On November 9, 1985, Princess Diana took a turn around the White House entrance hall with John Travolta, and the photos of that dance became some of the most famous images of her life. The midnight blue velvet gown she wore that night is now back in the Reagans' orbit. It is one of the headline pieces in Diana: Love Life Legacy, A Life of Giving, the Princess Diana exhibit that opens today, November 7, at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum in Simi Valley, California.
What is in the Princess Diana exhibit at the Reagan Library
The scale is the first thing to know. The show gathers more than 700 original artifacts covering every chapter of Diana's life, presenting her as a daughter, sister, wife, mother, humanitarian and global icon. The Reagan Library is the first stop on the tour anywhere in the world, so this is where it debuts.
The highlights read like a greatest hits of her public life:
- The Travolta dress, on loan from Historic Royal Palaces, alongside the invitation to that 1985 White House state dinner.
- The famous Black Sheep sweater.
- The Caring dress she wore to visit children in hospital.
- Jacques Azagury's Final Goodbye dress, the last gown she tried on before her death, shown publicly for the first time.
- The official program from her wedding to Charles, and her wedding slippers.
- Lady Dior handbags, shoes, hats and other designer accessories.
- Jewelry ranging from childhood keepsakes to royal pieces, plus handwritten letters, documents and personal possessions.
Diana and Nancy Reagan, side by side
The part you will only see in Simi Valley is the pairing. The Reagan Foundation has added items from President and Mrs. Reagan's own archive, displayed together with Diana's for the first time, including previously unknown artifacts tied to the friendship between the Reagans and the United Kingdom. Dresses and personal treasures from Diana and Nancy Reagan sit together to show how both women used their platforms for humanitarian work and how both shaped fashion history. The foundation frames the show as an intimate look at one of the most memorable chapters in modern diplomatic history.
Dates, tickets and visiting
Diana: Love Life Legacy runs from November 7, 2026 to May 31, 2027, and entry is included with museum admission. The library is open every day from 10am to 5pm, closed on Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's Day, at 40 Presidential Drive in Simi Valley. The foundation expects large crowds and recommends booking ahead through the Reagan Library exhibit page. Your ticket also covers the rest of the museum, from the Air Force One Pavilion to a piece of the Berlin Wall.
The exhibition was produced by Exhibits Development Group with The Princess and The Platypus Foundation, from the collection of The Princess Diana Museum. It is not endorsed by or affiliated with the British Royal Family.
Why it matters
Nearly three decades on, Diana's clothes still do what they did then: they tell a story without saying a word. Seeing the Travolta dress beside the archive of the couple who hosted that night is the kind of full circle museums rarely get. For more shows built around objects with a history, read about Luxury and Loss at the Walters Art Museum, and for fashion seen through a camera, Tina Barney's Fashion.
