12/08/2025
“On set we were just having fun...”
Shanti Fiennes grew up in a large bohemian family. She’s the daughter of Magnus Fiennes, an English composer, record producer, and songwriter, and the niece of Oscar-nominated actor Ralph Fiennes. Her aunt Martha is a film director, and her uncle Joseph is also an actor. (He’s perhaps best known for appearing in Shakespeare in Love.) Her great uncle is the explorer Sir Ranuloh Fiennes. And yes there’s the family castle, the Broughton Castle, from the Baron who was the father of Fiennes’s grandfather Mark who was the eldest son of a knighted industrialist who was a distant cousin of King Charles’s. Now Fiennes is portraying Charles’s ex-wife, Princess Diana, in the new film Diana in Love.
Diana in Love is a labor of love that writer and director Brent Roske has worked on for a decade. What immediately struck Fiennes was the project’s tone. The documentary-style film follows Diana on an imagined post-divorce, sun-drenched road trip through California. In this movie, Diana isn’t portrayed as a victim. “There is always such a focus on her troubled side. But she was also just as light and fun,” says Fiennes.
“I found comfort in getting into a character I felt I had always known,” she explains. “She was quick-witted and always teasing people and keeping them on their toes. At the end of the day, she just so deeply wanted to be seen for who she was.”
Playing the people’s Princess is no small feat. In 2021, Emma Corrin won a Golden Globe for best actress for her performance as Diana in The Crown. The following year, Kristen Stewart received both Academy Award and Golden Globe nominations for her portrayal of Diana in the film Spencer.
For Fiennes, the part marks her first leading role in a movie. Beyond mastering Diana’s insouciant smile, the actress describes the experience as “freeing.” On set, “we were just having fun.” - Bridget Arsenault, Air Mail
‘Diana In Love’ is now streaming on 🦩 and Amazon Prime.
