Dale Tryon, Baroness Tryon (born 1947 - died 16 November, 1997), was an Australian Baroness, who was a close friend of both Prince Charles and Princess Diana. She was described by Prince Charles as "the only woman who ever understood me."[1]
Born Dale Harper in Melbourne, Australia,[1] she and her elder brother Derek were the children of a wealthy publishing magnate. Dale was diagnosed from birth with spina bifida, which she suffered with until the age of nine after having her back rebuilt by bovine bones.[2] Dale's first encountered the Prince of Wales at the age of 16 when he was attending Geelong Grammar School in New South Wales,[1] when she attended a Sock Hop dance.[3] On her graduation, she agreed to work in London as a public relations officer for the airline Qantas.[1]
A committed socialite described by family and friends as having "tremendous joie de vivre,"[4] within a fortnight of arriving in England she had met Anthony Tryon, Baron Tryon who was a member of Prince Charles's inner circle. The couple married in 1973,[5] and had four children: Zoe, Charles, and twins Edward and Victoria.[1][5]
Although married, her friendship with Prince Charles developed - both enjoyed Fly fishing, which they undertook regularly.[1] Through this close friendship, there were continual tabloid rumours of Dale - who Charles nicknamed "Kanga" - was in actual fact his mistress. This was in part fuelled by Dale's relationship with the press, including good friend the Daily Mail diarist Nigel Dempster. However, in all her publicised newspaper and television interviews, Dale never revealed the extent of their friendship; although Prince Charles publicly described Kanga as "the only woman who ever understood me."[1] Prince Charles also had a long term friendship with the also married Camilla Parker Bowles, but Dale and Camilla didn't get on, and this feud continued throughout her ongoing relationship with Prince Charles. Prince Charles was also godfather to both Camilla's children and Dale's eldest two children.[1]
Accepting she could never marry Prince Charles under royal protocol, Dale would often arrange for the Prince to meet eligible single women - including one at her parents home in Melbourne on one of his trips to Australia, which she dropped hints to the media about. However, the need for these meetings increased after the murder by the IRA of the Prince's uncle Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma, which occurred when the Prince was a guest of Dale and her husband in Iceland.
After Prince Charles married Lady Diana Spencer, Dale started a fashion business called Kanga, located in Beauchamp Place, Knightsbridge. Launched through a personal television appearance on the ITV1 show This Morning hosted by friends Richard and Judy, Dale persuaded Princess Diana to wear a Kanga dress to the Live Aid concert. Kanga quickly became a favourite of the then Sloane Square set and resultantly a successful international business; but it also meant Dale was shunned by the British aristocracy. This was further extended when her husband retired as a director from Lazard bank, she bought from profits from Kanga the 109-room Old Manor House at Great Durnford, near Salisbury.[6] To pay for the upkeep of the estate, Dale choose to offer hunting, shooting and fishing holidays.[1] The couple some years later moved into Lord Tryon's family home, and sold Old Manor.[6]
After the birth of her twins, Dale suffered from a recurrent bout of spina bifida, during the treatment for which it was discovered she was suffering from cancer of the uterus in 1993. After this point she travelled for a period with a "muscled male physiotherapist who would lie next to her as she slept, rolling her over regularly."[7] The time need for medical treatment and the recession at the time meant that her Kanga business went bankrupt.[1] However, this also meant she had more time for her friend Princess Diana, who by now was heading for a divorce from Prince Charles. Although Dale tried to remain friends with both parties, for a while it had become well founded tabloid speculation that Prince Charles had since the breakdown of his own marriage been continuing an affair with Camilla Parker Bowles, which led to Dale and Charles starting to become distant.
Having recovered from her medical ailments, but with her children at boarding school and her friend Princess Diana developing her own new male relationships, Dale and her friend the actress Sarah Miles decided to undertake a retreat in the Himalayas. On her return, Dale underwent treatment at Farm Place, an alcohol and drugs rehabilitation clinic in Surrey.[1] During her period of treatment, she was found beneath a third floor window,[5] breaking her back and fracturing her skull. She later during recovery told her friend Miles that she had been pushed, and although the clinic has denied to this day to comment, her family have continually insisted publicly that she jumped.
Dale left the clinic in a wheelchair, and never walked again. She became paranoid, and after being told by her husband that he wanted a divorce, she was detained on 17 June, 1977 under the Mental Health Act for 28 days,[8] after leaving the Black Horse Inn in Great Durnford where she had had lunch with Miles.[5] After release from the spinal injuries unit at Salisbury District Hospital,[9] she returned home. After her divorce she renounced her title,[2] and moved into The Ritz hotel, and gave her last interview with journalist friend Christopher Wilson.
On her return from a trip to Australia and India, Dale was admitted to the London Clinic suffering from complications from severe bed sores. Lady Tryon died on 15 November, 1997 at the London Clinic from septicaemia.[1] She was buried four days later in England, and in her will left her entire £1.3million estate to her children, leaving no bequests to her husband or Prince Charles.[6]
In 2008, Lady Tryon was subject to a documentary aired by Channel 4 television.[10]