I’m not entirely sure why the Prince and Princess of Wales chose this moment to make their Cannes debut. They attended the premiere of The Whales of August, which was directed by British filmmaker Lindsay Anderson — the closest connection I could find — and is the story of two widowed American sisters (Lillian Gish and Bette Davis) and features a young Mary Steenburgen and “Vincent Price as a peripheral member of the former Russian aristocracy.” Sure! Ann Sothern played one of their friends, in what would be her last film and also her only Oscar nod. And Bette Davis blew off the Cannes premiere because she couldn’t deal. And while we were two years away from Diana confronting Camilla Parker-Bowles at a birthday party about Charles, I’m sure things were percolating. So many storylines brewing. But the focus here is the gown, and as someone who was never a Diana worshipper, I can say without bias that I think this is really quite fab on her.
