Elizabeth Debicki recreates Princess Diana’s iconic 1992 Vogue cover for Radio Times as she prepares to play the tragic royal in ’emotional’ final season of The Crown

Elizabeth Debicki has taken her remarkable portrayal of Diana, Princess Of Wales to the next level by recreating her iconic character Fashion coverage for the Radio times.

The late princess was featured as the cover star for the December 1992 edition of the fashion bible five years before her tragic death at the age of 36.

Debicki, who plays Diana in seasons five and six of Netflix drama The Crown, has since recreated the pose ahead of the returning show’s launch on November 16.

The Australian actress, 33, wears a fitted black turtleneck reminiscent of the one Diana wore during her original shoot and models the same blonde hairstyle as she poses for the cover spread.

Although the cover of Vogue turned out to be one of the largest, the image – taken by French photographer Patrick Demarchelier – was originally intended for the cover of Diana’s 1992 biography.

Previously: The late princess was cover star for the December 1992 edition of the fashion bible, five years before her tragic death, at age 36

Speak with Radio timesAndrew Morton, who wrote the unauthorized biography, admitted that they ultimately chose a photo by famed British photographer and filmmaker Terence Donovan, but only after he disputed the fee.

‘He wanted £70,000. . . when the going rate was £500,” he explained. ‘He told us that if the price was not met, he would tell the world that Diana was involved in the book. He had us at the Crown Jewels.”

Morton also claimed that the upcoming final series of The Crown will ‘fuel the permanent loss of the royal family’.

The final part of the Peter Morgan biopic, out on Netflix on Thursday, will dramatize the weeks before the death of the late Princess of Wales and the feud within the royal family.

And Morton, who wrote Diana’s “unauthorized, authorized biography” five years before her death, said the “gamey” series will reopen closed wounds.

“For many of us who lived through these dramatic days, it will stir up the solid sludge of memory and loss. “That’s why The Crown team has taken pains to emphasize how sensitively the princess’s untimely death has been handled,” he wrote.

He also recalled how he found out that the then Princess of Wales had died.

“Like millions of people around the world, I vividly remember that fateful day. I was staying with friends for the Edinburgh Festival and was woken by my host with the news. At first in disbelief, then as it slowly dawned on me, I booked the last seat on the morning flight to London.

Coming soon: Princess Diana’s biographer Andrew Morton has claimed the upcoming series of The Crown will ‘fuel the permanent loss of the royal family’. She is pictured in 1997

Dramatic: Images show Diana, played by Debicki, being chased by paparazzi shortly before her death

RE-CREATING THE ‘SACRED’ BLUE SWIMSUIT MOMENT

Princess Diana pictured in St. Tropez

The Crown pulled out all the stops when it came to recreating Diana and Dodi’s last summer in St. Tropez.

“Gottex, the company that made all of Diana’s swimwear, also made all of ours for us,” says costume designer Sid Roberts.

“We just adapted it to what Elizabeth was comfortable with. That ’90s style is cut very high on the thigh, and also goes all the way up and quite high at the bottom. So we simply made those adjustments with Gottex.’

And the effort paid off for Elizabeth Debicki.

“I really love the blue swimsuit that Diana wears as she walks to the end of the diving board on the yacht and sits down,” she says.

“There was just something about that swimsuit and recreating that moment that felt very sacred.”

‘During the trip, a Frenchman came up to me and handed me a note that essentially said: “I would like to apologize on behalf of the French nation.” At the time, the French paparazzi, rather than a drunk driver, was blamed for the accident.’

The emotional first four episodes cover the tragic car crash in Paris that killed Princess Diana in August 1997 – along with her lover Dodi Fayed and their driver Henri Paul – and the royal family’s response to it, as well as Diana and Diana’s summer holiday Dodi enjoyed life in St Tropez prior to the tragedy.

The Paris scenes were shot in the French capital, while a yacht was rented for the St. Tropez scenes, although they were actually shot in Mallorca.

For sensitivity reasons, the exact moment of Diana’s death is not recreated, but there are controversial scenes in which Charles tenderly talks to an imaginary Diana in the cabin of the royal plane as he accompanies her body from Paris to London, and later when she also appears to the Queen.

Critics who have seen these scenes have called them “farcical” for depicting Diana as a ghost, but series creator Peter Morgan has insisted this was not the intention.

“I never imagined it would be the ghost of Diana in the traditional sense of the word,” he told Variety magazine. “It was she who continued to live vividly in the minds of those she left behind.”

The Crown was created by Morgan after the success of his 2006 film about the royal family’s response to Diana’s death, The Queen.

And the series – which has earned 21 Emmys and dozens of BAFTA nominations, not to mention some criticism for its historical inaccuracies – covers the same ground, but uses new information gathered in the 17 years since the Oscar-winning movie was made.

In fact, the scripts had to be constantly updated as the Royal Family was in the news throughout the filming period, not only after the Queen’s death, but also after the publication of Prince Harry’s memoir Spare.

“I assumed that Charles is an emotional and quite outspoken guy, despite the buttoned-up appearance he has to have in public,” Dominic West, who plays the then-Prince, told Weekend Magazine.

“But when Harry wrote his book and said he never hugged him or anything, we had to change that.”

The Crown season six, episodes one to four, can be seen on Netflix from November 16. Episodes five to ten can be seen on Netflix from December 14.