Bunny O’Neill knew she had a small window of opportunity to speak to Lady Diana, Princess of Wales, and she was determined to make the most of it.
“We were at Christie’s Auction in June 1997,” recalled O’Neill. “Lady Di was selling her dresses for charity, and, despite Henry Kissinger and Barbara Walters hovering over her constantly, the princess made it a point to meet all of us potential buyers.”
When O’Neill’s moment with Lady Diana occurred, she took a deep breath and said, “Lady Diana, you have never made a mistake.” The princess was obviously taken aback. She responded, with her shy smile, and said, “Oh, I’ve made a few.”
O’Neill was inspired to attend the Christie’s auction after heading up a charity fashion auction at Winthropt Court Retirement Home in Rome, Georgia, where her mother, Eloise Hart Temple, resided.
“The auction was so much fun and raised so much money for Mom’s alma mater, Shorter College, that I decided to look into other charity auctions,” said O’Neill.
As guest speaker for The Questers at Vicar’s Landing on April 28, O’Neill mesmerized her audience with story after story relating to her $28,000 purchase of Lady Diana’s exquisite white lace coat dress, and how that purchase literally changed her life.
“We’re so glad Bunny decided to come out of retirement and give us her talk,” said Questers president Nancy Robbins. “We loved every minute of it!”
The Questers, an international nonprofit organization that keeps history alive through preservation, restoration and education, has an active group at Vicar’s Landing, and certainly got a delicious taste of history in O’Neill’s presentation.
Following the tragic death of Lady Diana in August of 1997, Ponte Vedra resident Bunny O’Neill began to display the dress for charitable events and has subsequently raised thousands of dollars for good causes around the world. At one 1999 local charitable event, “An evening of royal elegance,” on behalf of the BEAM (Beaches Emergency Assistance Ministry) “Smile Express” dental program, O’Neill recruited several other Lady Diana dress owners and raised more than $20,000 by showing six dresses.
“With Diana’s love for children — especially underserved children — I think she would have been just thrilled with how Bunny used her dress,” recalled Karen Wolfson, who initiated the dental program and chaired the event in 1999.
Finding that she was suddenly in great demand by charities across the globe, O’Neill traveled the world as a guest lecturer on Cunard Lines QE2, was interviewed by the BBC, Dan Rather and MTV, was invited to attend a benefit in Richmond, Virginia, by movie director Lord Richard Attenborough, and more.
“My 15 minutes of fame has gone on and on,” said O’Neill back in 1999, when she was the featured speaker at BEAM’s Night of Royal Elegance.
Following her fascinating talk, which was full of surprises that included O’Neill impulsively attending the trials of Bernie Madoff and O.J. Simpson and making a list of her favorite movies for distribution to the Questers, her friends gave the presenter a nice surprise.
Dressed in full royal regalia, “King” Al Sherlock of Vicars Landing crowned O’Neill “Queen” and gave her a beautiful bouquet of red roses. It was, indeed, a morning of royal elegance.
