16 Reasons Why Prince Charles’ and Diana’s Marriage Was A Complete Disaster

15. Diana Believed In The Marriage, At Least In the Beginning

In November of 1995, Princess Diana met with BBC1 Panorama’s Martin Bashir to discuss when she first met Prince Charles, the transition from Lady Diana to Princess Diana, the pressures of becoming a part of the royal family, and her marriage. While the couple was still married, everyone knew that they were in the middle of the divorce and working on terms of the agreement before their divorce could become final, which happened the following year. Because of this, many people tuned in to see Princess Diana and find out what she would say about her marriage and Prince Charles.

While the interview was met with controversy later, people were shocked to hear Princess Diana say nothing but good things about her marriage, Prince Charles, and the royal family. In fact, Princess Diana openly spoke about how much she loved Prince Charles, especially at the beginning of their marriage. The young bride stated that she felt they were perfect for each other and that they made a good team. She also went on to say that she wanted to share everything with Prince Charles.

14. Along With The Many Bad Times Came Some Good Times

When people think of Prince Charles and Princess Diana’s marriage today, they generally only think of the negative pieces. However, not everything that happened during their marriage was terrible. While their marriage was rocky from the beginning, Prince Charles still tried to make his wife happy from time to time. This included making sure she was able to meet the people in Hollywood she most admired, even if this meant that Prince Charles would need to get the President and the First Lady of the United States of America to help him.

During one of the couple’s trips to the United States, they visited the White House. While there, Princess Diana got to meet and dance with several people she adored, including actor John Travolta and the President of the United States, Ronald Reagan. After the couple returned home, Prince Charles sent a letter to the President and his wife, Nancy Reagan. While Prince Charles did describe their marriage as a Greek Tragedy in the message, he also thanked the couple for helping him set Princess Diana up to dance with John Travolta, stating that she still talked about the experience.

13. Despite Everything, They Did Marry For Love… Mostly

Even though their wedding had a few mistakes, Prince Charles and Princess Diana did marry for love, or at least this is what they believed and wanted everyone else to think. While it seems pretty apparent that the couple did care for each other, it also appears that one might have been more in love with the other, at least at the beginning of their marriage. In the early 1980s, Princess Diana seemed more positive and happy in their marriage than her husband, Prince Charles.

Before and during their marriage, Prince Charles and Princess Diana gave a lot of interviews. Of course, most of the interviews they did together were during their marriage, especially in the beginning. But, the couple did one interview right after their engagement that made people start to wonder how “in love” the couple was. In this interview, they were asked by the reporter if they were in love. While Princess Diana quickly responded “of course,” Prince Charles added to her answer, “whatever in love means.”

12. Princess Diana Was Wonderful But Not Perfect

Just like everyone else in the world, Princess Diana grappled with her personal issues. Unfortunately, she would have to struggle with her problems in front of cameras. While Princess Diana was a wonderful person, who did everything she could to help the people around her when a book titled Prince Charles: The Passions And Paradoxes Of An Improbable Life by Sally Bedell Smith came out the world was shocked to find out about the darker side of Princess Diana’s personality.

In the book, Smith wrote how Princess Diana could be manipulative from time to time to get what she wanted or so things went a certain way. On top of this, Diana also struggled with depression which would lead her to suicidal thoughts. Smith also discusses how Princess Diana could be an emotional wreck as she dealt with her own demons. Smith explains in the book how these personality traits, along with her declining relationship with Queen Elizabeth, contributed to her marriage failing.

11. Prince Charles Dated Diana’s Sister First

During the 1970s, Prince Charles began to receive a lot of pressure from his parents to find someone to marry. To find someone, he started courting several women before his marriage to Princess Diana. One of these women was his current wife, Camilla. Another one of these women was none other than the sister to Princess Diana, Lady Sarah Spencer. While there is not much known about the relationship between Lady Sarah and Prince Charles, many people believed they had a good connection. Unfortunately, their relationship would end when Lady Sarah met with a journalist on her own.

Lady Sarah and Prince Charles dated during 1977. This was the same year where Lady Sarah met with a journalist named James Whittaker. The two first met on a Swiss ski resort and agreed to meet up once they got back to England. Of course, another journalist overheard and invited himself along. During their conversation in England, Lady Sarah told James that she would never marry Prince Charles if he were the King of England or a dustman. Once Charles found out about the meeting, he became irate and told Sarah that she did something really stupid.

10. Charles’ Affair With Camilla And A Leaked Phone Conversation

By the end of their marriage, the world knew that neither Prince Charles or Princess Diana were faithful to one another. The first clue to this was the leaked phone conversation that occurred between Prince Charles and his previous girlfriend, Camilla Parker Bowles. While many people figured that something was going on between Charles and Camilla, everyone’s guesses were confirmed in 1992 when their steamy phone conversation leaked, and a transcription of their discussion was sent out into the world.

During the conversation, Prince Charles states that he just wanted to live inside Camilla’s pants. Laughing, Camilla jokes with Charles that he will come back as a pair of pants. Then, Charles takes the joking a bit dirtier and states that instead of coming back as a pair of Camilla’s pants, he will just come back as a Tampax. Over time, this conversation between Camilla and Prince Charles became known as “Tampongate.” While people were not wholly shocked about Charles and Camilla’s affair, people were surprised at the fact Prince Charles spoke of women’s feminine products in a dirty way.

9. Princess Diana Had An Affair With Someone Who Looks Like Her Son

While people started noticing the affair between Prince Charles and Camilla in the early 1990s, the relationship between Princess Diana and her riding instructor, James Hewitt, became known in the 1980s. During the mid-1980s, Princess Diana took horse riding lessons from a young red-headed man named James Hewitt. While it was never completely proven during the time, many people suspected that the two were having a steamy affair. Of course, these rumors become more interesting to people when Princess Diana gave birth to a son, Prince Harry, who was born with red hair.

A few years after Prince Harry’s birth, people began to wonder if Prince Charles was the birth father to Prince Harry. And, of course, as Prince Harry grew, the questions continued to remain as he started to look like James Hewitt. To make matters more questionable on the paternity for Prince Harry, Diana and James were having an affair around the same time she got pregnant with her youngest son. Of course, James continues to say that he is not the father of Prince Harry and Harry continues to call Prince Charles dad.

8. Prince Charles Thought Diana Was Out To Get Him

There are a few people in England, and other parts of the world, that do not feel Prince Charles will make a good king. Charles’ knowledge of this might have gotten to him during his marriage with Princess Diana. When the Queen of England, Prince Charles, and Princess Diana made arrangements for what would happen when the Queen dies, the plans Diana pushed for caused a red flag in her husband’s head. After he found out about the plan, he started to believe that Diana was out to get him.

During the planning, many people stated that a Regent would need to be in place while Prince William was under the age of 18 if his grandmother, Queen Elizabeth, passed away. These plans started to make Prince Charles believe that his brother, Prince Andrew, would become Regent. Charles further thought if this happened his brother would pass him and become King of England. Charles became convinced that Princess Diana worked out these plans after she stated in an interview that Charles would not make a good king.

7. Neither Prince Charles or Princess Diana Ended Their Divorce

When a person looks at what really went on during the marriage of Prince Charles and Princess Diana, it does not become surprising that their marriage ended in divorce. Instead of divorce, Charles and Diana decided to go their separate ways but stay married. What is surprising is that neither Princess Diana or Prince Charles initiated their divorce. Prince Charles’ mother, Queen Elizabeth was the one who pushed for the Prince and Princess to get divorced because she could see how unhappy the couple was.

When the couple finally got a divorce in 1996, they had spent four years apart. Still, neither Charles or Diana wanted to get a divorce, especially Diana as her parents were divorced and she did not want her children growing up in a broken home. However, one day Diana received a letter from the Queen of England. In the letter, Queen Elizabeth ordered Princess Diana to file for divorce. It was then Diana felt she had to file for divorce and told her butler that the matter was now out of her hands.

6. Charles and Camilla Dated Before He Married Princess Diana

Before he married for the first time in 1981, Prince Charles thought that he was quite the ladies’ man. His mother, Queen Elizabeth, told her son in the 1970s that he had to find a wife soon because they had to start preparing him and his wife to become king and queen of England. However, Charles had no idea who he wanted to marry, so he set about dating several women from commoners to ladies of rank. Other than Princess Diana’s sister, one of these women he dated before marrying Diana was his current wife, Camilla Parker Bowles.

The couple dated in the 1970s and seemed to be in love. Unfortunately, Queen Elizabeth told Charles that he could not marry Camilla because she lacked an aristocratic bloodline, so the couple split. Camilla went on to marry Andrew Bowles, and Prince Charles chose Diana. But this did not mean that Camilla and Charles would never see each other again. In fact, Camilla and Charles not only kept their affair going through their marriages but Camilla was a guest at the Charles and Diana’s wedding. Charles and Camilla finally married in 2005.

5. Charles Infidelity Contributed To Princess Diana’s Eating Disorder

One of the rockier times in the marriage of Princess Diana and Prince Charles occurred when she became pregnant for the first time. Not only did Princess Diana have to struggle with the emotions and body changes with a pregnancy, but she also found out about the affair between her husband and Camilla Parker Bowles. On top of this, she did not feel that she was good enough for the royal family. No matter what she did or did not do, she continued to feel unaccepted as a member of the family.

Eventually, all the pressure and disheartening situations in her life led Princess Diana to develop bulimia. Over time, Princess Diana became very open about her struggles with bulimia and the reasons she felt contributed to her developing the eating disorder. Of course, these statements were often met with distaste from the royal family because Princess Diana as she blamed them for her bulimia. Fortunately, Princess Diana overcame her bulimia and used workouts to help her healthily deal with her life stresses.

4. During their Divorce, Princess Diana Took Charles For All He Had

By the time the couple divorced in 1996, Princess Diana wanted to seek revenge against Charles in any way possible. One of the most significant moves in which Diana sought revenge on Prince Charles occurred in their divorce when she tried to take everything she could from him. And, for the most part, Princess Diana became successful in her attempts. Not only did the royal family allow Princess Diana to keep the title “Princess of Wales” status, though she had to drop “her royal highness” but Charles had to liquidate everything he owned.

Prince Charles’ financial advisor left his position after the divorce because as he stated, Prince Charles had no personal wealth left. Charles’ financial advisor had to sell everything because while Diana got it all, she did not want the assets and stocks, she wanted cash and cash she received. After the divorce, Diana received £17.5 million. On top of this, she received an allowance and allowed to live in Kensington Palace. In the end, Princess Diana still loathed the fact she lost “her royal highness” status because now she had to bow down to the royal family.

3. Princess Diana Sought Revenge In A Little Black Dress

Today women often are seen in revenge dresses after a breakup with their significant other. After her divorce, Princess Diana was no different. In fact, many people feel that the little black dress Princess Diana wore after her divorce was the best revenge dress of the modern age. The designer of Diana’s little black dress was Christina Stambolian. The dress was not only black but made of silk and considered to be a bit daring for a woman of her status and previous royal status during that time.

However, Princess Diana wore the dress in style and definitely made heads turn. Princess Diana wore her revenge dress to an event on the same night that a tell-all documentary about Prince Charles. Many people believe that Princess Diana purposely wore the dress that day because of the documentary. In this documentary, Prince Charles admitted to his infidelities during his marriage to Princess Diana. Prince Charles stated that while he tried to remain faithful, there came the point where he felt continuing to try was pointless.

2. Despite Everything, Prince Charles And Princess Diana’s Wedding Considered The Most Memorable

Since Prince Charles and Princess Diana’s marriage in July of 1981, both their boys, Prince William and Prince Harry have gotten married. Prince Charles also remarried in 2005. However, the wedding between Prince Charles and Princess Diana is still considered the most memorable wedding among the royal family. Elizabeth and David Emanuel designed the iconic wedding dress, however, at the time, they wrote her name down wrong, the couple did not realize she was Princess Diana. The couple also did not know the wedding dress would become so iconic.

The couple kept all the secrets to Princess Diana’s wedding dress a secret. They were told not to reveal anything, and they never did, until after the fact. Later, the couple admitted that not only was Diana physically beautiful but also very easy to work with. They stated that Diana made the whole creation of the dress process fun for them and they enjoyed working with her. On top of this, they confirmed that Princess Diana had lost weight just weeks before her wedding day, going from a waistline of about 26 inches down to 23 inches.

1. Prince Charles Was Heartbroken When Princess Diana Died, But The Queen Was Not

On August 31, 1997, the world became shocked and saddened to hear that Diana, Princess of Wales, died. She died in a car crash which occurred in Paris, France. Princess Diana, along with her driver and bodyguards were in a speeding vehicle as they tried to escape the paparazzi. Unfortunately, the driver lost control in an underpass, and the crash killed Princess Diana. While the world mourned the deal of Princess Diana, no one was more heartbroken than her two boys, William and Harry, and surprisingly to many, Prince Charles.

While Prince Charles did what he could to be strong for his two boys, he became distraught and sometimes inconsolable when the boys were not in his presence. To top it off, Prince Charles felt he did not get the support he needed from his family, especially his mother, Queen Elizabeth, who did not seem so heartbroken by the death of Princess Diana. Many people believe that this situation is what helped drive a wedge between Prince Charles and his parents.

Where did we get this stuff? Here are our sources:

“8 Secrets from Princess Diana and Prince Charles’ Wedding.” Stephanie Petit, People. July 2018.

“16 things you probably didn’t know about Princess Diana” Erin McDowell. Insider. Nov 17, 2020.

“Princess Diana’s sister dated Prince Charles before she did – and it didn’t end well.” Zoe Forsey, Mirror. August 2018.

“Prince Charles And Princess Diana’s ‘Fairytale Romance’ Was Actually More Like A Nightmare.” Veronica Walsingham, Ranker.

“The truth about Princess Diana and Prince Charles’ marriage.” Brittany Brolley, The List.