Royalty is in the Quad Cities  from Sept. 14 until Jan. 5. “Diana: A Celebration” is on display at the Putnam Museum in Davenport.
This is the traveling exhibit’s last stop in the Midwest. It contains dozens royal artifacts from the late princess.  A major part of the exhibit focuses on her clothing, most notably her wedding gown, with its famous 25-foot-long train.
Christine Kastell, curator of history at the Putnam Museum, helped secure the exhibit’s presence at the museum, as the company in charge of the exhibit had worked with her and the museum before.
“Diana was a young girl who was thrust into a situation that she could either make a huge success of or a huge mess of, and she went on to become a great humanitarian,” said Kastell, who believes that Diana is “a great role model for young girls and women” of today as much as she was in the 80s and 90s.
“She surrounded herself with issues and people who were not royalty and were largely forgotten by society,” said Wendy Hilton-Morrow, chair of communication studies at Augustana College.
Hilton-Marrow has presented talks on the American media’s obsession with British royalty this past year.
Princess Diana was born to a noble British family. At the age of 20 she married Charles, Prince of Wales, in 1981, and died at the age of 36 in 1997.
Her marriage catapulted her into the international spotlight, and she became a fashion icon due to the intense media coverage of her life.
Diana used her status as princess to advocate for AIDS research and banning the manufacture and use of land mines, according to her official biography on the British Monarchy’s website.
Having the royal artifacts in the Quad Cities is a rare opportunity to see objects and clothing that helped to shape pop culture and fashion during the 80s and 90s.
Ticket prices and hours for the exhibition are available on the exhibition’s website, www.dianaexhibition.com, or on the Putnam Museum’s website for the event.