in 1981 Prince Charles and Lady Diana
announced their engagement after meeting
some four years prior even at the time
the red flags were becoming obvious
still Charles and Diana went through
with their wedding and what a wedding
that was two children and 15 years later
the royal couple ultimately decided to
part ways and officially divorced in
1996 just one year after they split
Princess Diana was killed in a tragic
car accident the secrets about her
marriage to Charles however were not
laid to rest with her here's a look at
what the world never knew about Diana
and Charles's marriage worth a thousand
words you've likely seen countless
photos of Charles and Diana together but
you may have missed a certain detail in
2017 sociologist Philip Cowan pointed
out on Twitter that though Charles was
often posed to look much taller than his
wife in official photos and paintings
candid photos of the couple showed Diana
was in fact the same height as her
husband so what's going on the royal
family has never commented on this odd
camera trick but perhaps the prince was
sensitive about his height or maybe it
goes even deeper than that we may never
know for sure but it is definitely an
interesting facet of the couple's
relationship and paints a new if
unflattering picture of their marriage
that balcony kiss the first kiss as
husband and wife is always a big deal
some wedding planners even suggest
couples practice the wedding day smooch
to avoid an awkward moment but even an
awkward kiss would surely be better than
no kiss at all right according to
history calm Prince Charles forgot to
kiss his new bride after they exchanged
vows at the altar as a way to rectify
the situation Charles and Diana took to
the balcony of buckingham palace to lock
lips in front of cheering crowds
consequently this is how the now iconic
balcony kiss tradition that Prince
William recreated when marrying Kate
Middleton was born true love if you were
to just look at Charles and Diana's
wedding it would be easy to reason that
they lived a fairytale romance this
couldn't be further from the truth
in their first joint interview after
becoming engaged the interviewer asked
the couple if they were in love
this moment is one that haunted Diana
for years afterward in a taped
conversation with her speech tutor Peter
Saville and Diana revealed that
Charles's reply stunned her even more
than the question Otto relations during
her conversation with Peter settlin
Diana also shared intimate details of
her marriage by this time the couple had
been married for 12 years and we're
about three years away from divorcing
when settlin suggested there was no
physical intimacy between Diana and
Charles she revealed
although Diana didn't go into too much
more detail about the couple's intimate
life she'd already said more than enough
to make it painfully obvious that her
relationship with the prince was by no
means thriving not-so-secret affairs the
day before their wedding diana overheard
charles on the phone with his former
girlfriend Camilla parker-bowles
revealing that he would always love her
despite his marriage to Diana then a few
years later Charles started openly
having an affair with Parker Bowles
well there was three of us in this
marriage so it was a bit crowded while
Diana felt jealousy and rage in response
to the affair she also looked elsewhere
for love specifically to her bodyguard
[Music]
diana said the relationship was never
sexual but she did eventually take other
lovers once it was clear Charles had all
but abandoned her for Camila dark times
in the thick of Charles's affair with
Camilla parker-bowles diana petitioned
the queen for relationship advice in her
equally hopeless situation diana
developed an eating disorder but
according to diana
it was the rejection she felt from the
family and her failing marriage that led
to the development of the eating
disorder in the first place fears of
sabotage in a relationship so riddled
with strife and extramarital affairs
Trust was in short supply a year before
the couple divorced diana expressed
doubts about charles being fit to rule
as king of england Charles began to
think that diana was colluding with
Sarah Ferguson who is her best friend
and the den wife of Charles's brother
Prince Andrew his fear according to
royal biographer Tom Bower was that upon
the Queen's death or abdication Andrew
would become Regent until William's 18th
birthday at which point he would become
king passing over Charles entirely not
only did he distrust his wife but
Charles also became convinced his own
brother was in on the supposed plan the
Queen's final say given all we now know
it's not surprising that Prince Charles
and Princess Diana ended their marriage
what is surprising however is who got
the ball rolling
initially the couple opted for a
long-term separation by 1996 they had
been separated for nearly four years
Diana's former Butler said that all
changed when Diana received a letter
from the Queen that essentially ordered
a formal divorce on August 28 1996 the
tumultuous royal marriage officially
came to an end a year in three days
before Diana's tragic and untimely death