When Princess Diana and Prince Charles announced their engagement in 1981, the world was captivated. They were instantly hailed as one of the most iconic and powerful couples of their time. Many envied Diana, imagining a life of royalty and glamour — but few knew the marriage was troubled from the very beginning. And according to those close to her, including her personal astrologer Penny Thornton, Prince Charles was largely to blame.
Thornton and others close to Diana have said the issues didn’t begin with Charles’s affair with Camilla Parker Bowles — who would later become his wife — but long before. Even during their engagement, signs of emotional disconnect were already present.
In one of their first joint interviews after announcing their engagement, Diana called Charles “pretty amazing,” while Charles said he was “delighted and frankly amazed” that she had agreed to marry him. But when asked by a reporter if they were in love, Diana answered “yes.” Charles replied with the now-infamous phrase: “Whatever ‘in love’ means.” That remark reportedly haunted Diana and marked the beginning of what would become a painful journey.
What was once dubbed “the wedding of the century” eventually crumbled. After years of strain and public scrutiny, Queen Elizabeth II advised the couple to end the marriage, which led to their official divorce.
Despite the turmoil, Diana remained a devoted mother. She defied royal traditions in pursuit of a more grounded upbringing for Prince William and Prince Harry. She wanted her sons to understand life outside palace walls and was fiercely protective of their well-being.
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After the separation, Diana was deeply concerned that she might lose custody of her children. Biographer Howard Hodgson, in his 2007 book Charles: The Man Who Will Be King, explained that Diana knew the Queen had the constitutional authority to take control of the boys’ care and education. If she had severed ties with the royal family entirely, she feared she might be cut off from her sons altogether.
The aftermath of the divorce brought emotional isolation for Diana, especially during the holidays. Former royal chef Darren McGrady revealed that Christmas was especially difficult. In an interview with royal correspondent Omid Scobie for Yahoo UK's The Royal Story, McGrady shared that while Prince William and Prince Harry joined the royal family at Sandringham, Diana spent Christmas Day alone. Despite her solitude, she insisted the staff spend the holiday with their own families. “We would leave food in the refrigerator,” McGrady said, “and there was the princess, on her own, on Christmas Day.”
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Diana often felt out of place during royal gatherings. Sandringham, in particular, was a place she found stifling. McGrady noted the residence was "tight, so compact" and filled with people playing games like charades and Scrabble. “You just couldn’t get away,” he said. “She would go off for a walk on her own, and I would sometimes bump into her.”
In Diana: Her True Story, author Andrew Morton wrote that in audio recordings Diana described herself as feeling like an “outsider” at Sandringham. She recalled the atmosphere as “terrifying and so disappointing,” with strange inside jokes and tension in the air. “I sure was [an outsider],” she admitted.
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| Mark Cuthbert/UK Press via Getty Images |
Tragically, Diana’s life was cut short on August 31, 1997, when she died in a car crash in Paris. Alongside her partner Dodi Fayed — son of Egyptian billionaire Mohamed Al-Fayed — her driver Henri Paul, and her bodyguard Trevor Rees-Jones, Diana was trying to escape paparazzi when their vehicle crashed in the Pont de l'Alma tunnel. Only Rees-Jones survived.
Diana’s legacy as the “People’s Princess” lives on — not only for her humanitarian work but also for her courage, compassion, and the love she had for her children.
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