Though Prince Charles and Princess Diana had their fair share of issues, neither of them could deny that they still loved each other, just not in the way they expected.
Editor's note: This article was originally published on December 15, 2021. It has since been updated.
The late People's Princess, Lady Diana, could turn heads and grab the attention of nearly everyone in a room. However, while her charisma, beauty, humanitarianism, and rebel attitude garnered her fans from all across the world, there was just one person's true attention she wanted—her husband, Prince Charles'. But it was a well-known secret that their relationship certainly wasn't the fairytale it was made out to be, even if their wedding seemed to be so.
The couple, who married in 1981, was perceived to be in love and many across the globe were more than happy to support their love story. But their relationship was far from perfect. Tumultuous and fraught with conflict, cracks in the relationship started to crop up after the birth of their two sons, Prince William and Prince Harry, according to History Extra.
Five years after their wedding, the marriage was starting to fall apart and the Prince of Wales started to confide in close friends about it. One of those friends happened to be Camilla Parker-Bowles and Princess Diana wasn't fond of the relationship they had. In fact, it was what prompted her to say a particularly famous line in the explosive BBC interview with Martin Bashir that shocked the world. When the mother-of-two was asked, "Do you think Mrs. Parker-Bowles was a factor in the breakdown of your marriage?" she responded saying, "Well, there were three of us in this marriage, so it was a bit crowded."
Before long, their royal fairytale had turned into a nightmare and soon the couple separated before getting divorced in 1996. Yet, even while they were separated, Princess Diana and Prince Charles still had affection for each other, though not romantically. In fact, they became better friends after the divorce. Healer and Princess Diana's friend, Simone Simmons said, according to Express UK, “After the divorce Charles got a very good friend in Diana, because she understood him. Nobody is happy if their other half has affairs, but she loved Charles with all her heart.” And she continued to love him, though she wasn't pining for him, and found love with someone else.
Diana’s personal chef Darren McGrady also recalled an incident that proved that the pair was getting back on good terms. He said, “Charles would fly up from Highgrove and land on the field behind Kensington Palace. One time he landed he had six motorcycle outriders and his backup car, but got caught short and needed the bathroom."
"He rang the princess and she said, ‘Fine, come in.’ The police got off their bikes and waited and the princess let him in. When he came out and was about to get in the car, she shouted, ‘Same time next week Charles!’ and winked at him. The police put on their helmets quickly and Charles went bright red. You could see they still had affection for each other," continued the chef.
However, even though they were working towards a better relationship, they didn't have very long to see where it went, for in 1997, a year after their divorce, the people's princess lost her life in a tragic accident in Paris that broke the hearts of many and more so, changed the very lives of her sons. And it was only then that Prince Charles realized something important. Simmons said to The Daily Mail, according to Express UK, “Charles only realized he loved her after she died. I don’t think he realized how much he loved Diana until she was gone. She was the first person who showed him real love.”
And though the Prince of Wales did finally get together with Camilla and marry her, he probably will never forget the memories that Princess Diana gave him.
References:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/special/politics97/diana/panorama.html
Cover Image Source: Getty Images | Photo by Chris Jackson
