Diana suffered another emotional blow when her husband, Prince Charles publicly admitted that he never loved her. It left her broken beyond words.
When a young 19-year-old Diana Spencer and Prince Charles announced their engagement in the winter of 1981, the world, with its open arms, couldn't wait to welcome their beloved Princess of Wales. But little did anyone know that this royal couple was going to face numerous hurdles to keep this fairytale perfect.
There were many instances, when looked at in retrospect, which hinted that not everything was right in their marriage. The most famous being the interview announcing their engagement. When the royal couple was asked if they were in love, a blushing Diana replied, "Of course." On the other hand, the Prince replied, "Whatever love means." She later revealed that she was "traumatized" by Prince Charles's response. "That threw me completely, I thought 'what a strange answer'. It absolutely traumatized me," reported Mirror UK.
Another shocking public blow left the Princess "numb" when the Prince of Wales revealed he never loved Diana in an authorized biography. "She is devastated. She can hardly believe what her husband has done to her. On the advice of her friends and presumably her lawyers, she is keeping her head down and saying nothing," said her unnamed friend, as reported by the Seattle Times.
The biography titled The Prince Of Wales, published on November 3, 1994, first made its appearance in The Sunday Times in the form of a series. The couple, who separated in 1992, finally got divorced in 1996. The absolute and intimate revelations of the life of the Prince and his first wife, the late Princess Diana, made everyone uncomfortable. The traditionalists were disappointed about the fact that Jonathan Dimbleby, author of the book, had access to all his private letters and diaries brimming controversy.
The Prince further revealed that his marriage to the Princess was not merry as it seemed. According to the Seattle Times, he was rushed into the marriage by his father, Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh. Diana's frequent visits to the Balmoral castle was a cause of concern for the royal family as it compromised their reputation.
According to the biography, the prince "interpreted his father's attitude as an ultimatum," and married the Princess in a "confused and anxious state of mind." His confusion and anxiety must've been exacerbated by the fact that he was heartbroken about his split with Camilla Parker-Bowles.
The book also uncovered the unhappiness of the sophisticated and loved Diana. After her marriage, she reportedly had her days when she would "sit hunched on a chair, her head on her knees, quite inconsolable. . . . Yet she scoured every tabloid newspaper for photographs of herself, as if hoping to discover her identity there."
Charles "watched her tears flow and, on one occasion, he had sat much of the day alone with her, (while she was) bowed in silence, apparently insensible to his presence." Later, the book says, he wrote that he was in "total agony about the situation and I don't see how much longer one can go on trying to sweep it under the carpet and pretend nothing is wrong," quoted the book according to the Seattle Times.
Princess Diana's former butler, Paul Burrell, had revealed that he had witnessed the descent of the royal couple's marriage. According to the Sun UK, "I could see the cracks in the marriage getting wider and wider. Diana confided in me that on the night Harry was born, she cried herself to sleep." Burrell, who had worked with Diana for more than 10 years revealed, "She said, 'I knew my marriage was over.'" He also said that Prince Charles had done whatever he could as a husband. "He’d provided the country with an ‘heir and a spare’, and could now resume his relationship with Miss Camilla Parker Bowels." He remained at her service until her tragic demise.
In her famous interview on BBC's show Panorama, she had acknowledged the problems in her marriage. According to Cheat Sheet, she said, “Well, there were three of us in this marriage, so it was a bit crowded.” This was a subtle hint at Prince Charles and Camilla's infamous affair.
While the interview had been heartbreaking for the world, the people inside the palace were flabbergasted by the candidness of the entire interview. Never in years had anyone in the royal family been this open to the public about their life. The 1995 interview marked some of the most significant statements of the Princess of Wales.
References:
https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/princess-diana-traumatised-charless-answer-13683883
https://archive.seattletimes.com/archive/?date=19941017&slug=1936490
