Prince Charles & Lady Diana Spencer
Nearing his mid-thirties, Charles, Prince of Wales, was under increasing pressure to marry. 19 year old Lady Diana Spencer, who had played with Princes Andrew and Edward as a child, seemed to have all the necessary qualities of a future Queen, and their romance blossomed in 1980. In less than a year, Prince Charles proposed to Diana in the nursery of Windsor Castle. In Diana’s own words,
“He said, ‘Will you marry me?’ and I laughed. I remember thinking, ‘This is a joke,’ and I said, ‘Yeah, okay,’ and laughed. He was deadly serious. He said, ‘You do realize that one day you will be queen.’ And a voice said to me inside, ‘You won’t be queen, but you’ll have a tough role.’ So I said, ‘Yes.’ I said, ‘I love you so much, I love you so much.’ He said, ‘Whatever love means.’”
Their engagement was announced in the gardens of Buckingham Palace on February 24th, 1981, and Diana showed off her white gold engagement ring, which was dominated by an oval sapphire embraced by fourteen diamonds.
The marriage ceremony took place at St Paul’s Cathedral on 29th July, 1981 before 3500 guests, and an estimated television audience of 750 million people. Britons enjoyed a national holiday to mark the occasion. The ceremony was described as “the stuff of which fairy tales is made” by the Archbishop of Canterbury. Diana was the first Englishwoman to marry an heir to the throne in over 300 years. Her sumptuous wedding dress, designed by the Emmanuels, featured a 25-foot train. The story behind the creation of her dress has been revealed in the book, A Dress for Diana
Following the ceremony, the new Prince and Princess of Wales appeared on the balcony of Buckingham Palace and appeased the crowd with a kiss. A traditional royal wedding breakfast followed for 120 family guests after which the Prince and Princess of Wales departed for their honeymoon. Their honeymoon was spent at the Mountbatten family home at Broadlands, Hampshire, on a 12 day cruise through the Mediterranean and at the Queen’s Balmoral Estate.
In less than a year, the couple had their first child, Prince William, who was born on 21 June 1982. Their second son, Prince Harry, was born on 15 September 1984.
By this time however, their marriage was in trouble, most notably because of Prince Charles continued relationship with Camilla Parker Bowles, who would eventually become his wife. By the late 1980’s, the couple had effectively separated, however the separation was not announced until 9th December 1992. Around this time, Diana spoke publicly about their troubled marriage, causing a worldwide media sensation. Prince Charles spoke out about the marriage in 1994. They were formally divorced on 28th August 1996.
Tragically, on August 31st 1997, Princess Diana was killed in a car crash. Despite being divorced, Prince Charles over-ruled palace protocol by insisting that Diana be given a formal royal funeral, even accompanying his ex-wife’s body home from Paris, and subsequently was praised by many for his handling of the events and their aftermath.
April 15th, 2008 17:10
Watching the two videos of Lady Diana marrying Prince Charles makes me sad and she is a sweet person.
April 15th, 2008 18:31
you can tell, she was inlove sad indeed
April 15th, 2008 18:32
charles faked the press into believing he’s inlove
April 15th, 2008 21:45
Well – I can’t really fault Prince Charles. He was pushed and bullied into that marriage by the Queen Mother, her friend and lady-in-waiting, Lady Ruth Fermoy (Diana’s grandmother – how convenient), Prince Philip and The Queen. Charles was already in his 30’s, showed no interest in marriage, had no heirs and The Firm was panicking. Yes, Diana was probably in love with him but she knew fairly early on in the time before the marriage that he was still keen on Camilla and that she’d probably always be part of the scene.
Remember Charles’ prophetic words at the official engagement when asked if he was in love? His response, “Whatever in love means”. Diana looked devastated when he made that comment but essentially he was saying, “No, I’m not love with this girl but I’m being pushed into this marriage.” Charles never got over Camilla. Yet, it seems now that he’s married to Camilla, they seem to have marital problems. So again, marrying into the BRF is no bed of roses, even for a long-time devoted mistress like Camilla.
April 15th, 2008 21:51
Adding to my last post, Diana was not an easy girl to be with either. She had alot of baggage and emotional problems carried over from her childhood, the trauma of her mother leaving the family, her father was apparently abusive to her mother, and many other issues. She grew to be highly emotional, often very dramatic, manipulative at times, and very demanding. What she was also was a great mother and humanitarian. I believe Charles is a wonderful father and humanitarian so they both had their weaknesses, had lousy childhoods, but they also had and have their special qualities.
July 29th, 2008 11:02
The Deceased Diana, if you hear my voice in this situs at heaven, the source said next year your first son Wills & her lover catherine get to marriage at July 2009, maybe this is a sadness thing of you cause when both of them wedding, you not in there, if you still alive until now you can see it they wedding and blessing they marriage to be eternal Amien
November 9th, 2008 21:55
I wish people could just live in peace and people wouldn’t have to get divorced. I hate it when people do that. They’re all happy and then they’re not in love anymore. It sucks
November 29th, 2008 01:15
To me, Diana will always be the People’s Princess.
December 7th, 2008 13:39
It just shows the times.. very few aristocrats ever married for love. They stuck it out, like most people.
Except now, they can get divorced.
I think it’s astonishing Prince Charles has both been divorced, and married a divorced woman and still been allowed to obtain the throne after Queen Elizabeth’s death…
I mean, Edward VIII had to abdicate the throne to marry a divorced woman..
December 17th, 2008 03:55
For me, she is the most beautiful lady in the world. Nobody compares her charismatic and natural beauty.
Her fighting to find a true love inspire me much.