The Prince and Princess of Wales

Princess Diana and Prince Charles married in their fairytale 1981 royal wedding. Their separation would come in 1992, followed by their acrimonious 1996 divorce. Just one year later, the Princess of Wales would lose her life in a car crash in August 1997.


Royal biographer Penny Junor, in her 2005 book "The Firm", uncovers what Charles' first words were when he learned of Diana’s sudden death. Ms Junor writes: “‘They’re all going to blame me, aren’t they?’ was the first question the Prince asked when he heard that she had been killed. “Initial reports were that she had been badly injured, but was still alive.” Ms Junor adds that the Prince of Wales then said: “The world’s going to go completely mad, isn’t it?

Prince charles was at Balmoral with the Queen wen the news broke

“We’re going to see a reaction that we’ve never seen before. “And it could destroy everything. It could destroy the monarchy.” The royal author reports that the Prince’s Private Secretary, Stephen Lamport, replied: “Yes, sir, I think it could. “It’s going to be very difficult for your mother, sir. READ MORE: Princess Diana: Versace’s heartbreaking last comment revealed


Princess Diana pictured in summer 1997

Prince Charles with William and Harry at Balmoral in summer 1997

The Queen talking with mourners in London after the princess' death

“What he did get absolutely right was the prediction that he would be blamed. “Had he loved Diana instead of his mistress, people argued in their anger, Diana would still be alive.” In her 2017 book “The Duchess”, Ms Junor also reflects on Prince Charles’ feelings after the sudden and untimely death of Diana in 1997. Ms Junor writes: “He wept bitterly at the sheer tragedy of it all, that their life together, which they had both so wanted to work, should have ended in such acrimony and anger, and he wept for William and Harry.

Prince Charles and Diana timeline

“And he wept for his failure to help Diana. “He knew he had done his best – no guilt there – but she’d been beyond any help he was able to provide. “It was a bruising and difficult time for him.” The royal biographer also writes how, heartbreakingly, the Prince could not turn to his mother the Queen in his grief.