Princess Diana’s wedding dress designer is suing a Las Vegas exhibition that lets tourists walk over a replica of the gown’s 25ft train.

Elizabeth Emanuel claims the attraction ‘disrespects the artistic integrity and historical significance’ of her creation by inviting visitors to tread across a glass walkway above the dress.

The designer has begun legal action against five companies behind Princess Diana & The Royals: The Exhibition, accusing them of copying her designs without permission.

In a further twist, she claims the organisers went behind her back to approach her ex-husband, David Emanuel, after initial negotiations with her broke down.

David, who designed Diana’s wedding gown alongside Elizabeth, allegedly had no authority to approve a replica.

The former couple created the ivory silk taffeta dress with its enormous train, puffed sleeves and intricate lace for the royal wedding at St Paul’s Cathedral in 1981.

But Elizabeth claims the Vegas attraction has produced an ‘inferior’ imitation of her creation which risks damaging her reputation. Court papers filed in Nevada reveal that organisers first approached the designers in 2019 and began negotiations the following year.

They asked the couple to confirm their ownership of the rights to the dress, which Elizabeth did in writing in 2020. But no agreement was reached and the organisers allegedly turned to David separately.

According to the lawsuit, they eventually commissioned Belgian artist Isabelle de Borchgrave to make a life-size replica entirely from paper. The copy is so convincing that visitors standing just a few feet away can mistake it for the genuine dress, according to the complaint.

She is also suing over alleged unauthorised copies of other outfits she created for the princess.

Among them is the daring black dress Diana wore for her first public appearance following her engagement to Charles, and the gold-and-white gown she wore to the Royal Opera House in 1986.

Replicas of the royal bridesmaids’ dresses and a pale-blue sequinned gown are also included in the complaint. Elizabeth claims the exhibition repeatedly uses her name without permission, potentially leading visitors to believe she has approved its contents.

She alleges the dispute has caused her emotional distress, embarrassment, humiliation and damage to her reputation.

The designer is seeking damages and an injunction which could force the organisers to remove the disputed exhibits.

The five defendants have yet to respond to the allegations.

Lady Helen shares grief for first time

Lady Helen Taylor has spoken for the first time about her struggles since the death of her beloved mother, the Duchess of Kent.

Katharine, who was married to Queen Elizabeth’s first cousin the Duke of Kent, died in 2025 aged 92.

‘The last year was particularly poignant for me because my mother died in September and then this year our dog died,’ Lady Helen, 62, tells me at the launch of the Ever After Garden 2026 at Duke of York Square in Chelsea, west London.

‘Grief just changes shape, it never goes away, it becomes something you learn to live with, but then it becomes more about happy memories. I feel that my mother is still with me and that’s really comforting.’

Bill Nighy ducks a close shave 

Known as one of our most dapper actors, Bill Nighy refused one particular request about his look for his latest film, & Sons.

‘The director wanted me to shave my head, so I called my agent and said, “I’m not going to shave my head”,’ the 76-year-old Love Actually star tells me. ‘Apart from anything, I had a job afterwards where I needed some hair. So, to throw him a lifeline, I suggested a beard.’

Doctor Who writer Russell T Davies added the ‘T’ to his name to avoid being confused with fellow BBC star Russell Davies, host of Radio 4’s Brain of Britain. T Davies, 63, then boasted: ‘That other Russell Davies, I got £250 for a play he’d written, and I never gave him it back.’ A spokesman for Russell Davies, 80, tells me: ‘As his agents, we’d be very happy if Russell T were to correct the error after all these years.’ 

Ronnie in historic row over 'pig hut'

Their song is the soundtrack for the John Lewis Christmas campaign, but will Rolling Stones guitarist Ronnie Wood get what he wants? Conservationists have complained about plans to build a guesthouse that looks like a ‘pig hut’ at his £3million Hertfordshire mansion.

The musician, 79, wants to put up family and friends in an outbuilding next to his 15th century home which boasts a tennis court, ornamental garden and £40,000 gipsy caravan.

But the ‘highly distinctive’ curved roof design hit the wrong note with council planners, who said it would harm the setting of the grade II-listed house and the conservation area.

And conservationists Historic England said the ‘somewhat eccentric’ barrel roof, similar to a pig arc, was in ‘complete contrast’ to the ‘more traditional’ form of the house.

Officials are expected to make a decision later this month.

Boris reunites with his first wife for her 60th 

There's nothing like a disco to bring people together.

I hear that Boris Becker, 58, was reunited with his first wife, Barbara, at her 60th birthday, which she gave a 1970s theme. Barbara dazzled in a silver sequinned jumpsuit. Their eight-year marriage exploded after Boris impregnated model Angela Ermakova during a fleeting encounter at Mayfair eaterie Nobu.