Prince Charles and Diana’s tumultuous marriage is infamous globally. In particular, Princess Diana’s honest confessions in the BBC Panorama interview brought much interest in their relationship. However, despite the criticism against Charles, it turns out he was devastated by his lady’s tragic demise on August 31, 1997, when she was just 36.
Charles was reportedly taken aback when the news arrived, and Tina Brown described his sadness better in her work The Diana Chronicles. “He was absolutely distraught. He fell apart. He knew, instantly, that this was going to be a terrible thing, that…he will be blamed, that they will be blamed, for the death of Diana,” Brown wrote, as reported by Town and Country magazine.
diana was 16 and charles was 29 when they met btw
she was selected by the royal family, who required that his wife be both high society and a virgin. he was aging and his “eligible bachelor” status was quickly waning. today we’d call this an arranged marriage pic.twitter.com/ohpindLQb7
— matt (@mattxiv) May 7, 2023
Christopher Anderson also reflected on Charles’ mental distress in King: The Life of Charles III. “ He let out a cry of pain that was so spontaneous and came from the heart. Palace staff rushed over to Charles’ room and found him collapsed in an armchair, weeping uncontrollably,” Anderson writes, describing how he turned pale and even began shaking.
“When he was first told over the phone…Charles…howled like a wounded animal. Later, after he rushed from Balmoral Castle in Scotland to Paris to bring her back to England, Charles nearly passed out when he first viewed her body. A nurse who was standing in the room told me he reeled back and looked as if he had been ‘struck by an unseen force’.”
Prince Charles, Diana and baby William in the garden of Kensington Palace. 14 December 1983. pic.twitter.com/vNbuwuCsHU
— BRF: Portraits (@MelanieKR65) November 22, 2024
Anderson continues, “Considering how epic their marital battles had been, people were surprised at Charles’s reaction. He was devastated by Diana’s death, perhaps to a degree that surprised even him. Charles was shattered.”
While we only have ever known about their troubled marriage, there are more reports on how Princess Diana’s death affected Charles. According to Fox News, Christopher Anderson insists that in the last few months before Diana was alive, their relationship surprisingly changed for the better. The couple reportedly put their issues behind them in order to focus on raising their two sons, Prince William and Harry. Anderson also claims that Charles had to go against his mother, Queen Elizabeth II, and the entire monarchy in order to properly send off Diana.
Their youngest, Harry, also described how their father felt at that time. In Spare, he talked about the morning of the day Princess Diana passed away, mentioning how his father had to grapple with his own emotions and comfort the kids in the face of a great tragedy. Harry writes that Charles placed his hand on his knee to console him that things were going to be okay with time. The youngest of the British monarchs also added Prince Charles was there for him and William throughout, despite his grief. He tried his best to take care of them, regardless of the difficulties.
A week after Diana’s passing, Charles, along with his two sons and father Prince Philip, walked the historic funeral procession. Diana’s brother, Charles Spencer, also joined them.
