1994 King Charles Biography Labeled Princess Diana a ‘Hired Womb’ — Author
TL;DR:
- Jonathan Dimbleby’s authorized biography of King Charles III, The Prince of Wales: A Biography, debuted in 1994.
- According to author Kitty Kelley, “Charles made it clear” via Dimbleby, Princess Diana “was nothing more than a hired womb.”
- Princess Diana retaliated to the claims made in the book by reportedly leaking photos of her and King Charles from 1982.
A 1994 authorized biography of King Charles III painted Princess Diana as “nothing more than a hired womb,” according to an author. Ahead, details from The Prince of Wales: A Biography on Diana’s “transformation” and how she responded to the claims.
1994 King Charles biography described Princess Diana as a ‘hired womb,’ according to a royal author
Little more than four months after King Charles appeared in a candid TV documentary an authorized biography of the now-73-year-old hit shelves. The Prince of Wales: A Biography debuted on Nov. 4, 1994.
In writing it, broadcast journalist Jonathan Dimbleby received access to the then-Prince of Wales’ letters and journals. The two also sat down for interviews.
According to author and biographer Kitty Kelley, the book described Diana, the king’s then-wife (they’d been separated since 1992) and mother to his children, as a “hired womb.”
“Through Dimbleby, Charles made it clear that Diana was nothing more than a hired womb,” Kelley wrote in The Royals (via Vanity Fair). “His level of contempt disappointed people who expected their future King to be high-minded and big-hearted.”
Kelley continued. “Through Dimbleby, Charles tried to put his case forward and set right the real and imagined wrongs he felt had been done to him.” However, “he came across as petty and small, and he offended his wife, his parents, his sister, his brothers, his children.”
The biography claimed King Charles married Princess Diana when he’d been in a ‘confused and anxious state of mind’
Long before King Charles and Diana emotionally marked the end of their marriage, Dimbleby revisited the early days of their relationship in the biography. He claimed Charles felt pressure to marry Diana from his father, Prince Philip.
“The prince interpreted his father’s attitude as an ultimatum,” the book said (via The Washington Post. Ultimately, he entered the marriage in July 1981 in a “confused and anxious state of mind.”
Then there was Diana’s “transformation,” which the book said the king “was not prepared for.”
“Having known only the ‘jolly’ girl who had enlivened Balmoral six months earlier, he was baffled to discover her sudden shifts in mood — her ‘other side’ as he referred to it,” Dimbleby wrote, noting the king “put it down to the strain of media attention.”
Furthermore, the author claimed life as a bachelor would’ve likely resulted in a happier existence for the king.
Princess Diana responded to ‘The Prince of Wales’ biography by supposedly leaking old photos of her and King Charles
Author Tina Brown wrote in The Diana Chronicles how Diana responded to the biography. Particularly, Dimbleby’s claim that Charles never loved her.
According to Brown, Diana leaked photos of her and the now-king to News of the World. They showed the two frolicking on the beach during a 1982 visit to Eleuthera.
What became known in the press as the “War of the Waleses” continued until Diana and the king officially divorced in July 1996.
