To the outside world, Princess Diana and then-Prince Charles seemed to have a fairytale relationship. But over time, royal watchers discovered that there was a great deal of turmoil in the couple’s marriage.
The future king first met his bride-to-be in 1977. At the time, Diana was 16 years old and Charles was nearly 13 years her senior. In 1980, the duo began dating then got engaged in February 1981. Five months later, they said “I do” in a televised wedding ceremony.
The royal couple soon started a family and welcomed their first child, a son named William, in 1982, followed by a second son named Harry in 1984.
The couple’s seemingly picturesque life was filled with turmoil behind the scenes and they went on to separate in 1992. By 1995, Queen Elizabeth II recommended that they end their marriage for good, and the divorce was finalized in August 1996.
Before her death in a car accident in 1997, Diana spoke candidly about her relationship with Charles on several occasions, most notably in a series of recordings for a biography titled, “Diana: Her True Story.”
Now, the princess’s brother, Charles Spencer, is giving an intimate look at his sister’s life in his new memoir, “Swan Song: Diana, My Sister.”
Before the book is released on Sept. 22, we’re taking a look back at what Diana said about her marriage to Charles and her life as a mother of two princes.
On the wedding:
Charles and Diana became husband and wife on July 29, 1981. The couple exchanged vows at St. Paul’s Cathedral in London in a televised wedding ceremony. Per the BBC, the broadcast was viewed by 750 million in 74 countries.
A 2017 National Geographic documentary titled “Diana: In Her Own Words” used audio from a series of interviews Diana participated in for her biography, “Diana: Her True Story.”
In the documentary, Diana described the feeling of bliss she experienced on her wedding day.
“I remember being so in love with my husband that I couldn’t take my eyes off him. I just absolutely thought I was the luckiest girl in the world and you know, he was going to look after me,” she said.
However, the day was largely overshadowed by feelings of sadness. Diana said she “cried a lot” after her wedding rehearsal earlier in the week because “the tension suddenly hit me.”
Diana went on to describe her wedding as “the worst day of my life.”
“I don’t think I was happy,” she recalled in a recording.
“I never tried to call it off in the sense of really doing that, but I think (it was) the worst day of my life,” she continued.
As she was walking down the aisle, Diana said she spotted Camilla Parker Bowles, one of Charles’ former flames.
According to Penny Junor’s biography of Camilla, “The Duchess: The Untold Story,” the future king was heartbroken when she married another man in 1973. Flash forward to 1978, and the former couple were still close friends. Junor’s book claims that Charles and Camilla even rekindled their romance briefly in “1978 or early 1979.”
While recalling the moment she spotted Camilla on her wedding day, Diana said, “And I thought, ‘Well, there we are. That’s it. Let’s hope that’s all over with,’” she said.
Per Jonathan Dimbleby’s authorized biography of Charles, the future king once again rekindled his romance with Camilla in 1986, while both were still married to other people.
In 1995, Camilla and her husband got divorced. Charles and Diana made their divorce official the following year. Charles and Camilla later got engaged and married in 2005.
On their honeymoon:
After their wedding, the newlyweds embarked on a cruise around the Mediterranean on a royal yacht then spent time in Scotland.
In 2026, a letter Diana wrote after her wedding went up for auction. Per The Telegraph, the letter was sent to her former classmate Katherine Hanbury.
“We had a blissful honeymoon with endless sun and luckily calm seas… we are now up in Scotland until the end of October, which is a big treat for us — I adore being outside all day & hate London!” the princess wrote.
In the letter, which was written two months after her wedding, Diana wrote that it was “wonderful being married” and described it to “a case of playing with grown ups.”
In 1992, biographer Andrew Morton published a biography titled “Diana: Her True Story.” Per People, the author asked one of Diana’s close friends to interview Diana then used those recordings to write the book.
In the biography, Morton described the pain Diana felt on her honeymoon as she became fixated on her husband’s connection with Camilla Parker Bowles.
“At night, I dreamt of Camilla the whole time,” she said, adding that she was “obsessed by Camilla totally.”
Per People, Diana saw two photos of Camilla fall out of her husband’s diary during their honeymoon. Before their wedding, Diana also found a “goodbye” bracelet the groom was going to give Camilla.
In his biography of Diana, Morton described how Charles and Diana had a fight during their honeymoon when he wore a pair of cufflinks Camilla had given him.
“Cufflinks arrive on his wrists — two ‘C’s entwined like the Chanel ‘C’s. Got it in one; knew exactly. ‘Camilla gave you those, didn’t she?’” Diana said. “He said, ‘Yes, so what’s wrong? They’re a present from a friend.’ And, boy, did we have a row.”
In the documentary “Diana: In Her Own Words,” Diana recalled how her husband brought eight books with him on vacation.
“We were never on our own,” she said.
The princess also discussed her struggles with disordered eating, which was ever-present during her honeymoon.
“By then the bulimia was appalling,” she said. “It was four times a day on the yacht.”
On their kids:
During their marriage, Diana and Charles welcomed two sons named William and Harry.
In 1995, Diana sat down with BBC Panorama for an interview with journalist Martin Bashir. During their chat, she said that she always wanted to be a mother.
“I came from a family where there were four of us, so we had enormous fun there,” she said. “And then William and Harry arrived — fortunately two boys, it would have been a little tricky if it had been two girls — but that in itself brings the responsibilities of bringing them up, William’s future being as it is, and Harry like a form of a back-up in that aspect.”
Diana discussed her “difficult pregnancy” and said she also experienced “post-natal depression” after delivering William.
“I received a great deal of treatment, but I knew in myself that actually what I needed was space and time to adapt to all the different roles that had come my way. I knew I could do it, but I needed people to be patient and give me the space to do it,” she said.
In the documentary “Diana: In Her Own Words,” Diana described the period between welcoming William and Harry as “total darkness” as the troubles in her marriage intensified.
“I can’t remember much. I’ve blotted it out. It was such pain,” she said.
However, the princess recalled how she and Charles were “very, very close” to each other during the six weeks before Harry was born, saying they were “the closest we’ve ever been.”
“And then as suddenly as Harry was born, it just went bang, our marriage. The whole thing went down the drain,” she said.
Diana added that Charles wanted a daughter, so she didn’t tell her husband when she found out that she was expecting another son.
“He wanted two children and he wanted a girl,” she said.
During her interview with Bashir, Diana said her biggest hope for her sons was that they develop “an understanding of people’s emotions, people’s insecurities, people’s distress, and people’s hopes and dreams.”
Diana described William as a “deep thinker” in the interview and described Harry as “complete joy” in the documentary “Diana: In Her Own Words.”
On their divorce:
Diana and Charles separated in 1992 and ultimately divorced in 1996. According to Diana, factors that led to the divorce included “pressure of the media” and adultery. Charles admitted to being unfaithful in a 1994 interview. She also described depression and developed an eating disorder during her marriage, she told Bashir.
Speaking to Bashir, Diana said her own parents’ divorce made her want to “make it work” even more.
“I desperately wanted it to work, I desperately loved my husband and I wanted to share everything together, and I thought that we were a very good team,” she said.
When Diana learned that news of Charles’ infidelity was going public, she was concerned about how it would affect her sons.
“William asked me what had been going on, and could I answer his questions, which I did. He said, was that the reason why our marriage had broken up? And I said, well, there were three of us in this marriage, and the pressure of the media was another factor, so the two together were very difficult. But although I still loved Papa I couldn’t live under the same roof as him, and likewise with him,” she continued.
Diana told Bashir that she took responsibility for the end of the marriage: “We both made mistakes.” For example, she admitted to infidelity on her own end in the interview.
“I take full responsibility, I take some responsibility that our marriage went the way it did. I’ll take half of it, but I won’t take any more than that, because it takes two to get in this situation,” she said.