Queen Elizabeth was one of the first few people who learned about the death of Princess Diana on Aug. 31, 1997. It was said that Her Majesty was sleeping at Balmoral Castle in Scotland when her aides woke her up in the wee hours as something urgent came up.
She met Prince Charles in the corridor, and her son told her that his ex-wife and her lover, Dodi Fayed, got involved in a car crash in Paris. They knew that the princess was the only one who survived, and the Prince of Wales reportedly answered more phone calls to get updates on his ex-wife’s condition.
According to Reader’s Digest, everyone at Balmoral Castle, including the Queen and Charles, were anxious and couldn’t even drink the tea that was served. Then another call came, and they were devastated with the news.
“Sir, I am very sorry to have to tell you that I’ve just had the Ambassador on the phone,” the caller told Prince Charles. “The Princess died a short time ago.”
The prince lost his composure and broke down to tears as per the report. He displayed an emotion that the public never once saw as Queen Elizabeth watched him in grief.
The intriguing part when the death of Princess Diana was confirmed was Queen Elizabeth’s odd reaction. As per UK’s Mirror, upon hearing that her former daughter-in-law had died, she asked if the crash was intentional.
She wanted to know if the accident was deliberately done, which suggests that she thought that someone messed up the car. Royal biographer Ingrid Seward theorized that Queen Elizabeth suspected that Princess Diana’s death had been staged.
“The Queen came out of her bedroom, clutching a hot water bottle, and her first reaction as that someone had greased the brakes,” she said.
Prince Harry and Prince William were not informed about the demise of their mother. Prince Charles and the Queen waited until the following morning to break the news as they want to keep the princes away from their grief for as long as possible.
In “The Diana Chronicles” written by Tina Brown, she stated that the Prince of Wales fell apart after being told of the tragic news. He knew that he would be blamed for Princess Diana’s death, but at that moment he still wants to go to Paris to bring back his ex-wife’s body home.
Queen Elizabeth supposedly wouldn’t allow his son to fly to France. The prince insisted, so there was a bit of an argument between the two. Prince Charles reportedly fought hard to gain permission, which Di’s friend and journalist Richard Kay described as a “surprising and brave move” since he was just an ex-husband and no longer had the right to the princess other than as the father of her sons.
“Charles wanted to take the royal flight to Paris but the Queen wouldn‘t allow it,” he said. “He fought harder for Diana than he had ever fought for her in her lifetime.”
Prince Charles eventually brought Princess Diana’s body to Britain, and he agreed for her coffin to be draped with the royal standard clothe, although she had already been stripped of her royal title following their divorce. This gesture was said to be the prince’s touching tribute to his ex-wife.
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