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| - A photograph allegedly showing Diana, Princess of Wales, in 1991 shaking hands with a man diagnosed with HIV/AIDS — at a time when stigma surrounding the virus was high — has been shared widely on social media for more than a decade.
A reverse image search (archived) showed the image had been shared hundreds of times to various social media platforms since at least 2012, including TikTok and Reddit, the latter of which had received more than 93,000 upvotes as of this writing.
The picture is indeed authentic and does show the royal shaking hands with an HIV/AIDS patient.
Getty Images hosts the photo with a description that says it showed Diana shaking hands with a resident of an AIDS hospice in Toronto:
TORONTO, CANADA - OCTOBER 25: Princess Diana Shaking Hands With One Of The Residents Of Casey House, An Aids Hospice, In Toronto, Canada. (Photo by Tim Graham Photo Library via Getty Images)
Casey House is a hospice and care center located in Toronto that opened in 1988 at the height of the HIV/AIDS epidemic to house patients diagnosed with the virus. It was Canada's "first stand-alone treatment facility for people living with HIV/AIDS, and Ontario's first free-standing hospice," according to its website.
The site contains a similar photo (archived) of Diana wearing the same shirt and shaking hands with another patient.
(Casey House)
The Associated Press also hosts the image, with a description that reads:
FILE--Diana, Princess of Wales, talks with AIDS patient Wayne Taylor at the Casey House AIDS hospice in Toronto Oct. 26, 1991.
Another image of the princess wearing the same outfit and talking to the patient in the social media posts was published by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation on June 4, 2023. The article echoed the description provided by Getty and the AP, and said the man featured in the photo was Wayne Taylor.
Pictures like the ones above have been described as "historic" because at the time they were taken, misguided understandings about how HIV/AIDS spread were prominent in society.
In 1984, The New York Times reported that AIDS might be transmitted through saliva, bringing with it fear and stigma for those infected, and for people around them. Around 1987, researchers found that only blood, semen, vaginal secretions and possibly breast milk were involved in transmission.
Another image widely shared on social media also featured Diana, this time in a blue dress, shaking hands with another AIDS patient in 1987.
The above picture is also authentic and hosted by Getty Images. Its caption reads:
LONDON - APRIL 9: Diana, Princess of Wales shakes hands with a Aids victim as she opens a new Aids ward at the Middlesex Hospital on April 9, 1987 in London, England. (Photo by Anwar Hussein/WireImage)
According to the BBC, Princess Diana opened the U.K.'s "first purpose built HIV/Aids unit" at London Middlesex Hospital in 1987, which "exclusively cared for patients infected with the virus."
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