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Key Points Princess Diana was an "Americanophile" and loved shopping at one particular American Department store. She reportedly planned to move to Malibu, seeking a less "judgmental" life in America. Diana’s 1985 shopping trip to a Virginia store sparked a frenzy, with fans snapping up the remaining stock to copy her purchase. Princess Diana loved everything American, including one surprisingly affordable department store. The late Princess of Wales was reportedly a big fan of JCPenney. The American department store offers clothes and shoes, beauty products, jewelry, and home décor. Royal author Edward White shared this interesting tidbit in Dianaworld: An Obsession, as reported by Marie Claire. An excerpt reveals the princess was an “Americanophile.” “One of the reasons Diana is perceived to have launched a sartorial rebellion against the House of Windsor is her wardrobe of clothing that marked her out as an Americanophile: cowboy boots, NFL sweatshirts, baseball caps, T-shirts and jackets with the stars and stripes on them,” White wrote. Parade Daily🎬 SIGN UP for Parade’s Daily newsletter to get the latest pop culture news & celebrity interviews delivered right to your inbox 🎬 He added that she, “embraced the same philosophy of consumption that made America great. To the extent that when she was in the United States, Diana shopped at JCPenney.” Diana first visited the department store during a tour of the United States in November 1985, per White’s book. She was photographed in a store located in Springfield, Virginia alongside then-husband Prince Charles. Readers’ Digest reported that while she was in the store, Diana purchased a red scarf. After she left, customers purchased the remainder of the items, so they too could have an item just like the Princess of Wales. Would Princess Diana have moved to America? Princess Diana’s former butler, Paul Burrell, revealed in a 2003 interview with Good Morning America that the princess had been planning a move to the United States. She reportedly intended to buy a home in Malibu, California, where she hoped to live with her sons, Prince William and Prince Harry. “A lovely house … saw all the plans for it. It was going to be in Malibu,” Burrell said. “I saw the plans,” he said. “We sat on the floor, spread out all the maps and the layout of the house.” Burrell claimed that Diana was hopeful for a fresh start in the United States after her divorce from Charles. She was looking for a less “judgmental” way of life. “She said, ‘This is our new life, just won’t it be great, think of the lifestyle the boys — nobody’s judgmental here in America, you don’t have the class system, you don’t have the establishment,’ ” Burrell concluded. Princess Diana died on August 31, 1997, in Paris, France. She was 36.
