Well before the heartbreaking ending of Princess Diana's life, there was plenty of tragedy in her marriage to Prince Charles
Some were known to the public. Some came out much later. From hubby heartbreak and hair accessory headaches to falls, feuds, and flubs
Princess Diana described her wedding as the worst day of her life, and it's easy to see why
A wedding dress might be the most glamorous thing a girl will wear in her lifetime, as evidenced by countless Pinterest boards full of wedding inspiration
Princess Diana's dress is no exception. Well, there might be a few differences
Lady Di was often followed by paparazzi, even when she'd go to fittings for her wedding dress
Dress designers David and Elizabeth Emanuel did their best to keep the dress under wraps
going so far as to hire security and codenaming Diana as Deborah when scheduling her appointments
Her dress would break records. At 25 feet, its train was the longest ever seen
This design decision probably came from the fact that the designers had a lot of creative freedom
We wanted her to look like everybody's vision of a fairy tale princess. David told People in an interview
We never had any special instructions about how to make the wedding dress. That added a bit to the fun of it all, made it a bit of an adventure
I thought actually it was quite important, was it's a dress that girls could see themselves wearing
Though the designers had a fun time designing Princess Diana's wedding gown, they were constantly making alterations to the dress
Elizabeth Emanuel told People, Most brides do lose weight, so we weren't that worried when she did
She was looking fantastic. She ended up with a 23-inch waist from a 26 to 27-inch
However, the designers didn't know the dark reality behind the drastic weight loss
Diana struggled with an eating disorder that began the day after she got engaged
and would only worsen as her wedding day approached. The more weight she lost, the more alterations they made to the dress
If you've ever dreamed of a princess wedding, then it's possible that a horse-drawn carriage was involved
While that's a dream for most, it's customary for the people's princess. The thing about Princess Di's carriage is that it was mighty small
which caused a few snags in the dress department. With a dress that large and a carriage that small
her dress was incredibly wrinkled by the time she made it to the church. Even dress designer Elizabeth Emanuel was shocked, saying in an ITV interview
We did know it would crease a bit, but when I saw her arrive at St. Paul's and we saw the creasing, I actually felt faint
I was horrified, really, because it was quite a lot of creasing. It was a lot more than we thought
Looking back now, she does look particularly fragile within that huge dress
Designer Chloe Savage, who worked on both Meghan Markle and Kate Middleton's dresses, told Insider
Someone should have warned them that it was going to be stuffed in the carriage. It looked like it needed to be pressed
You could have brushed it over before she walked down the aisle. It would have taken 10 minutes and all those creases would have dropped
Princess Diana's dress wasn't the only part of her attire that gave her grief
It turns out her tiara was so heavy that it gave her a headache. The accessory, known as the Cambridge Lover's Knot Tiara, was given to Diana by Queen Mary
herself, who inherited it in 1953 after the death of the prior queen
However, Princess Diana often complained about the bejeweled tiara, which features 19 diamond
arches with a pearl hanging from each one. The Daily Beast reported it was so heavy that it caused her to have constant headaches when
she wore it. While Diana did wear the Cambridge Lover's Knot Tiara for her big day, she often opted
to wear the Spencer tiara instead, which she found to be far more lightweight and comfortable
If all the dress and crown faux pas weren't enough, the ceremony was also riddled with
mishaps. One of the more memorable was when Diana said Prince Charles' name incorrectly
during their vows. You heard that right. Diana flubbed the name of her husband-to-be
The prince's full name is Charles Philip Arthur George, and even though Charles and
the officiant had pronounced his name correctly moments before, the young princess said
Luckily, she wasn't alone. Charles would also go on to fumble his vows. Instead of saying
my worldly goods, he ended up saying, thy goods. Perhaps this can all be chalked up to wedding
jitters, but those are some pretty rough blunders for any wedding, let alone a royal one that's
being broadcasted for the entire world to see. You would think fumbled vows would be the worst
of it, but Prince Charles also forgot one of the most crucial parts of the wedding ceremony
kissing his bride. Prince Charles didn't kiss Diana after they exchanged their vows
which seems like a massive foreshadowing for their relationship as a whole. He did try to
make up for it by kissing her on the balcony of Buckingham Palace in front of 600,000 people who
had flooded the London streets. The kiss on the Buckingham Palace balcony would become a royal
wedding tradition of sorts, as Prince Andrew and his bride, Sarah Ferguson, Duchess of York
would also kiss there in 1986. However, the prince and duchess were actually advised not
to perform the iconic kiss, something the duchess revealed to Oprah Winfrey in the documentary
finding Sarah, from royalty to the real world. Prince William and Kate Middleton would also
share not one, but two kisses on the balcony after their wedding in 2011. Prince Harry and
Meghan Markle, however, would opt for a kiss outside of St. George's Chapel
For most people, the idea of a bridesmaid tripping, falling, and crying during a wedding
would probably seem embarrassing. But what if we told you that Diana's falling bridesmaid was
actually a young child? Clementine Hambro was only five years old when she served as the
princess's bridesmaid. Hambrose, the great-granddaughter of Winston Churchill, and was one of Lady Diana's kindergarten students at the time. Luckily, Clementine didn't fall during
the ceremony. It happened when the wedding party was heading to the infamous balcony. Being the icon she is, Diana went straight from princess to primary school teacher
asking Clementine if she'd, quote, bumped her bum, which would ultimately cheer up the young
bridesmaid. With 3,500 guests in attendance for Princess Di's wedding, there was bound to be some
drama. In this case, however, the drama didn't involve family and friends, but rather other
European leaders. Mind you, they were all invited to attend, but some declined, for a mix of petty
and legitimate reasons. Let's start with the petty, shall we? The president of Greece
Constantine Caramanlis, turned down his invitation because former King Constantine of Greece
Charles' cousin, was invited under the title of king. King Juan Carlos and Queen Sophia would also
not attend due to the newlyweds boarding the royal yacht Britannia to honeymoon in Gibraltar
which was formerly a British territory and had been claimed by Spain. The most legitimate decline
was that of the President of the Republic of Ireland, Patrick Hillary. In a history article
historian Carolyn Harris noted, The President of the Republic of Ireland declined the invitation because of disputes
over the status of Northern Ireland. Known as the Troubles, Northern Ireland was fighting for
its independence, as it was still under British rule. This conflict would persist until 1998
so it makes sense that the President of the Republic of Ireland wouldn't want to attend
the 1981 British wedding. Let's start by saying that, luckily, it didn't rain on Prince Charles and Princess Diana's
wedding day. It was actually a beautiful, sunny day. But this didn stop dress designers Elizabeth and David Emmanuel from prepping for the worst The two went out of their way to make two custom umbrellas Naturally the designers made sure the umbrellas were made of the same fabric as the princess wedding dress and they were trimmed with lace and embroidered with pearls and sequins
While they sound absolutely stunning, Elizabeth knew the umbrellas would be useless if it did
happen to rain. Despite the other mishaps that occurred during Princess Diana and Prince Charles
wedding day, one silver lining was that not a single raindrop fell, and the decorative umbrellas
weren't put to the test. It was a fairytale romance that captured the world's attention
and it did have fantastic elements to it. A dashing prince sweeps a beautiful young woman
off her feet and marries her in a lavish wedding. When Prince Charles married Lady Diana Spencer
the world watched, quite literally. Citizens from 74 countries across the globe tuned in
on their televisions on July 29, 1981, with the royal wedding watched by 750 million people
according to the BBC. However, the world eventually learned that the fairy tale was
just a facade, as England's 32-year-old heir to the throne married a woman who was barely out of
her teens after a whirlwind courtship that consisted of just a handful of dates. Diana
had barely seen the world and was working as a nursery school teacher to make ends meet
when Charles met her, according to The Sun. What Charles reportedly told Diana soon before they
wed might have knocked the rose-colored glasses off Diana's eyes, but she was determined to become
the next Princess of Wales, so she walked down the aisle, followed by a 25-foot train
The night before their wedding, Prince Charles apparently felt he owed it to his young fiancĂ
to tell her how he really felt before making such a life-altering commitment
According to a friend, he told Diana that he wasn't in love with her. The revelation came to light in 2020 when Britain's ITV aired a documentary
the Diana interview, The Revenge of a Princess, which chronicles how Diana's 1995 interview with
Martin Bashir came to be. This is the same interview in which Diana bared all about her
marriage, including the fact that there was always someone else on Charles' mind
namely Camilla Parker Bowles, the woman the prince married in 2005. Well, there were three of us in this marriage, so it was a bit crowded
In the ITV documentary, Diana's astrologer relayed what the princess confided to her
the night before she wed Charles. She said, Of course, Diana did attend the wedding and took her vows
becoming one of the most famous and beloved women in the world. As people across the globe watched the royal marriage from the sidelines through the tabloids
what they saw in the press was not always what was happening in real life. While Diana gave birth to her first son, Prince William, in 1982, and then a second son, Prince
Harry, in 1984, the pair were far from happily married. Andrew Morton's 1992 book, Diana
Her True Story, claims that the time leading up to their second son's birth was actually a happy
time in their marriage, but it didn't stay that way for long and was quite possibly the last happy
period the royal couple shared together. After explaining that Charles had hoped their baby
would be a girl, Princess Diana told Morton. Charles and I were very, very close to each other these 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
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. Here's a look at what the
world never knew about Diana and Charles' marriage. You've likely seen countless photos of Charles and Diana together, but you may have missed
a certain detail. In 2017, sociologist Philip Cohen 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 show 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. 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. "...And Charles turned around and said what he's ever in love means.
This moment is one that haunted Diana for years afterward. In a taped conversation with her speech tutor, Peter Settelin, Diana revealed that Charles
reply stunned her even more than the question. That threw me completely
God, that's a traumatized man. During her conversation with Peter Settelin, Diana also shared intimate details of her marriage
By this time, the couple had been married for 12 years and were about three years away from divorcing
When Settelin suggested there was no physical intimacy between Diana and Charles, she revealed
I was there, and then it fizzled out about seven years ago. instinct told me. It's just so odd. I just, I don't know.
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. 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. While Diana felt jealousy and rage in response
to the affair, she also looked elsewhere for love, specifically to her bodyguard
"'When I was 24, 25, I felt deeply in love with somebody who worked in this environment
and he was the greatest friend I've ever had.'" 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 Camilla. In the thick of Charles' 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. 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 was her best friend and the then-wife of Charles' 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 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 When Prince Charles and Princess Diana married their story was seen as a fairy tale
But the couple got divorced in 1996 after a tumultuous and rocky marriage
Here's how Charles' life changed after his separation from Diana. We all know that the royal family's lifestyle is largely paid for by British taxpayers
years. But Prince Charles' financial life was significantly altered after his divorce
from Princess Diana was finalized. As reported by the New York Times at the time of the divorce
announcement, Charles, quote, formally declared that he would not be subsidizing his ex-wife's
living expenses anymore. It would be up to her to pay her own way out of the settlement
money she received from their separation. The administrator who oversaw the couple's
settlement even went as far as saying that Diana would be receiving bills from the 40
stores that she frequented, as Charles was officially cutting her off. The letter read
With effect from 2nd September 1996, any expenditure incurred by or on behalf of Her
Royal Highness the Princess of Wales should be invoiced directly to the Princess of Wales' office
And that was that. Taking sides is, sadly, a pretty big part of any divorce
and it seems as though Prince Charles' father, Prince Philip, took Diana's side
According to the book Prince Philip Revealed by Ingrid Stewart, letters that came to light in 2003 showed that Philip was firmly on Diana's team
as he wrote a letter to her describing his feelings about the separation between her and Charles
Philip wrote to Diana, Charles was silly to risk everything with Camilla for a man in his position
I cannot imagine anyone in their right minds leaving you for Camilla
Such a prospect never even entered our heads. The letter was signed, quote
with fondest love, Pa. If you watched season four of The Crown
you know that crowd size was a sore spot for Prince Charles. And while The Crown is a dramatized account
it doesn't appear to be too far off. Whatever in love means
As noted by the New York Times, Prince Charles attended a solo event in March 1997
about half a year after his divorce at the Metropolitan Museum of Art
There were some cameras, but as the New York Times put it, Prince Charles' arrival generated nothing like the mass hysteria with which fashion royalty greeted the Princess of Wales
What's more, quote, So what was it about Princess Diana that attracted so many people
The former royal correspondent for The Guardian told Time, Charles was not afforded the same type of adoration
If anything, he experienced a dwindled amount of support in the time following his divorce
Ah, the coveted opinion poll. The life or death of any politician or public figure
And in Prince Charles' case, he's a little bit of both. And after his divorce from Princess Diana was announced
Charles was not welcomed with positive numbers from the British public. According to the New York Times
Gallup conducted a poll shortly after the public learned Charles and Diana were officially getting divorced
the poll surveyed a thousand churchgoers and church officials and asked questions about Charles
and the possibility of him getting remarried to Camilla Parker Bowles. The results were less than
favorable. More than half of the people surveyed thought that he shouldn't be allowed to become
king or the leader of the Church of England should he get remarried. And that's not to mention the
fact that Camilla's popularity in Britain was just down the drain. Charles maintained that he had
quote, no intention of remarrying, and that the survey was, quote, purely hypothetical
But still, not the best look. Pretty much everyone knew that Prince Charles was in a
long-term relationship with Camilla Parker Bowles. He even confirmed that he'd been unfaithful to
Princess Diana during a 1994 sit-down television interview, saying that he at first tried to make
their relationship work. Until it became irretrievably broken down. But it seemed like as soon as his divorce from Diana was made public
Charles became pretty cavalier with his connection to Camilla. The New York Times reported that on the weekend that the news broke about his divorce
Charles spent the days with Camilla in Wales. As you may have guessed, Charles' newfound freedom was not well celebrated
and photos of the two vacationing together were viewed by many Britons as evidence that, quote
quote, Charles had continued his reported affair with Mrs. Parker Bowles, whom many Britons blame
for the demise of the royal marriage. Divorce can be tough on not just the people involved in the
marriage, but on the extended family as well. That was certainly the case for Prince Charles
as the strain that his divorce took on his relationship with his mother, Queen Elizabeth
most likely was more pronounced than people in similar situations. According to the Los Angeles
times, Elizabeth wrote to Charles and Diana and told them to get divorced. And what did Charles do
He wrote a letter back, agreeing to the queen's terms. We honestly can't imagine conversing like
this with family, because this is truly some wild tension. A royal reporter at the time
Simon McCoy of Sky TV, dished about the tension that was brewing as a result of the divorce
McCoy revealed, one cannot underestimate how angry the queen has been. At the palace
there's a huge sigh of relief. The Queen has decided that enough is enough. As mentioned
Prince Charles and Princess Diana learned to get along, but things still weren't so easy for Charles
During the period of time in which he was separated from Diana, Charles was the subject of a note
penned by Diana, who claimed that he was, quote, planning an accident in her car with, quote
brake failure and serious head injury. The note was written in 1995, and needless to say, it did
not go over terribly well. Diana's words, that became eerily accurate in the aftermath of her
death, became public in 2003, significantly altering Charles' life and casting shadows
on his public perception. According to the Daily Mail, Charles was questioned by Britain's police
in 2005 and became a witness in a probe about Diana's death. John Stevens, the former head of
London's Metropolitan Police, told the outlet that he questioned Charles about the note extensively
but the heir to the throne played it cool. Charles reportedly said that he didn't know
anything about the note until it was published by the media. When asked if he had discussed the
note with Diana, Charles denied ever knowing about it or Diana's concerns. Talk about a
life-altering experience. Prince Charles and Princess Diana were officially divorced in August
1996 A year later Diana died after suffering injuries in a car accident on August 31st 1997 and while his life was already altered given that he was no longer married to Diana Charles life changed drastically after she died According to Penny Junor a royal biographer who
wrote the 2005 book, The Firm, Charles' reaction to Diana's death painted a grave picture of his
future. According to Junor's biography, the first question Charles reportedly asked when he heard
the news was, they're all going to blame me, aren't they? Junor went on to include that Charles said that, quote, the world's going to go completely
mad, isn't it? Before asking his private secretary, Stephen Lamport, if Diana's death would, quote, destroy
the monarchy. Lamport said yes, before adding that Diana's death would have a profound impact on Queen
Elizabeth, too. Maintaining a good relationship with the in-laws can be pretty tough, but add a divorce and
things can get even worse. Factor in a tragic death, and you've got the perfect storm
According to Page Six, things went downhill for Prince Charles after his divorce from
Princess Diana and her untimely death, when it came to his interactions with her family members
It was just days after Diana's death when her ex-husband and her brother got into a
massive fight over the phone. In his book, Battle of Brothers, royal historian Robert Lacey wrote that Diana's brother was
in opposition to the idea of Prince William and Prince Harry walking behind their mother's casket
at her funeral. And things with the heir to the throne went south quickly. Lacey wrote
Spencer felt quite sure that Diana would have been horrified at the idea of her sons having
to endure such an ordeal. He had already told Charles as much. Apparently, in a conversation
with Diana's brother, Charles Spencer, Prince Charles made, quote, a particularly offensive
comment about his ex-wife, which all but sealed the ill-fated label on his relationship with the
Spencers. Perhaps the most profound way that Prince Charles' life changed after he divorced
Princess Diana was that he could publicly pursue his relationship with Camilla Parker Bowles
Their affair was the worst-kept secret in Britain, but after he became a single man
Charles went ahead with the partnership. Furthermore, he took the steps to introduce
his children to Camilla in 1998, less than a year after Diana died. According to The Guardian in July
1998, Charles introduced Prince William to Camilla for the very first time. It was reported that
William and Camilla met for about a half hour at St. James Palace, and Charles was with them for the
interaction. However, the introduction wasn't at all planned. William just happened to stop by the
palace when Camilla was there visiting with Charles, as she was, quote, a regular visitor
Talk about a potentially very awkward greeting. The Guardian reported that William and Camilla
met two more times after their first encounter, and Charles was putting plans in place for his
longtime mistress to meet his youngest son, Prince Harry. Talk about a lifestyle shift
At the time of their divorce, Charles was working on a, quote, transparent campaign to introduce
Camilla Parker Bowles to the British public, according to The Guardian. But after Diana died
his efforts halted, and Camilla wasn't seen publicly with the heir to the throne until 1999
According to Harper's Bazaar, two years passed and Charles was once again willing to push Camilla
ever so gently into the public eye. The two were spotted leaving the Ritz in London following
Camilla's sister's birthday party. Dynamics were altered for Charles yet again in 2000
when Queen Elizabeth finally agreed to meet Camilla for the first time
The BBC reported, Charles, Camilla, and the Queen are believed to have sat at the same table
and so ended a much-publicized standoff since the prince divorced his wife
the late Diana, Princess of Wales. Calling her a, quote, dark figure on the royal scene
the BBC reported that Charles' romantic life was finally starting to change in his favor
All too often, people who are married will look back at moments throughout their union with some
regret, even members of the royal family. Does Prince Charles have any regrets over his time
with Diana? Any chance for Prince Charles and Princess Diana to reconcile was taken away in
the summer of 1997. On August 31st, 1997, just one year after being officially divorced
Princess Diana was killed as a result of a car accident. During an attempt to get away from the
paparazzi, Henri Paul, Diana's driver, is said to have been driving recklessly fast before he
crashed the car in Paris' Ponte de l'Alma tunnel. Diana had been running from the paparazzi
throughout her entire relationship with the prince, but never was able to escape them
The princess's death shook the entire royal family, but Prince Charles especially
Matt Robbins, a royal expert and producer of CNN's six-part documentary series Diana
told Us Weekly in an interview, I see him as somebody who carried an enormous burden through Princess Diana's death and her funeral
somebody who has to make impossible decisions. One of those decisions was to have Prince William and Prince Harry
then aged 15 and 12, walk in their mother's funeral procession. While he criticized the decision in an interview with Newsweek
Prince Harry told BBC that in retrospect, he thought his father had made the right decision
and the best decision he could, given the circumstances. Robbins told Us Weekly he believed the funeral was the moment Prince Charles and the rest
of the royal family realized how much the public cared not just for Diana, but for them
as well. I just want to be here and I want her family to know how much the people care
According to royal sources, Prince Charles had been changing his mind about Diana before
her death. Princess Diana, too, was allegedly regretting her divorce from the prince
Tina Brown, royal biographer and author of The Diana Chronicles, told The Telegraph
at the end of Diana's life, she and Charles were on the best terms they'd been for a very long time
It was even reported that Charles would, quote, drop in on Diana at her apartment at Kensington Palace
Brown added, they even had some laughs together. Princess Diana was reportedly heartbroken when she and Prince Charles did finally separate and divorce
Despite her own relationship with Captain James Hewitt, She even allegedly told Brown that if Charles wanted her back, she'd return without hesitation
So why the change? Diana had come to terms with the fact that Camilla Parker Bowles was
as Brown explained, the love of his life, and there was just nothing she could do about it
Even with the prince's strong feelings for Camilla, there was no denying the connection
he and Diana share. Simone Simmons, a friend of Diana's, told the Daily Mail that Charles
and Diana were close friends following the divorce because, quote, she understood him
According to Simmons, it wasn't until her death that Charles even realized his love for her
Camilla may be the love of Charles' life, but there's no denying the hole left in the prince's
heart after Diana's death