If there's one thing Diana and Charles had in common, it's probably the fact that they both regretted the very same day
The Surprising Day Princess Diana Called the Worst of Her Life
Updated on Sep. 18, 2024
Princess Diana was adored by millions, practically from the moment she stepped into the public eye. When the world tuned in to watch her walk down the aisle with Prince Charles on their wedding day, no one could take their eyes off England’s new princess. It seemed like a real-life fairy tale for a charmed couple. However, as we know now, Diana and her Prince Charming weren’t destined for a happily-ever-after. In fact, the beloved royal, who died in a car accident in August 1997, had a very different view of things—even in those early “happy” days.
In a video recorded in the early 1990s but not released until two decades after her death, the late Princess of Wales talked openly about what she called “the worst day of my life.” Read on to find out what surprising date Diana was referring to—and what royal experts say about the day her life took a very different turn.
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What was the worst day of Diana’s life?
Despite the thousand-watt smile, the gorgeous gown and the over-the-top festivities, Diana called her wedding day “the worst day of my life.” The intimate confession came to light when new footage of Diana emerged in 2017, a full 20 years after her death. In the once-private videos, which were used in a Channel 4 documentary in the U.K. and a National Geographic program in the United States, Diana discussed her relationship and wedding day with friend and voice coach Peter Settelen. She revealed that she had met Charles only 13 times before they tied the knot on July 29, 1981, and confessed, “If I could write my own script, I would have my husband go away with his woman and never come back.”
The woman she was referring to, of course, was Charles’s long-term love, Camilla Parker Bowles, now Queen Camilla, with whom he carried on an affair for years. The late princess also openly talked about the love triangle in an interview for BBC One’s Panorama in 1995, during which she infamously said, “There were three of us in the marriage, so it was a bit crowded.” Of course, we are well aware of how it all ended: After lots of drama and alleged affairs on both sides, Charles and Diana’s marriage was officially history in August 1996. And Charles married Camilla many years later, in April 2005.
Why did she go through with the marriage?
Diana, who was only 20 at the time of her wedding, had spotted some red flags in her relationship, but she felt pressure from her family and the public to go through with the marriage. As royal biographer Ingrid Seward notes in her book about Queen Elizabeth and King Charles, My Mother and I, Diana was ready to call it quits a month before the big day, after Charles didn’t talk to or dance with her all evening at Prince Andrew’s 21st birthday bash at Windsor Castle. Seward describes the late princess as “distraught, flustered, angry,” adding that “as far as Diana was concerned, the royal wedding was off.” It was her father, John Spencer, the eighth Earl Spencer, who reportedly persuaded her to go ahead as promised, claiming “it would be an act of gross discourtesy to break off her engagement to the future king so close to the wedding.”
Marlene Koenig, an internationally recognized royal expert and the author of Queen Victoria’s Descendants, tells Reader’s Digest that the pressure didn’t end there. “Diana wanted out, but she had the engagement ring on her finger, and her sister told her that, since her face was already on the tea towels, she couldn’t go back,” she says, noting that it was the perfect storm of pressure. “Her family was very keen on the wedding because it put them on the map, while the press and the public saw Diana as the perfect spouse for Charles. She came from a good family and looked gorgeous—she ticked all the right boxes that people were looking for in a future queen.”
The wedding turned into a historical event: An estimated 750 million people in 74 countries around the world watched it live, making it the largest broadcast in British history at the time. In the U.K. alone, 39 million—more than two-thirds of the population—were glued to their TV screens.
How did Charles approach the marriage?
The prince seemed to have a practical approach to the wedding. While his heart was with Camilla, she was already married to another man (Andrew Parker Bowles, whom she married in 1973) and deemed “unsuitable” by the royal family, so he decided to make the best of it and marry the woman the world wanted to see by his side. “The press longed for a fairy-tale ending, and Prince Charles was ready to give it to them,” says Koenig. “I believe deep down he knew they weren’t a great match, but he probably thought it would be OK in the end. He hoped she’d understand the position she had by his side, as the future queen, and that they could make it work together.”
While this sounds far from a romantic love story, Koenig claims that Charles did have feelings for Diana when they got married. Seward agrees, telling the Times, “Diana told me very shortly before she died that she wished people could see the love letters that she had from Charles. She really wanted people to know that … there was a period of great love between them.”
According to Koenig, Charles and Camilla were truly just friends when he said “yes” to Diana and only rekindled their relationship after Charles and Diana’s marriage was “already going downhill.” Camilla even attended Diana’s wedding, since her husband, Andrew Parker Bowles, was the commanding officer of the Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment at the time.
Were Charles and Diana ever happy?
Despite their marriage ending in drama and divorce, Koenig believes that Diana and Charles did have some happy moments together. “They seemed to do well early on and when they had their babies,” she says. “There are videos showing them with Prince Harry and Prince William when they were little, and they both look genuinely happy together.”
However, the honeymoon phase didn’t last long. “Diana and Charles looked perfect on paper, but they were very different personalities, and they hardly knew each other when they got married,” Koenig says. “Diana also had mental-health problems even before the wedding that Charles probably wasn’t aware of. In hindsight, this is a marriage that shouldn’t have happened in the first place. Unsurprisingly, it collapsed like a house of cards.”
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At Reader’s Digest, we’re committed to producing high-quality content by writers with expertise and experience in their field in consultation with relevant, qualified experts. We rely on reputable primary sources, including government and professional organizations and academic institutions as well as our writers’ personal experience where appropriate. For this piece on Princess Diana’s worst day, Astrid Hofer tapped her experience as a London-based journalist with more than 20 years of experience covering topics including the British royal family. We verify all facts and data, back them with credible sourcing and revisit them over time to ensure they remain accurate and up to date. Read more about our team, our contributors and our editorial policies.
Sources:
- Marlene Koenig, royal expert; Zoom interview, Sept. 13, 2024
- My Mother and I by Ingrid Seward
- Independent: “Princess Diana calls wedding to Prince Charles ‘worst day of my life’ in new tapes”
- Harper’s Bazaar: “The truth about Prince Charles’s and Princess Diana’s romances and affairs”
- Harper’s Bazaar: “King Charles III and Camilla Parker Bowels’s Royal Love Story: From the ’70s to today”
- The Times: “Diana ‘wanted the public to see her love letters from Charles'”
- Sky News: “The ‘unconventional’ love story of Charles and Camilla as they celebrate wedding anniversary”
- Guinness World Records: “Largest TV audience for a wedding”
