Revealed: Mystery rival to Prince Charles pictured relaxing with Lady Diana in 1979 is Old Etonian aristocrat

Censored: The man pictured with Lady Diana Spencer on a ski holiday in Val Claret in the French Alps in 1979 has been revealed as aristocrat Adam Russell

The mystery man pictured with an 18-year-old Lady Diana Spencer has been unmasked as aristocrat Adam Russell.

Old Etonian Mr Russell, the great-grandson of former Tory prime minister Stanley Baldwin, is shown relaxing with the future Princess of Wales during a group ski holiday in Val Claret in the French Alps in 1979.

The Daily Mirror, which bought the photo two days after Diana’s engagement to Prince Charles was announced in February 1981, wrote NOT TO BE PUBLISHED in crayon on it.

The photo is now being auctioned in the US.

Oxford student Mr Russell is said to have had a ‘galumphing’ crush on Diana. Nothing, however, happened between them.

According to royal author Andrew Morton, Mr Russell went travelling for a year, and when he returned to the UK in 1980 and told a friend that he liked Diana, he was told: ‘You’ve only got one rival, the Prince of Wales’.

He tactfully decided not to pursue her, but the pair remained great friends.

Mr Russell later said he initially thought Diana was a bit of a Sloaney ‘giggler’ but got to like her when both were injured skiing.

He found her ‘bubbly, giggly, but not in a vacuous way, and lacking in self-confidence’.

Mr Russell, who is now a deer farmer in Dorset and married to gardening expert and TV presenter Ali, declined to comment.

The picture shows Diana lying on a bed in a chalet with Mr Russell, who is resting his book on her shoulder. On the window ledge behind them is a bottle of Johnnie Walker whisky.

The identity of the photographer is not known.

和18岁的戴安娜•斯宾塞女爵合照的神秘男子日前曝光，原来是一位名叫亚当•拉塞尔的贵族。

亚当•拉塞尔是前英国首相、保守党领袖斯坦利•鲍德温的曾孙，曾就读于贵族名校伊顿公学，俗称“老伊顿人”。照片中他正和未来的威尔士王妃一起放松休息，那一年是1979年，他们正在法国阿尔卑斯山度假胜地Val Claret参加滑雪旅行团。

《每日镜报》在1981年2月戴安娜和查尔斯王子订婚的消息公布两天后买下了这张照片，并用蜡笔在照片上写下“不能出版”几个字。

这张照片目前正在美国被拍卖。

当时在牛津大学读书的拉塞尔据说“一下子”被戴安娜迷住了。不过他们两人之间没有发生任何事。

据皇室作家安德鲁•莫顿说，拉塞尔当时出门旅游了一年，当他在1980年回到英国时，他告诉一个朋友说他喜欢戴安娜，那个朋友告诉他说：“你只有一个竞争对手，那就是威尔士王子。”

他很机智地决定不去追求戴安娜，不过他和戴安娜始终是非常好的朋友。

拉塞尔后来说他一开始觉得戴安娜是那种喜欢用限量版奢侈品、总是吃吃傻笑的女孩，但是在两人都在滑雪中受伤后开始喜欢上她。

他觉得戴安娜“活泼、喜欢格格地笑，但不是空洞的那种笑，不是很自信”。

拉塞尔现在在多塞特郡养鹿，妻子是园艺专家、电视节目主持人阿里。拉塞尔拒绝对照片做出评论。

在照片上，戴安娜和拉塞尔斜躺在滑雪小屋的一张床上，拉塞尔把正在看的书倚在戴安娜的肩头。他俩身后的窗台上放着一瓶尊尼获加威士忌。

没人知道是谁拍下这张照片的。

Vocabulary:

galumphing: 来势凶猛地，一下子

bubbly: 热情奔放的；轻快的，活泼的

chalet: 瑞士山中的牧人小屋；瑞士的农舍；小屋