Prince Charles and Princess Diana’s royal marriage was far from a fairytale. Ever since the day they got married in 1981 up until the day they divorced in 1996, their marriage was far from perfect. A lot of lies, scandals, and infidelities made this love story not so romantic at the end. They didn’t talk about their relationship that often, but some of the things they said about their marriage just prove how sad their lives have been.
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Proposal
Diana shared with Andrew Morton, an author of Diana: Her True Story — In Her Own Words, how she got proposed. ‘’He said:
“Will you marry me?” and I laughed. I remember thinking, “This is a joke,” and I said: “Yeah, OK,” and laughed. He was deadly serious. He said: “You do realize that one day you will be queen.” And a voice said to me inside: “You won’t be queen but you’ll have a tough role.” So I thought “OK,” so I said: “Yes.” I said: “I love you so much, I love you so much.” He said: “Whatever love means.”
Were they in love
While conducting their engagement interview, Prince Charles didn’t even want to pretend that he was in love with Diana. When Diana declared, “Of course [we’re in love],” Charles commented: “Whatever ‘in love’ means.”
The night before the wedding
Princess Diana shared with Morton, “The night before the wedding I was very, very calm, deathly calm. I felt I was a lamb to the slaughter. I knew it and couldn’t do anything about it.”
What made Charles happy
Just three months after they tied the knot, Prince Charles commented on the experience, but his happiness had nothing to do with his wife.
“We still cannot get over what happened that day,” he said. “Neither of us can get over the atmosphere; it was electric, I felt, and so did my wife … It made us both extraordinarily proud to be British.”
Honeymoon
In a letter Princess Diana wrote on August 15, 1981, we caught a glimpse of what their honeymoon was like.
“The honeymoon was a perfect opportunity to catch up on sleep,” she wrote. Quite romantic.
Charles’ infidelity
Princess Diana and Prince Charles both had affairs during their marriage, but the most infamous was Charles’ affair with Camilla Parker Bowles. Princess Diana knew about it, and in 1995 she said her now famous line to BBC’s Martin Bashir, “Well, there were three of us in this marriage, so it was a bit crowded.” Prince Charles admitted his affair to Daily Mail in 1994, stating, “Do you seriously expect me to be the first Prince of Wales in history not to have a mistress?”
Separation
During that same interview with Martin Bashir in 1995, Diana commented on her failed marriage, “People think that, at the end of the day, a man is the only answer. Actually, a fulfilling job is better for me.”