Prince Charles Cried Before Marrying Princess Diana After Posing This One Question About Love
Prince Charles cried before marrying Princess Diana, then Lady Diana Spencer, after asking a member of his staff a question about love. Continue reading to learn what question the now-70-year-old Prince Charles asked the day before he became a married man.
Weddings are typically happy, joyful occasions full of hope and promise. That wasn’t the case for either Prince Charles or Princess Diana leading up to their royal wedding at St. Paul’s Cathedral on July 29, 1981.
Prince Charles and Princess Diana didn’t want to get married
Learn how Princess Diana expertly concealed a snafu with her gown moments before walking down the aisle. Behind-the-scenes the bride, then only 20-years-old, had confided in her family she didn’t want to go through with the wedding.
The documentary, Diana: In Her Own Words, referenced secret tapes Princess Diana recorded which became the basis for Andrew Morton’s explosive biography he wrote in 1991. Princess Diana denied she had been involved when Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, and Queen Elizabeth II later asked her about the book.
At one point on the tapes, the late royal described a moment immediately following her engagement to Prince Charles when she told her sisters she wanted to call off the engagement, according to Brides.
“I went upstairs, had lunch with my sisters who were there, and I said, ‘I can’t marry him. I can’t do this. This is absolutely unbelievable.’ And they were wonderful and said, ‘Well, bad luck, Duch. Your face is on the tea towel, so you’re too late to chicken out,’” Princess Diana remembered.
Prince Charles asked if he could ‘love two women at the same time’
Closer to the big day (the night before) the then 32-year-old groom and first in the line of succession, asked his now-former valet, Stephen, a question about love, Sally Bedell Smith, a royal biographer wrote in her 2017 book, Charles: The Misunderstood Prince, per the International Business Times.
Smith wrote that Prince Charles stood at a window overlooking crowds of people who were lining up outside the cathedral ahead of the royal wedding. It was then he shared his thoughts with Stephen.
“‘Stephen,’ he asked his valet, ‘Is it possible to love two women at the same time?’” the author wrote.
Prince Charles had been in love with Camilla Parker Bowles (get all the details on their relationship here), now the Duchess of Cornwall. But the royal family didn’t deem her a suitable match for the future leader of the monarchy, so marriage wasn’t an option.
That’s where Princess Diana came in. Check out our relationship timeline featuring the late royal and Prince Charles for more details on their turbulent marriage.
Prince Charles knew he had to go through with the wedding to leave Princess Diana’s reputation untarnished.
“He realized that if he called it off, it would ruin Princess Diana’s future. If Prince Charles didn’t want her, who would?” Smith said.
Ultimately, the couple went through with the wedding to become the Prince and Princess of Wales, although Prince Charles found a sneaky way to kind of bring the Duchess of Cornwall on their honeymoon.
Princess Diana and Prince Charles had two children together: Prince William, Duke of Cambridge and Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex. And in 1992, they announced their separation before officially divorcing in 1996. Learn what the late royal got in her divorce settlement here.
Princess Diana died in a tragic car accident at the age of 36 in 1997. Eight years later, Prince Charles and Camilla, now the Duchess of Cornwall, married in a small ceremony.
