How Prince Charles and Princess Diana's 13-Year Age Gap Shaped Their Marriage

Prince Charles and Princess Diana's marriage captivated the world. Their 13-year age difference was pretty significant and it shaped a lot of their relationship. When they tied the knot in 1981 Charles was 32 and Diana was just 20. This age gap played a big role in how they interacted right from the start. The couple first crossed paths when Diana was only 16 years old. Charles was actually friends with her older sister and found Diana to be charming but very young. As Charles recalled, "I remember thinking what a very jolly and amusing and attractive 16-year-old she was."

Their courtship was very brief. They only met in person 13 times before getting engaged. Many wondered if such a young bride was ready for royal life, Charles seemed to have doubts too. He reportedly told friends, "She is exquisitely pretty, a perfect poppy. But she is a child. She does not look old enough to be out of school, much less married," as per The Oprah Daily. Diana tried to brush off concerns about the age gap. During their engagement interview, she said, "The gap just does not matter." But privately, she may have felt differently.

Charles hoped Diana's youth would be an asset. He commented, "I think that Diana will keep me young, apart from anything else." He saw her energy as refreshing, as per The Harper Bazaar. He further added, "I think I shall be exhausted. I haven’t somehow thought about it. I mean, it’s only 12 years, and lots of people have got married with that sort of age difference. I just feel you are as old as you think you are." Their different life stages soon caused issues. Charles was set in his ways and Diana was still discovering herself. Their personality clash became evident. Royal biographer Sarah Bradford noted that Charles became increasingly aware of his future bride's youth. 

She felt unsupported and alone and their different social circles also created distance. In one of the interview, Diana discussed, "Well maybe I was the first person ever to be in this family who ever had a depression or was ever openly tearful. And obviously that was daunting, because if you've never seen it before how do you support it? It gave everybody a wonderful new label: Diana's unstable and Diana's mentally unbalanced. And unfortunately, that seems to have stuck,” as per History. 

The age difference might have played a part in their cheating. Charles got back together with Camilla Parker Bowles who was more his age. Diana found solace in a younger man named James Hewitt who seemed to get her more. When you think about it the 13-year gap really affected their marriage. Charles and Diana were in very different places in life when they got married. As royal journalist James Whitaker observed, "For Diana, the memory of him, so much older when she was a tiny child, never quite went away."