Good for her.
After her divorce from Charles wrapped up in August 1996, Diana was basically starting over. She was one of the most famous women on the planet, using that fame to help people through charity work, but she was also quietly telling people close to her—like her sister Lady Sarah McCorquodale and her friend Lúcia Flecha de Lima—that home might not always mean England.
By the summer of 1997, she’d fallen for Dodi Al Fayed, and he’d just bought this incredible property in Malibu’s Paradise Cove. We’re talking five acres right on the beach, six bedrooms, a guest cottage, pool, tennis court, the whole deal. It sat directly on the Pacific Coast Highway with its own private beach access.
Diana’s sons William and Harry spent a lot of time away at boarding school, which actually gave their mom some breathing room to think about what came next for her life.
Paul Burrell, who was Diana’s butler right up until she died, later said she was genuinely planning to move in with Dodi. He remembered her saying something like, “This is our new life. Won’t it be great? Think of the lifestyle. Nobody’s judgmental here in America.” She apparently loved that the U.S. didn’t have the same rigid class system she’d grown up around.
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In his book, Burrell described a moment where Diana knelt on her sitting-room floor and spread out an actual color brochure of the cliffside Malibu property, floor plans and everything. He said it felt less like a maybe and more like a done deal already sitting there waiting for her.
Fans have wondered for years what her life would’ve looked like if she’d actually made that move. 🌊
Harry himself has talked about this. In the Netflix documentary with Meghan, he said California was probably where his mom would’ve ended up living eventually. Diana’s former bodyguard, Lee Sansum, backed this up too, telling Inside Edition that she talked about liking how people in the States treated her compared to the UK press.
Burrell also mentioned he didn’t think the royal family would’ve fought her on it. He basically said it would’ve looked bad for the Queen to publicly block her from moving to America.
There’s also this detail from Diana’s old voice coach, Stewart Pearce, who said she wanted her sons to have the freedom to surf, rollerblade, and just be normal kids without cameras everywhere.
Sadly, none of this ever happened. Diana and Dodi died in that car crash in Paris on August 31, 1997, and the Malibu house eventually got listed for $10 million after their deaths.
Years later, Burrell walked back some of his earlier comments a bit, saying the house was more likely meant to be a vacation spot than a full-blown move. He told Marie Claire that Diana still loved being a royal and never planned on abandoning the monarchy completely—she just wanted a place to bring the boys once or twice a year.
At the end of the day, this is just one more “what if” from a life that got cut short way too soon, barely a year after her divorce was finalized.