Yahoo News An extensive timeline of Prince Charles and Princess Diana's relationship (and divorce)
The romance between Prince Charles and Princess Diana may have been relatively short-lived, but the impact it had on the royals (and their subjects) still remains.
From a whirlwind, starry-eyed romance, to that tell-all interview, acrimonious divorce and Diana’s tragic death, the partnership between Charles and his first wife continues to define him even as King.
In fact, their doomed relationship was more recently brought to life once more in The Crown, which looked at their courtship, marriage and divorce, in unflinching detail.
Here, we take a look at the full timeline of their relationship – and the effect it had on the monarchy.
1977: Prince Charles and Diana Spencer are introduced
Diana was just 16, and working as a nanny, when she was introduced to the heir to the throne. The Prince was invited to her family estate of Althorp, after he was asked by Diana’s older sister, Sarah. Charles had briefly dated Sarah during this time.
Charles, who was 29 at the time of first meeting Diana, said of his first impression of her: "I remember thinking what a very jolly and amusing and attractive 16-year-old she was. I mean, great fun, and bouncy and full of life and everything."
Diana was also taken by the royal. She reportedly said: "I made a lot of noise, and he liked that, and he came up to me after dinner, and we had a big dance," according to Sarah Bradford in Diana: Finally, the Complete Story.
15 November 1977: Prince Charles celebrates his 30th birthday
Diana Spencer was on the guest list for Prince Charles’s 30th birthday dance, which she described as “fascinating” in audio files released by the Independent.
Summer 1980: Prince Charles becomes close to Diana
The previous year had been a difficult one for Charles. His beloved great-uncle, Lord Mountbatten (whom Charles was very close to), had been killed by an IRA bomb.
The following year, Charles decided to spend his summer at Philip de Pass’s estate – with Diana having also been invited by the owner.
The pair formed a deeper bond after Diana sympathised with Charles over the loss.
Writing Diana: In Her Own Words, historian Andrew Morton explained: "In a conversation which she later recalled to friends Diana told him: 'You looked so sad when you walked up the aisle at Lord Mountbatten’s funeral. It was the most tragic thing I’ve ever seen. My heart bled for you when I watched. I thought: It’s wrong, you’re lonely, you should be with somebody to look after you.'"
Morton continued: "Her words touched a deep chord. Charles saw Diana with new eyes. Suddenly, as she later told her friends, she found herself overwhelmed by his enthusiastic attentions."
The pair was thought to start courting at this time: Prince Charles taught Diana how to fish, and Diana was spotted at the royal family’s Balmoral estate.
January 1981: Engagement talks ramp up
With press interest in Diana starting to rise, Prince Philip urged his son to propose in a strongly worded letter. Charles took his father’s letter as a command.
24 February 1981: The royal engagement is officially announced
The Prince proposed to Diana three weeks prior to the announcement, before she was about to head on a trip to Australia. This, Charles explained, was so she could take the time to think about it. However, Diana accepted straight away.
Although the engagement interviews are infamously remembered for Charles “whatever love means” comment, he also spoke warmly about his wife to be.
When asked at what point Charles knew Diana was ‘the one’, he explained: “I suppose towards the end of the summer, the autumn, last year.
“I began to realise what was going on in my mind, and hers, in particular. And all these things help. But you know, it was a gradual business.
“[I'm] delighted and happy. I'm amazed that she's been brave enough to take me on.”
29 July 1981: Charles and Diana tie the knot
It was the royal wedding seen all over the world, with an estimated 750 million people tuning in to see the first British woman marry an heir to the throne for over 300 years.
Naturally, the extravagant ceremony was worth more than a pretty penny – an estimated £57 million, with Diana wearing the famous antique lace gown by David and Elizabeth Emanuel that featured a record-breaking 25-foot train and 10,000 mother of pearl sequins.
While the world watched the happy couple share a kiss on the balcony, according to sources, the wedding very nearly didn’t happen. Things were fraught between Charles and Diana even the night before the ceremony; Penny Thornton, an astrologer Diana consulted, spoke out about a bombshell claim in ITV's 2020 documentary The Diana Interview: Revenge of a Princess, where she said Charles told Diana ‘he didn’t really love her’.
“I think Charles didn't want to go into the wedding on a false premise. He wanted to square it with her, and it was devastating for Diana,” she said. “She didn't want to go through with the wedding at that point; she thought about not attending the wedding.”
October 1981: Princess Diana makes first official royal engagement
After their three-month honeymoon (Diana reportedly told pals it was the perfect opportunity to ‘catch up on sleep’), the new Princess visited Wales with her husband in her first official royal engagement.
It may have been the moment that caused a hairline crack of tension between the pair, as Diana was warmly received – more so than Charles was.
“[Diana] sort of metamorphosed into a very, very elegant blonde beauty,” the late Queen Elizabeth II’s cousin, Lady Elizabeth Anson, told People. “They did a visit to Wales which was the beginning of, for Prince Charles, realising, 'They've come out to see my wife, they haven't come out to see me.'”
21st June 1982: Prince William is born
The current heir to the throne, Prince William, was born, with both Diana and Charles posing for photos with their newly arrived bundle of joy outside St. Mary's Hospital in London.
Prince Charles was quite taken with his firstborn son. In letters to his confidants, which were published in 1994 in Jonathan Dimbleby’s authorised biography, The Prince of Wales, Charles wrote: “I got back here just before midnight—utterly elated but quite shattered. I can't tell you how excited and proud I am.
“He really does look surprisingly appetising and has sausage fingers just like mine.”
1983: The couple tour Australia and New Zealand
The initial frisson of tension between Charles and Diana really grew during this tour, as shown in The Crown. With newborn baby William by their side, crowds were desperate to meet Diana. A security guard who accompanied the royals on this tour likened the furore around the Princess as akin to 'Beatlemania'.
Diana herself has pinpointed this moment where the strength of her relationship with Charles started to crack. During her 1995 Panorama interview, she said: “We'd be going around Australia, for instance, and all you could hear was, 'Oh, she's on the other side,'” she said. “Now, if you're a man like my husband, a proud man, you mind about that if you hear it every day for four weeks.
“You feel low about it, instead of feeling happy and sharing it," she continued. "With the media attention came a lot of jealousy. A great deal of complicated situations arose because of that.”
15 September 1984: Prince Harry is born
Then third-in-line to the throne, official statements from Charles and Diana expressed how thrilled they were to have welcomed their second child.
Publicly calling the arrival of Harry “absolutely marvellous”, Charles went on to joke that he nearly had “a full polo team” with his family of four.
However, it appeared to be a different picture behind closed doors. Charles was reportedly hoping for a girl, and didn’t hide his disappointment at having a second son.
In Prince Charles: The Passions and Paradoxes of an Improbable Life by Sally Bedell Smith, it was recorded that Charles grumbled: ‘Oh God, it's a boy, and he's even got rusty hair.”
The book continues that, for Diana, this lead to the marriage entirely going sour.
“Something inside me closed off,” she reportedly told friends. “Our marriage, the whole thing went down the drain.’
1986: Both Charles and Diana reportedly start having affairs
With the marriage on the rocks, Charles confirmed in his 1994 biography that he started an affair with his former lover, Camilla Parker Bowles, around this period.
It was something that ate away at the future King, letters from the time revealed.
“How awful incompatibility is, and how dreadfully destructive it can be for the players in this extraordinary drama,” he wrote. “It has all the ingredients of a Greek tragedy ... I never thought it would end up like this.”
Meanwhile, Diana is thought to have had a five year relationship with Captain James Hewitt, a cavalry officer who was her riding instructor.
1989: Diana reportedly confronts Camilla Parker Bowles
Writing in Diana: Finally, the Complete Story, author Sarah Bradbury claims the Princess of Wales confronted Parker Bowles about the affair at a mutual friend’s party.
“I obviously am in the way, and it must be hell for both of you, but I do know what is going on,” she said. “Don’t treat me like an idiot.”
1991: The pair celebrate a muted 10 years of marriage
While rumours of the marriage being on the rocks now pretty widespread, the pair manage to make it to 10 years of marriage together – with little fanfare.
7 June 1992: A tell-all book reveals details about Charles and Diana’s marriage
Diana: Her True Story, a biography written by Andrew Morton, is published. It soon transpires that the book was penned with Diana’s cooperation. The biography holds no bars, revealing Diana’s battle with bulimia, depression and reports suicide attempts. It also lays bare Camilla’s involvement in their marriage, describing her as a third wheel.
9 December 1992: Charles and Diana announce their split
Unsurprisingly, it is announced in the House of Commons that Charles and Diana were parting ways – however, it was initially said the pair would not be divorcing, with Diana still expected to become Queen should Charles ascend to the throne.
The pair still also make public appearances together; for example, they both reunite for Prince William’s first day at Eton.
January 1993: Tampongate
It was the royal scandal that everyone would rather forget – however, tabloids released the transcript of Prince Charles’s phone calls with lover Camilla Parker-Bowles from 1989. The scandal will be best remembered for their somewhat icky sexy talk, with the future king telling Parker-Bowles: “I’ll just live inside your trousers or something, perhaps as a Tampax.”
June – October 1994: Prince Charles confesses to his affair
In a televised interview before the release of his biography, Prince Charles spoke candidly about cheating on Diana. He claimed he “stayed faithful” to his wife “until it became irretrievably broken down, us both having tried.”
This was further affirmed in the biography itself, where Charles claimed Prince Philip was the driving force behind his son marrying Diana.
“The prince, in a state of emotional confusion, clung to these calculations," the book read. "The pressures on him began to sweep him toward his destiny."
November 1995: The infamous Panorama interview is broadcast
The tell-all interview saw Diana sit down with Martin Bashir to reveal the truth behind her marriage with Charles. She again discusses Parker-Bowles, telling the journalist: “Well, there were three of us in this marriage, so it was a bit crowded.” She also discussed whether Charles would be fit to be King.
Several years after this interview took place, a report found that Bashir may have used deceptive means in order to get Diana to agree to talk. In response to the report, which was published in 2022, Prince William issued a strongly-worded statement.
“It is my firm view that this Panorama programme holds no legitimacy and should never be aired again,” he said. “It effectively established a false narrative which, for over a quarter of a century, has been commercialised by the BBC and others. This settled narrative now needs to be addressed by the BBC and anyone else who has written or intends to write about these events.”
19 December 1995: Prince Charles files for divorce
Following the fallout from the Panorama interview, Charles formally asked Diana for a divorce. After months of negotiations, where custody was agreed and Diana’s title was changed, the marriage was officially dissolved in August the following year.
1995 - 1997: Diana reportedly begins dating
Having been linked to heart surgeon Hasnat Khan between 1995 and 1997, it was her relationship with Dodi Al-Fayed which fascinated the public. The Princess’s relationship with the director was made public in July 1997, where she, Prince William and Prince Harry joined Al-Fayed and his family in a trip to St Tropez.
Prince Charles, who reportedly was making his relationship with Parker Bowles slightly more public (the pair were thought to be attending the same parties, although not arriving together) was complimentary about the relationship. Tabloids report the Prince saying “I'm happy if she's happy.”
31 August 1997: Princess Diana dies
Diana was just 36 when she was killed in a road traffic accident on the streets of Paris. Al-Fayed, and the car’s driver, Henri Paul, were also killed in the collision.
The car was reportedly driving at over 120mph and was being chased by paparazzi when the crash happened. Later reports found Paul was drunk at the time of the incident.
6 September 1997: Prince Charles, Prince William and Prince Harry attend Princess Diana’s funeral
The late Princess had a ceremonial funeral, with Prince Charles breaking royal protocol. Instead of wearing military regalia, the heir to the throne plumped for a navy blue suit, which was reportedly one of Diana’s favourites.
While Charles opted not to speak at Diana’s funeral, which was watched by two billion people worldwide, he did show a rare sign of emotion as he returned to royal duties following the ceremony.
Speaking in Manchester, the future King talked about “how particularly moved and enormously comforted my children and I were - and indeed still are - by the public response to Diana’s death.
“It has been really quite remarkable and indeed in many ways overwhelming. I can’t tell you how enormously grateful and touched both the boys and myself are.”
Charles later married Camilla Parker-Bowles in 2005. When Charles ascended to the throne in 2022, Parker-Bowles was also crowned Queen.
You Might Also Like
