\u201cMountbatten was a very important figure in Charles\u2019s life and he was in a fragile state at that point,\u201d says Junor. \u201cDiana really touched a nerve in Charles, she said just the right thing to him, at the right moment, and he was moved by her.\u201d<\/p>
This encounter was not, however, the first time Charles and Diana had met. The pair had been introduced two years earlier, in 1977 \u2013 Charles thought her \u201cjolly\u201d when he visited Althorp, the Spencer estate, when he was dating Diana\u2019s older sister, Lady Sarah (a relationship that ended in early 1978). Diana had also attended Charles\u2019s 30th birthday party along with her sister at Buckingham Palace in November 1978, and in January 1979 Diana again met Charles when she and Sarah were guests of Queen Elizabeth II<\/a> at a weekend shooting party at Sandringham.<\/p>\n After that weekend, Charles occasionally invited Diana to the ballet as part of a group or to dinner with friends. The relationship was, at this stage, purely platonic \u2013 Diana was fun to have around. It was not until their heart-to-heart about Lord Mountbatten in 1980 that Charles first saw Diana as girlfriend material.<\/p>\n Keen to spend more time with Diana, Charles promptly invited her to Balmoral to join him and a group of friends staying there for a summer holiday. Diana enchanted and delighted. \u201cShe seemed to be the perfect girl,\u201d says Junor. \u201cShe was funny, she was fun, everybody seemed to love her \u2013 she made everyone laugh and she seemed to adore Charles.<\/p>\n \u201cShe was, on paper, absolutely perfect as a bride for him. At the time it was thought Charles\u2019s bride must be a virgin, an aristocrat and a member of the Church of England. Now, we should remember that by the 1980s, after the 1960s sexual revolution and the introduction of the contraceptive pill, there were very few aristocratic virgins around, and as time went by \u2013 Charles was by this point in his 30s \u2013 they were getting fewer and fewer.<\/p>\n \u201cSo, here was this girl who appeared to be absolutely lovely; perfect marriage material. And she appeared to be very uncomplicated. She was fresh and na\u00efve and full of the joys of life. Or so it seemed.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n But, says Junor, pressure began to mount on Charles and Diana almost immediately.<\/p>\n \u201c<\/em>Ever since Charles was around the age of 18 the press had been looking at every girlfriend and asking, \u2018could this be our next queen?\u2019. They delved into the background of all of these women, which put an awful lot of them off. It was very difficult for Charles to meet and get to know somebody. And this is exactly what happened with Diana: she met Charles and almost immediately the press discovered that he was seeing her. The paparazzi camped outside the door<\/a> to her flat in London; everywhere she went she was photographed and harassed. It was impossible for the two of them to get to know one another in any sort of \u2018normal\u2019 way.\u201d<\/p>\n Charles was also under pressure from his father, Prince Philip<\/a>, to stop \u2018playing the field\u2019 and get married. It was time for Charles, who was now in his 30s, to settle down and find a wife, his father thought. \u201cThe bottom line being, of course, that every heir requires an heir of his own in order to keep the monarchy going,\u201d says Junor.<\/p>\n The catalyst came in the form of a memo sent by Prince Philip to his son in early 1981 urging him to make up his mind. You either marry this girl or you let her go, he wrote.<\/p>\n But, says Junor, this memo was fatefully misinterpreted by Charles. \u201cThe royal family communicates with one another in very strange ways,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n \u201cRather than just picking up the phone or having a chat face-to-face, it was all done through memos. <\/em>Charles misread his father\u2019s memo: he thought he was being told that he must<\/em> marry Diana \u2013 and so he asked her to marry him.\u201d<\/p>\n Charles proposed to Diana<\/a> on 6 February 1981 at Windsor Castle. But it was a tragic mismatch, says Junor. Charles and Diana had, at this point, barely spent any time together \u2013 Diana later claimed that she and Charles had met only 13 times before they became engaged. \u201cAnd most of that time they\u2019d not spent alone together,\u201d Junor adds. \u201cSo they really didn\u2019t know one another at all.\u201d<\/p>\n Diana soon began to struggle in her new role. Aged just 19 and having been living happily in a flatshare in London with a group of girl friends, Diana was taken away from everything she knew and moved into a suite of rooms at Buckingham Palace<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was awful for her, and lonely,\u201d says Junor. \u201cAs soon as she moved into Buckingham Palace she appeared to be a very different girl from the girl she had been at Balmoral \u2013 she suddenly became very weepy and jealous of anywhere Charles went and anyone he saw. Her moods went up and down; shooting to stardom in a very short space of time was too much for her.<\/p>\n \u201cMeanwhile Charles, who was on a perpetual rollercoaster of engagements that he couldn\u2019t get off, didn\u2019t quite know how to cope with this; he didn\u2019t know what was going on.\u201d<\/p>\n Diana was struggling with her mental health and with the eating disorder bulimia, says Junor. \u201cShe\u2019d had a very traumatic childhood; she was a very damaged little girl who had grown into a very damaged young woman,<\/em>\u201d says the royal biographer. Diana\u2019s parents had endured an unhappy marriage and separated when she was just six years old.<\/p>\n A year-and-a-half before Diana was born, her mother, Frances Ruth Roche, who was already the mother of two girls, Diana\u2019s elder sisters, had given birth to a baby boy who died when he was just 10 hours old. Diana was born 18 months later, in July 1961, followed by a much-wanted male heir: Diana\u2019s younger brother, Charles.<\/p>\n When Charles was around the age of two or three, Diana\u2019s mother met Peter Shand Kydd, an heir to the wallpaper fortune built by his father, Norman Shand Kydd. The pair began an affair and later decided to become a couple. \u201cFrances thought she could finally be happy, and she had every intention of taking her children with her,\u201d says Junor.<\/p>\n But, tragically, Frances lost custody of Diana and her three siblings following an intervention by her mother, Ruth Roche, Baroness Fermoy, a lady-in-waiting to the Queen Mother. \u201cAppalled that her daughter had run off with a \u2018man in trade\u2019, Baroness Fermoy gave evidence in the custody proceedings against her own daughter,\u201d says Junor.<\/p>\n \u201cShe told the court Frances was a bad mother, and as a result, custody of all four children went to Diana\u2019s father. This is, I believe, why Diana\u2019s mother later became a reclusive and very sad woman. It was because she had lost her children.\u201d<\/p>\n Diana, aged just seven and completely unaware of the custody proceedings, was left feeling abandoned and as though her mother did not love her enough to take her with her. \u201cAnd then she worked out that actually she was a bit of a nuisance,\u201d says Junor. \u201cHer mother and father had wanted a boy, and that boy had died. Diana later told journalist Andrew Morton [who wrote the authorised 1992 biography Diana: Her True Story<\/em>], her parents had tried for another boy but ended up with Diana.<\/p>\n \u201cDiana felt very unloved and unwanted, and she took those feelings into her adult life \u2013 she was always desperate to be loved but expected people to abandon her.\u201d<\/p>\n Diana struggled with bulimia for many years before seeking professional help.<\/p>\n It\u2019s difficult to know when exactly it started, but it was \u201cin full swing\u201d by the time of their honeymoon, says Junor. She may initially have been treated for anorexia.<\/p>\n \u201cI think that the eating disorder was a manifestation of a much greater disorder,\u201d says Junor. \u201cHer mental health was poor; she had struggled mentally from childhood.<\/p>\n \u201cBulimia and anorexia are very destructive conditions; they\u2019re very hard to live with,\u201d says Junor.<\/p>\n Revelations of Diana\u2019s bulimia were first published in Andrew Morton\u2019s 1992 authorised biography, Diana: Her True Story<\/em>. She later spoke about her struggle with the condition in her famous 1995 Panorama<\/em> interview with Martin Bashir. [In 2021, an independent inquiry found that Bashir had used deception to secure the interview<\/a>]<\/p>\n \u201cI think she felt that nobody could help her,\u201d says Junor. She saw various conventional therapists but also turned to a number of alternative, complementary therapists including astrologers and crystal healers.\u201d<\/p>\n The wedding of Charles and Diana married at St Paul\u2019s Cathedral on 29 July 1981 in what has been described as the wedding of the century<\/a>. \u201cI think Charles and Diana both knew they were making a mistake when they walked down the aisle,\u201d says Junor.<\/p>\n \u201cBut it would have taken somebody very brave to cancel at that point. Charles had always said that marriage for him must be for life and it was therefore very important that he marry the right girl \u2013 \u2018If I\u2019m deciding [on] whom I want to live with for 50 years \u2013 well, that\u2019s the last decision on which I [would] want my head to be ruled by my heart.\u2019<\/p>\n \u201cSo although I don\u2019t think he was actually in love with Diana, I think he thought he could grow to love her. Fundamentally I think he had every intention of making his marriage work.<\/p>\n \u201cA lot of people believe that Charles used Diana; that he never loved her and he never had any intention of honouring his marriage vows. They think he just needed his heir and his \u2018spare\u2019 and that once that was achieved, he went off with the woman he\u2019d always loved, Camilla<\/a>. That is very much the story that a lot of people like to believe.<\/p>\n \u201cHaving spoken to a great many people who were around at the time, I happen to believe that story is completely wrong. I have always felt that it was just a very tragic mismatch; these two people were just completely wrong for one another. I really do not think that Charles used Diana or intended to use Diana, but once he was inside that marriage life was utterly unbearable for both of them.\u201d<\/p>\n Charles\u2019s relationship with Camilla had ended when she married Andrew Parker Bowles in the summer of 1973. Camilla settled into her new life as a wife and mother and her friendship with Charles remained platonic in the years that followed. But the pair restarted their affair shortly after the birth of Camilla\u2019s second child, Laura, in early 1978, and in 1979 Charles turned to Camilla for consolation for his grief following the death of Lord Mountbatten<\/a>. Camilla was \u201chis best friend, his soul mate, and, and after the death of his great-uncle, lover,\u201d writes Marlene Koenig in this article for HistoryExtra<\/em><\/a>. This second affair lasted until Charles\u2019s engagement to Diana in 1981.<\/p>\n \u201cCamilla\u2019s husband, unfortunately, was very unfaithful to her, so she was very lonesome in her marriage,\u201d says Junor. \u201cAnd Charles made her feel good. Who can blame her for enjoying that relationship while Charles was single? But she knew that once Charles became married, the physical side of their relationship would end. She was under no illusion that it would carry on. And when Camilla realised that Diana was jealous of her, she stepped right back.\u201d<\/p>\n Tensions were made worse by the fact that Charles had failed to tell Diana about his history with Camilla when they first began dating, says Junor. Early on in his relationship with Diana, they even went to stay with the Parker Bowles\u2019s, but Charles did not disclose the fact Camilla was his ex-girlfriend. Instead, Diana found out on the grapevine \u201cthrough Buckingham Palace gossip,\u201d says Junor. \u201cAs a 19-year-old, Diana would have been hugely upset by that, and very jealous,\u201d she adds. \u201cShe probably felt like a bit of a fool\u201d.<\/p>\n The last time Charles and Camilla saw one another before he married Diana was just a few days before the wedding. They had one final lunch together, during which Charles gifted Camilla a bracelet inscribed with the letters \u2018G\u2019 and \u2018F\u2019, which is thought to have stood for \u2018Gladys\u2019 and \u2018Fred\u2019 \u2013 their nicknames for one another.<\/p>\n Shockingly, Diana had discovered the bracelet just two weeks previously, in the office she shared with Charles\u2019s right-hand-man, Michael Colborne. Prince Charles had asked Colborne to buy jewellery as presents for a number of women with whom he had been close during his bachelor years, as a way of thanking them for their companionship.<\/p>\n \u201cAll the jewellery had been delivered to the office that Diana was sharing with Colborne and put on his desk,\u201d Junor explains. \u201cColborne was called away to a meeting down the corridor. He left the jewellery on his desk and when he came back he met Diana storming out of the office. He quickly realised she had unpacked the boxes, discovered the bracelet and got into a jealous rage.\u201d<\/p>\n Camilla attended Charles and Diana\u2019s wedding but the pair did not then see one another or communicate for nearly five years \u2013 apart from when Charles notified her of the birth of his first son, William.<\/p>\n In June 1982, less than a year after Diana and Charles married, their first son, Prince William, was born.<\/p>\n This was, for the most part, a happy time for the couple, says Junor. \u201cI\u2019ve interviewed people who visited Kensington Palace in the early 1980s \u2013 they describe Diana charging about the house playfully looking for William who had run away and hidden under his father\u2019s desk at bedtime.<\/p>\n Others describe Charles chasing Diana up the stairs. I think there were definitely good times. Diana would later tell journalist Andrew Morton that the period just before Harry was born [in 1984] was the happiest the couple had had together.<\/p>\n \u201cDiana very much enjoyed being a mother<\/a>, she absolutely loved William and Harry with every fibre of her being. If you are someone who desperately needs love \u2013 as, I would argue, Diana did \u2013 there\u2019s nothing quite like a baby to fulfil that need. So having children was the best possible thing for Diana.\u201d<\/p>\n But tensions in the marriage were escalating and Diana\u2019s moods were changeable. \u201cShe was incredibly complicated,\u201d says Junor. \u201cThere were behaviours that she exhibited privately but not publicly, and I think this is why the public has always found it very hard to believe anything other than Diana\u2019s story. Andrew Morton\u2019s biography, for example, is absolutely Diana\u2019s story, but it\u2019s her<\/em> story, it\u2019s not the<\/em> story.<\/p>\n \u201cThe truth is we\u2019ve never heard Charles\u2019s side. Apart from admitting adultery<\/a> to Jonathan Dimbleby [in his televised 1994 interview] he has never talked about their marriage or criticised his ex-wife in all these years.<\/p>\n \u201cUltimately I think Charles did everything he could to try to make Diana happy. But she wanted 101 per cent of Charles\u2019s attention all the time, and he was just not the man who would ever have been able to give that to her because the bulk of his attention has always gone on his work.\u201d<\/p>\n Tensions also arose as the press and public lavished attention on Diana over-and-above Charles. During their 1983 tour of Australia<\/a> \u2013 which features in season four of The Crown<\/em> \u2013 Charles is said to have bemoaned the fact he was being outshone by his wife. Junor, who joined the royal couple on their very first royal tour \u2013 of Wales shortly after their honeymoon \u2013 says Charles was often overshadowed by Diana to the extent it was \u201cpainful to watch\u201d.<\/p>\n During royal tours of towns and cities, thousands of people would line both sides of the street and Charles would meet-and-greet those on one side, Diana the other. \u201cThere were audible sighs and groans from people on Charles\u2019s side,\u201d says Junor. \u201cThey would hand Charles bouquets of flowers and ask him to pass them to his wife.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"Diana](\"https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/7\/2020\/10\/GettyImages-79729755-6316e2c.jpg?quality=90&resize=283%2C413\" "\\"A")
\n<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture>\n<\/div>![\"Lady](\"https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/7\/2020\/10\/GettyImages-966188424-fbdb685.jpg?quality=90&resize=601%2C413\" "\\"Lady")
\n<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture>\n<\/div>\u00a0Did Prince Philip tell Charles to marry Diana?<\/h2>\n
When did Prince Charles and Diana Spencer get engaged?<\/h2>\n
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![\"Diana](\"https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/7\/2020\/10\/GettyImages-52101059-c50a814.jpg?quality=90&resize=257%2C413\" "\\"Lady")
\n<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture>\n<\/div>Diana\u2019s mental health<\/h2>\n
![\"Charles](\"https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/7\/2020\/10\/GettyImages-52102954-a1548ea.jpg?quality=90&resize=268%2C413\" "\\"The")
\n<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture>\n<\/div>Diana Spencer\u2019s early life<\/h2>\n
![\"Diana](\"https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/7\/2020\/10\/GettyImages-2641696-1-25c0aef.jpg?quality=90&resize=311%2C413\" "\\"A")
\n<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture>\n<\/div>![\"Diana](\"https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/7\/2020\/10\/GettyImages-3430665-4064ced.jpg?quality=90&resize=293%2C413\" "\\"A")
\n<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture>\n<\/div>Diana\u2019s bulimia<\/h2>\n
Wwhere and when did Charles and Diana and get married?<\/h2>\n
![\"Diana](\"https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/7\/2020\/10\/GettyImages-98672326-4df6102.jpg?quality=90&resize=302%2C413\" "\\"Diana")
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Was Charles still seeing Camilla when he married Diana?<\/h2>\n
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![\"Diana](\"https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/7\/2020\/10\/GettyImages-2352014-2-df3d3fa.jpg?quality=90&resize=275%2C413\" "\\"Lady")
\n<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture>\n<\/div>Diana and The G&F bracelet<\/h3>\n
Princess Diana\u2019s sons: the births of William and Harry<\/h2>\n
![\"Diana](\"https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/7\/2020\/10\/GettyImages-2775893-7155061.jpg?quality=90&resize=620%2C403\" "\\"Princess")
\n<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture>\n<\/div>Tensions in Prince Charles and Princess Diana\u2019s marriage<\/h2>\n
![\"Prince](\"https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/7\/2020\/10\/GettyImages-716770063-9cbe210.jpg?quality=90&resize=620%2C411\" "\\"Princess")
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