This is why Princess Diana kept her head down in public

She was thought to be 'sulky' - but that's not the case

Princess Diana was just twenty years old when she married Prince Charles, and she often spoke about the difficulties she faced as a new royal.

Suddenly, she was thrust her into the public eye and was expected to follow royal protocol - something she later admitted she struggled with.

And if you look back at early photos of Diana, you might notice that she tended to bow her head an awful lot when in public.

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But why did she do this?

Diana revealed all during interviews with royal author, Andrew Morton.

In his book, Diana: Her True Story - In Her Own Words, she explains why she used to keep her head down when she first joined the royal family.

'When I first arrived on the scene I'd always put my head down,' she said.

'Now that I interpret it, that did look sulky. I've never sulked. I've been terrified out of my tiny little mind.'

She continued: 'I never sulked as a child, it's just not in me. I was just so frightened of the attention I was getting; it took me six years to get comfortable in this skin and now I'm ready to go forward.

'One minute I was nobody, the next minute I was Princess of Wales, mother, media toy, member of this family, you name it, and it was too much for one person at that time.'

According to one of the Queen's press secretaries, Dickie Arbiter, there was another reason that Diana often bowed her head.

He told Vogue: 'I first met her about three or four days before the wedding. She just turned 20. People used to call her 'Shy Di' because she kept her head down when she talked to you.

'But there was nothing shy about her. She was conscious of was her height - 5 foot 10.

'She used to keep her head down when talking to people to not make them feel uncomfortable and to talk to them at their own level.'