In the summer of 1995, John F. Kennedy Jr. and Princess Diana secretly met in the royal’s suite at the Carlyle Hotel in New York City. Since then there’s been much speculation as to what exactly the two spoke about, or why they met in the first place. At the time, both Princess Diana and John F. Kennedy Jr. were constantly surrounded by paparazzi, and fear that their plans would leak made their meeting increasingly difficult to coordinate. Speaking to People, RoseMarie Terenzio — JFK Jr.’s executive assistant who accompanied him to the hotel — detailed that famous day.
“I remember him saying, ‘There’s no way someone is not going to leak it. There’s going to be paparazzi everywhere,’” Terenzio told the outlet. “Someone suggested he go in disguise and I said, ‘That’s ridiculous. You’re not doing that!’” According to Terenzio, Kennedy Jr. hoped to convince Diana to pose for the cover of his political magazine George.
“We had to draw all these cover ideas up, and he took the drawings over to the Carlyle Hotel to meet her,” George magazine creative director Matt Berman told People. The meeting lasted about an hour and a half. And while Terenzio said JFK Jr. wanted to do a “respectful piece” on Princess Diana, the royal ultimately declined his offer. “She wrote John a note that said, ‘Thank you so much, but not right now,'” Terenzio said.
It’s easy to understand why Princess Diana shot down JFK Jr.’s offer. In 1995, Lady Di had her infamous panorama interview with BBC go live later that year and the royal was already facing such heightened media scrutiny. As for what she and JFK Jr. spoke about, Terenzio said: “I do remember him saying, ‘She’s really tall!’ He also said she was very shy. He was surprised how demure she was. I think they had both met Mother Theresa so they spoke about that. And he said how lovely she was.”
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