Prince Charles and Princess Diana's royal wedding was watched by as many as 750 million
people worldwide, but it soon became clear that the future king and his stunning bride's
relationship wasn't as idyllic as it first seemed. Here's why Prince Charles and Diana
were doomed from the start.
Thanks to The Crown, viewers are well aware of the impact Camilla Parker Bowles had on
Prince Charles when the couple first met.
"You were cruelly denied your right to reign alongside the woman that you wanted by your
side."
BBC News reported that the couple's meet cute occurred quote "at a polo match in Windsor
in 1970," though People magazine alleged that the future Duchess of Cornwall met the prince
two years later at a party. Whichever version of events is true, the magazine revealed,
"In 1972, the lively blonde with a wicked sense of humor and a passion for riding had
captivated the young Charles."
However, their fledgling relationship apparently fizzled when Prince Charles returned to duty
in the Navy. The outlet reported,
"Although the smitten prince courted her for six months, he failed to propose before returning
to sea in February 1973."
Instead of waiting for the prince to pop the question, the now-duchess moved on. By July
1973, Camilla had married her old boyfriend, Andrew Parker Bowles, with whom she had two
children, daughter Laura and son Tom.
Perhaps if Prince Charles hadn't returned to the Navy, things might have turned out
very differently. As it was, by the time the prince met Diana, Camilla had already been
in his life for several years.
Despite Camilla's marriage to Andrew Parker Bowles in 1973, and Prince Charles' wedding
to Diana in 1981, the former couple didn't end their friendship. Sure, both had moved
on with other people, but Charles and Camilla remained close, which apparently caused problems
further down the line. Camilla's enduring friendship with Prince Charles was facilitated
by the fact that her then-husband moved in the same social circles as the prince. E!
News reported,
"The men still played polo together and Charles frequently spent the weekend at their home.…In
turn, the Parker Bowleses hobnobbed frequently with the royal family, Camilla getting along
famously with the queen over their love of riding and the outdoors."
Further integrating himself into the Parker Bowles family, Prince Charles became godfather
to their son, Tom, who was born in 1974. Camilla and Charles regularly socialized with one
another. And as a result, it seemed as though their spark never really died. We can only
surmise this wasn't a great omen for Charles and Diana.
"If any man can show any just cause why they may not lawfully be joined together, let him
now speak."
While staying friends with an ex is one thing, attending their wedding is quite another.
But that's exactly what happened when Prince Charles got married. The Prince of Wales wed
Princess Diana on ‎July 29, 1981, in front of a worldwide audience, but Camilla was lucky
enough to get a seat inside of St Paul's Cathedral in London. In a 1991 interview with biographer
Andrew Morton for his book, Diana: Her True Story, In Her Own Words, the People's Princess
revealed,
"I knew she was in there, of course. I looked for her. So walking down the aisle, I spotted
Camilla, pale gray, veiled pillbox hat, saw it all, her son Tom standing on a chair. To
this day you know, vivid memory."
Along these lines, author Penny Junor suggested in her book, The Duchess: Camilla Parker Bowles
and the Love Affair that Rocked the Crown:
"[Princess Diana] became jealous, obsessing about Camilla Parker Bowles, suspicious, turning
against people she appeared to like, convinced they were out to get her."
But Good Housekeeping notes that, following the ceremony, it was Camilla's then-husband's
job to…
"Oversee the ceremonial escort that accompanied the couple's carriage ride through London."
As such, it seems as though Parker Bowles had more than one reason to attend her ex's
wedding, even if not everyone involved was pleased by her invite.
During their respective marriages, Prince Charles and Camilla allegedly reignited their
physical relationship in 1986, according to People magazine. In a 1995 interview with
the BBC, Princess Diana made a shocking revelation when she said,
"There were three of us in this marriage, so it was a bit crowded."
The People's Princess also opened up about her husband's alleged affair. Revealing that
she'd confronted Camilla about it, she said,
"I was terrified of her. I said, 'I know what's going on between you and Charles and I just
want you to know that.'"
Diana also alleged that Camilla had once told her,
"You've got everything you ever wanted. You've got all the men in the world fall in love
with you and you've got two beautiful children, what more do you want?"
Understandably, the princess responded, quote, "I want my husband."
In tapes she recorded for Andrew Morton, Diana detailed how she discovered early on that
Prince Charles still had feelings for Camilla. She said,
"The first thing that hit me was my [future] husband sending Camilla…flowers when she
had meningitis: 'To Gladys from Fred.'…I once heard him on the telephone in his bath
on his hand-held set, saying: 'Whatever happens, I will always love you.' I told him afterwards
that I had listened at the door, and we had a filthy row."
The evidence continued to stack up, with Princess Diana explaining:
"Somebody in his office told me that my husband had had a bracelet made for her, which she
wears to this day. It's a gold chain bracelet with a blue enamel disc. It's got 'G and F'
entwined in it, 'Gladys' and 'Fred.'"
She went to Charles' office and found the bracelet, claiming she made the discovery
just two weeks before she and Charles got married.
Prince Charles first met Diana in 1977, when he attended a grouse, hunt at her family's
home in Althorp. At the time, the Prince of Wales was courting his future bride's older
sister, Lady Sarah, and Diana was just 16 years old. It wasn't until 1980 that the two
reconnected. According to Town & Country, they were both invited to stay at a mutual
friend's house, and that's when Prince Charles made his move.
Princess Diana recalled their reunion in private tapes recorded by her speech coach, Peter
Settelen, at Kensington Palace in the early nineties. Per The Times, she noted that Prince
Charles was vulnerable at the time, and he was mourning the loss of Lord Mountbatten,
who was tragically killed by an IRA terrorist in 1979. Diana explained,
"I said, 'You must be so lonely.' I said, 'It's pathetic watching you walking up the
aisle with Lord Mountbatten's coffin in front, ghastly. You need someone beside you.'…He
leapt upon me and started kissing me and everything."
Judging by Diana's words, Charles was going through a difficult time in his life and seemingly
threw himself into a relationship as a result, which might not have been the best foundation
for a long-term romance.
In the tapes recorded in the early '90s at Kensington Palace, Diana went into detail
about the slightly strange courtship she had with Charles. As reported by ABC News, the
tapes were aired as part of a documentary called Diana: In Her Own Words, and the princess
said of dating the future king,
"We met 13 times and we got married."
And that's not all. Diana was reportedly unimpressed with the way the prince tried to woo her.
She also said on tape,
"He wasn't consistent with his courting abilities. He'd ring me every day for a week, then wouldn't
speak to me for three weeks. Very odd. I thought, 'Fine. Well, he knows where I am if he wants
me.'…The thrill when he used to ring up was so immense and intense. It would drive
the other three girls in my flat crazy."
"I'm not, I'm not very good at being a performing monkey."
The fact that Princess Diana only saw her fiancé on little more than a dozen separate
occasions before tying the knot suggests that the couple didn't have much time to get to
know one another before making it official.
In transcripts of Diana's conversations with Morton, she got candid about exactly when
her marriage with Prince Charles started to go wrong. The princess revealed,
"Charles and I were very, very close to each other the six weeks before Harry was born,
the closest we've ever, ever been and ever will be. Then, suddenly, as Harry was born,
it just went bang, our marriage. The whole thing went down the drain."
"Were you a little sad at that moment?"
"Well, I was."
As for why the birth of their second child had such a detrimental effect on their marriage,
Diana had a theory. She claimed:
"[Charles] wanted two children and he wanted a girl."
"Were you expecting a boy?"
"No. It doesn't matter what it was, as long as it's alright."
She also alleged that Prince Charles negatively reacted to Harry's birth, saying, quote, "Oh
God, it's a boy...and he's even got red hair." Prince Harry, of course, was born on September
15, 1984, and the world would watch as he grew up, got married, and started a family
of his own with Meghan Markle.
"Boom."
Following Prince Charles' supposed brutal comments after Harry's arrival, Diana admitted
that their marriage was never the same. But the future king didn't announce his separation
from the princess until eight years later, in 1992.
Transcripts of the tapes Diana recorded for Morton contained many revelations that shocked
even the most loyal of royal fans. In one such recording, the princess claimed that
Prince Charles wasn't always kind about her appearance. Diana alleged,
"My husband put his hand on my waistline and said, 'Oh, a bit chubby here, aren't we?'
and that triggered off something in me. And the Camilla thing. I was desperate, desperate."
According to Diana, her then-husband's alleged comments contributed to her insecurities and
consequent struggle with bulimia. She said,
"I remember the first time I made myself sick. I was so thrilled because I thought this was
the release of tension…The first time I was measured for my wedding dress, I was 29
inches around the waist. The day I got married, I was 23½ inches. I had shrunk into nothing
from February to July [1981]."
Diana also revealed that, as her condition worsened by that October, she'd even attempted
to take her own life during a serious bout with depression. She said,
"I got terribly, terribly thin. People started commenting: 'Your bones are showing.'"
Finally, she thankfully sought medical help as she says she was quote "in such a bad way."
And, it turns out, her wellness legacy continues to live on through her family, and the Heads
Together campaign.
"Mental health is just as important as physical health."
One of Prince Charles and Diana's most memorable moments happened when a reporter asked the
couple if they were quote "in love" during their engagement interview. While the princess
quickly said that they were, her soon-to-be husband had a different point of view.
"And I suppose, in love."
"Of course."
"Whatever 'in love' means. You put your own interpretation."
At the time, Princess Diana appeared slightly tripped-up by her then-fiancé's weird comment
about their romance. But in candid tapes recorded by Peter Settelen, she reflected on the awkward
joint interview, revealing,
"[Charles' answer] threw me completely. I thought: what a strange answer…God. It traumatized
me."
Still, journalist Andrew Morton told Ann Curry that, for Charles, love was probably never
the goal.
"Prince Charles was not looking for love. He was looking for someone who can share the
burdens and duties of a future princess and a possible future possible queen."
It seems that even when they announced their engagement, this doomed couple wasn't even
on the same page.
Perhaps one of the biggest signs that Prince Charles' marriage to Diana wasn't fated to
last was the fact that they had very different hobbies and interests from one another. According
to royal biographer Penny Junor's 2005 book, The Firm: The Troubled Life of the House of
Windsor, when they first started dating, the future princess allegedly seemed to enjoy
many of the things Prince Charles loved, such as hunting and spending time outdoors. Junor
wrote,
"Imagine his surprise, therefore, when after their engagement she seemed suddenly to hate
everything he had thought she loved. [Prince Charles] was quite at loss to understand the
change in Diana, and thought it must be his fault in some way; that the prospect of marrying
him was all too ghastly."
The prince allegedly spoke to no one about his feelings, and ignored the advice of close
friends. After such a public engagement announcement, Junor explained,
"Pulling out would have been unimaginable: the humiliation, the hurt, the headlines,
the castigation."
Unfortunately, it looks as though even Prince Charles and Princess Diana realized they might
have been mismatched from the start.
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