For Donald Trump, Princess Diana Was “The One That Got Away”

Fact: Donald Trump has a murky history with women. And no, that fact is not an alternative one. From his famous "pussy grab" remarks on Access Hollywood to the allegations included in his divorce from Ivana Trump, the President's lady report card does not read well. A recent piece published in Marie Claire highlighted yet another instance in which the 70-year-old tycoon proved to be an egomaniac when it comes to women. Back in the '90s, Donald Trump yearned for Princess Diana. As with most of the President's past activity, the proof is in the digital pudding. In an interview with Howard Stern in 1997, Trump said that he thinks he "could've" slept with the British noble. According to Oliveira, who penned the piece for Marie Claire, this was just a couple of weeks after the royal's tragic death in Paris. "Lady Di had supermodel beauty," he told Stern in the interview. "She had times when she didn't look great and she had times when she looked better than anyone in the world." Trump later placed her among the top 10 women he wanted to get handsy with — this was also in an interview with Howard Stern. (Side note: at what point should we wag our fingers at Howard Stern for routinely eliciting such chauvinism?) Finally, Trump wrote in this 2007 book The Art of The Comeback: "I only have one regret in the women department — that I never had the opportunity to court Lady Diana Spencer." Comparatively, this is a chaste statement. But it still speaks to the President's relationship with women: to him, we are future tally marks, trophies to accumulate and wield as some sort of sexual power. Now that the President is under national scrutiny (for obvious reasons), reports of his obsession are creeping back into the media. A 2015 story in The Sunday Times quotes Selina Scott, a broadcaster, who claimed that Princess Diana was "creeped out" by Donald Trump. "He bombarded Diana at Kensington Palace with massive bouquets of flowers, each worth hundreds of pounds," Scott told the paper. "As the roses and orchids piled up at her apartment she became increasingly concerned about what she should do. It had begun to feel as if Trump was stalking her." In 2016, the then-Presidential hopeful denied he'd ever held a candle to Princess Diana. In an interview, Piers Morgan presented a piece from Buzzfeed with the same information we're dishing today. All evidence points to an obsession, or at least an attraction, but Trump says the feelings were purely respectful. "I read that story that I was calling her," he told Morgan. "It was so false... I did respect her, but no interest from that standpoint." Of course, in the same interview, he added that he "thought [Diana] was lovely." Ultimately, the specifics of whether or not Trump genuinely felt sexually (or romantically) attracted to Princess Diana aren't important. Here's what is: the overwhelming evidence of the President's attitude toward women. The fact that this particular report is directed at a late British Royal — an extremely venerated one at that — makes it all the more offensive. (This also isn't the first time Trump has objectified a Royal. He once tweeted at Kate Middleton, encouraging her to take more topless photos.) For our President, it seems, anything is his for the taking. Women, princesses, plots of land, and our country, apparently.