Princess Diana and Prince Charles’ wedding in 1981 was dubbed as the wedding of the century. People look at it as a fairytale story where the prince married a commoner and the two lived happily ever after. In truth, however, Diana and Charles’ union was very unpleasant.
Their unfortunate narrative was divulged through Princess Diana’s tapes, which were recorded by her voice coach Peter Settelen in early 1990s. She met with him to practice public speaking after her divorce from Prince Charles, and the drills included practicing what she should say in interviews when asked about her marriage and royal life.
Princess Diana didn’t hold back and was very candid. She disclosed details of her life and unhappy marriage, knowing that the video wasn’t meant to be published.
When the princess died, Settelen sold the rights to the videos to BBC. But it was not until 2017 when snippets of the interviews were revealed to the public via Channel 4’s documentary titled “Diana, In Her Own Words.”
In the recordings, Princess Diana named Camilla Parker Bowles as the third person in her marriage. And shockingly, she said that throughout their union, her husband didn’t even try to put a stop to his flagrant affections for his mistress.
In 1995, the princess also said in an interview with Martin Bashir for BBC’s “Panorama” that she knew from the start that Prince Charles and Camilla were having an affair. Bashir asked her how she knew, and she said it was woman’s instinct. She also noticed a “change of behavioral pattern in her husband.”
Diana also said she found a personalized bracelet with the initials “G” and “F” engraved on it. The initials stood for Charles and Camilla’s nicknames for each other — Gladys and Fred.
When Princess Diana confronted Prince Charles about his cheating, his answers only infuriated her more. He told her that it’s alright for him to have an affair because of his position as a royal. He suggested that the others before him did the same thing, so it’s quite normal to have another woman other than his wife.
“Well, I refuse to be the only Prince of Wales who never had a mistress,” Metro quoted Diana as saying when asked about what the prince told her during their confrontation. She also revealed that Prince Philip actually encouraged his son to have a mistress by telling him that if his marriage to Diana wouldn’t work, he can always go back to Camilla after five years.
But then it was likewise divulged that it was also Prince Philip who tried to save Princess Diana and Prince Charles’ marriage by sending her sympathetic letters. As per Telegraph, Prince Philip told Diana that he and the Queen never dreamed of their son choosing Camilla over Diana and that they strongly condemned the affair.
In the end, however, his words did very little to comfort the princess. It didn’t save her marriage to his Prince Charles either.
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