What Made Prince Charles Notice Princess Diana?

When Prince Charles married Princess Diana, the entire world was enthralled watching what was then dubbed as the wedding of the century. While everyone now knows that the fairytale marriage was not meant to last, it’s still interesting to know just how Diana caught the eye of Charles in the first place.

Surprising as it may sound, yet Prince Charles dated Princess Diana’s older sister, Lady Sarah Spencer, first. In fact, Sarah was quite proud of her role in acting as the bridge between her younger sister and the heir apparent. “I introduced them,” she said. “I'm Cupid.”

But it was not Lady Sarah’s introduction that made Prince Charles take a closer look at the young Lady Di. Rather, it was what Diana said to Charles that aroused his interest in her.

In 1979, Prince Charles’ uncle, Lord Louis Mountbatten, was assassinated by the IRA. This uncle was particularly close to the young prince back then, and his death understandably devastated Charles. Diana was also present during Lord Mountbatten’s funeral.

According to the book “The Duchess: The Untold Story” by royal author Penny Junor, Prince Charles and Diana met when they were both guests of Robert and Philippa de Pass at Petworth in Sussex. When the two conversed, it was Diana’s comments about Lord Mountbatten’s funeral that caught the young prince’s eye.

“You looked so sad when you walked up the aisle at Lord Mountbatten’s funeral,” Diana told Prince Charles. “It was the most tragic thing I’ve ever seen. I thought, it’s wrong, you’re lonely — you should be with somebody to look after you.”

The two would later on become closer until they became engaged and eventually got married. Unfortunately, their relationship was not meant to last, and many say that Prince Charles was at fault from the very start.

According to Junor, Charles didn’t come clean to Princess Diana about his past relationship with Camilla Parker Bowles until she accepted his proposal. “He came clean after the engagement,” the biographer wrote. “He had not handled things well. It didn’t occur to him that she needed to know before someone else told her.”