Princess Diana is said to have secretly arranged to have tabloid newspapers delivered to her inside the royal residences

He told People: "She wasn't allowed to see the tabloid newspapers."

Richard then joked: "One of the hairdressers smuggled them in. Did I say that? They were smuggled in, but it's not to do with me."

He added: "She used to say, 'Richard, can you bring them in for me?'

"Nobody questioned it because nobody knew. Once I'd got through security and into the pantry, it was all plain sailing from there."

The hairdresser said Diana would often flick through the papers while he worked.

He added: "I'd be doing her hair, she'd be flipping through the pages (of a tabloid), and she'd go, 'Ugh'.

"Then another one comes along and then (she'd go), 'Ohhhhhh'."

One of the most painful rumours about the princess in the media, according to Richard, centred on the parentage of Diana's youngest son, Prince Harry, 41.

He said: "They always (went) on about, 'Is Charles the father of Harry?'

"Of course he is."

Speculation persisted during Diana's lifetime Major James Hewitt - with whom she had an affair years after Harry's birth - was the prince's father because both shared red hair.

Richard dismissed the claim, pointing out that red hair was common in Diana's family.

He said: "Diana's brother, Charles Spencer, when I used to cut his hair, his hair was bright red. Lady Sarah, also red. The Spencers definitely had red hair."

Richard has been encouraged to share his memories by his friend Renae Plant, who co-authored his 2024 memoir It's All About the Hair - My Decade with Diana.

Renae, who founded the Princess Diana Museum, said: "I felt like she was being whitewashed from history really quickly to make way for Camilla. I feel like that's when I got the motivation to really try to honour her life and legacy in a way where no one else seemed to be doing."

She added she informed Prince William, 43, and Prince Harry about her plans, saying: "They wrote back and said, 'Thank you', and kind of gave me their blessing."

The Princess Diana Museum launched online in 2019 and contains more than 2,700 items linked to Diana.

It will stage its first physical exhibition in Los Angeles in November 2026 before touring internationally, with Renae hoping to establish a permanent site in Britain.