Two of the most important figures in the modern era of the British Royal Family were Her Majesty and Diana, Princess of Wales – both beloved, adored, and globally renowned.
Upon her marriage to the Queen’s eldest son, Prince Charles, on 29 July, 1981, the then-Diana Spencer was a hopeful Queen consort. But cracks in the marriage soon emerged, and Charles and Diana separated in 1992 and divorced in 1996, just one year before Diana’s tragic, untimely death in a Paris car accident at age 36.
But what was the relationship between Diana and her mother-in-law, the Queen, like?
Diana’s family, the Spencers, always enjoyed a close relationship with the royal family. Her father was an equerry to the Queen, and both of her grandmothers had served as ladies-in-waiting to the Queen Mother. In fact, Diana’s grandmother, Baroness Fermoy, remained a close friend of the Queen Mother for decades.
Diana spent her early years living at Park House, situated on the royal family’s Sandringham estate in Norfolk. There she often played with Her Majesty’s younger sons, Andrew, born in 1960, and Edward, born in 1964 as Diana was born in 1961. Charles, more than 12 years her senior, was much older and therefore not a playmate of the young Diana Spencer.
Though surely the Prince of Wales and Diana had been in close proximity in earlier years, their first meeting of note was in 1977, when Charles was dating Diana’s older sister, Sarah. At the time, Diana was 16 and Charles was approaching 30. Charles and Diana connected at a grouse hunt, where the Prince of Wales made quite an impression on the teenager; for his part, he just remembers her as a jolly young girl.
Initially, the relationship between Charles and Diana was deeply encouraged by the royal family, and it began a few years later. Now, at 32, Charles was being pushed more and more to find a suitable bride and produce an heir and a spare. Diana was young and – per standards at the time – still a virgin, making her an ideal bride as compared to other women Charles had wooed, namely Camilla Parker Bowles, whom Charles had fallen in love with nearly a decade prior. After the family opposed the relationship and eventually caused Charles and Camilla to break up, Camilla subsequently married Andrew Parker Bowles, but remained close to the Prince of Wales.
Facing mounting pressure from his father, Prince Philip, and thanks to the Queen Mother and Baroness Fermoy’s matchmaking behind the scenes, Charles proposed to Diana in February 1981 after only seeing her romantically 13 times.
Though their July 1981 nuptials was nothing short of a fairytale, it became evident quickly that Charles and Diana were not a love match and that Diana had little in common with Charles or his family. When they married, Charles was 32 and Diana was barely 20. The ever-brighter gleam of the spotlight did not help matters either, and heated arguments ensued between the newlyweds.
Palace insiders would later suggest that Diana turned to the Queen for guidance after marrying into the royal family, but these two women were drastically different. Her Majesty was committed to duty and service and was incredibly stoic, even with the closest members of her family. She was ill-prepared to deal with the emotionally vulnerable Diana. Diana sought emotional closeness that Her Majesty wasn’t able to provide her. As the cracks between Charles and Diana emerged, so did those between the Queen and Diana.
Charles and Diana tried in earnest to repair their fractured marriage and did share some happy years surrounding the birth of their sons, William in 1982 and Harry in 1984. But not long after Harry’s birth, the cocktail of Diana’s celebrity led to burgeoning resentment on the part of her husband. Not only did Diana overshadow Charles, but she overshadowed the rest of the family, as well.
By the mid-1980s, both Charles and Diana were having extramarital affairs and, after the 1992 release of Andrew Morton’s bombshell book Diana: Her True Story – which was posthumously confirmed that Diana assisted with – the Queen and Philip arranged a summit to try to salvage the marriage.
Finally, at the end of 1992, the Queen gave her consent to, at last, allow the fractured couple to separate. In 1995, the “War of the Waleses” took to primetime, with both Charles and Diana appearing on separate television programmes spilling secrets of their private lives. In Diana’s much-maligned interview with Martin Bashir, she claimed she had received little support from the family during her marriage.
The Queen, despite her reluctance, wrote to both Charles and Diana that, after nearly four years, it was time to finalise the divorce. Her Majesty reportedly advocated for Diana to retain her Her Royal Highness title; Charles adamantly refused.
One year and three days after she and Charles’ divorce was finalised on 28 August, 1996, Diana was killed in a high-speed car crash in Paris on 31 August, 1997. During the week that followed, the Queen was criticised for her seemingly ‘uncaring’ manor, but on the eve of Diana’s funeral on 6 September, the Queen delivered a live speech in which she praised her former daughter-in-law and broke with tradition and allowed the flag to fly at half-staff over Buckingham Palace on the day of her funeral. Her Majesty also bowed her head as Diana’s coffin passed by her during her funeral procession.
“There has been so much written incorrectly about the Queen being a bit of a dictator, demanding Diana behave a certain way,” royal correspondent Victoria Arbiter tells The Independent. “Diana and the Queen shared a warm relationship. The Queen found emotional problems difficult – that’s her generation.”
Her Majesty felt deeply for the level of press attention Diana garnered, including calling a meeting for newspaper editors early in Charles and Diana’s marriage, encouraging them to “lay off” Diana and leave her alone.
“All the meeting did was further galvanize the press,” Arbiter says. “She certainly gave [Diana] support behind the scenes and felt very fondly towards Diana, whom she had known since she was a little girl. Diana had tremendous respect for the monarchy and, by extension, the Queen.”
(Bloomberg) — There is no chance that Serbia will let Kosovo join the United Nations despite intense pressure from the US and European nations, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said.Most Read from BloombergSouthwest Mexico Struck by 7.5 Magnitude Earthquake, Buildings Sway in CapitalHome-Flipper Opendoor Hit With Losses in Echo of Zillow CollapseMark Zuckerberg’s $71 Billion Wealth Wipeout Puts Focus on Meta’s WoesFrustrated and Snubbed, Putin Is Running Out of OptionsGrand Theft Auto VI Leak
The only daughter of the Prince and Princess of Wales attended her great-grandmother’s state funeral
A stroke isn't something that happens only to the aging among us. You might have heard the stories of younger people having a stroke. You may know someone close to you, who by all appearances seemed in good health, and still suffered a stroke. According to the American Stroke Association, a stroke is the fifth cause of death in the United States, and leaves many others disabled. So how would see a stroke coming? But before we look at the warning signs, what is a stroke? "A stroke occurs when a b
Following Her Majesty's funeral, many are wondering where Queen Elizabeth II's grave is located and if it is free to visit the burial site to pay your respects?
The U.K. has not buried a monarch since the death of King George VI in 1952, so royal watchers anticipate Monday's funeral for Queen Elizabeth II – decades in the planning – will be a blend of grand spectacle and personal grief not seen in generations.
KATERYNA TYSHCHENKO – SUNDAY, 18 SEPTEMBER 2022, 21:34 Serhii Haidai, the Head of the Luhansk Oblast Military Administration, reported that approximately 200 occupiers were killed as a result of an explosion in the occupied Svatove on the night of 17 September.
The final mourners have paid their respects to the Queen lying in state in Parliament’s Westminster Hall.
President Biden in a new interview said he has not been briefed on the sensitive documents former President Trump was keeping at his Mar-a-Lago estate, but called his predecessor’s behavior “totally irresponsible.” Biden told “60 Minutes” in an interview that aired Sunday that he has sought to keep himself out of the ongoing investigation and…
No royal or sporting event since 1997 has been able to match such high ratings
King Charles is reportedly planing to cut Prince Harry, as well as Prince Andrew and Princess Beatrice, as official stand-ins should he be indisposed.
Dominic Lipinski – WPA Pool/Getty ImagesRoyalist is The Daily Beast’s newsletter for all things royal and Royal Family. Subscribe here to get it in your inbox every Sunday.There was “no snub” aimed at Prince Harry at Queen Elizabeth’s funeral and he was seated in the second row because of his age, a source at Buckingham Palace told The Daily Beast Monday evening.The source sought to quell speculation that Harry and wife Meghan Markle had been seated in the second row as a snub following their es
Queen Elizabeth's great-grandchildren, Prince George and Princess Charlotte, played a big role in the late monarch’s funeral service on Monday. Prince William and Kate Middleton’s eldest kids paid tribute to the queen by joining the royal family procession at Westminster Abbey—the site of the queen's 1953 coronation and where she married Prince Philip. The royal siblings followed the coffin behind their parents, King Charles III and Camilla, Queen Consort. And right behind them were their aunt a
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex both appeared emotional at different points during Monday's events
Prince George, 9, stood out for wearing a navy blue suit as opposed to black like the other mourners at the Queen's state funeral. Did he break any rules? Here's the protocol.
Meghan Markle attended Queen Elizabeth's funeral at Westminster Abbey in London alongside her husband, Prince Harry, and members of the royal family
In 2020, Markle described the online abuse she faced as "almost unsurvivable"
Princess Charlotte cried openly following the funeral for her great-grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II. Princess Charlotte and her brother Prince George were among the youngest attendees at Queen Elizabeth’s funeral on Sept. 19 and while the 7-year-old was composed throughout the service, the tears began to flow upon exiting Westminster Abbey. Later, as she lined up to view the State Gun Carriage, she did appear to turn a corner and was seen smiling again as she was joined by her dad Prince William.
Not every royal is inheriting the same amount.
Prince Harry was reportedly devastated that the Queen's initials were removed from the shoulder of his military uniform for her final vigil.
The Sussexes got through the tough emotions together.
