\nIn 1981, the world was captivated by Princess Diana and her fairytale romance with Prince Charles. She was the public\u2019s darling \u2014 the beautiful, shy young woman who had captured the heart of the Prince of Wales.\n
But behind the scenes, things weren\u2019t as perfect as they appeared.\n
1981 was a monumental year for Princess Diana, a year that would change her life forever. While working as a nursery teacher\u2019s assistant, she became engaged to Prince Charles, the heir to the British throne.\n
Their royal wedding in July that year was a worldwide spectacle, watched by millions as Diana became the Princess of Wales. But amid the glamour and the fairytale-like wedding, there were darker, hidden struggles that no one could see.\n
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At first, however, everything seemed peaceful and perfect between the newly-in-love couple. When Charles left for a five-week royal tour in 1981, cameras captured Diana crying as she said goodbye, thought to be from the sadness of being separated from her soon-to-be husband.\n
But, as it turns out, the real reason for Diana\u2019s tears was far more heartbreaking.\n
One of the most memorable and heartbreaking moments of 1981 occurred on March 29, when Lady Diana tearfully waved goodbye to Prince Charles at Heathrow Airport. The Prince was about to embark on a five-week royal tour, traveling to the United States, Venezuela, New Zealand, and Australia.\n
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Dressed in a red coat, fawn skirt, and brown leather shoes, Diana walked beside the Prince through puddles at the airport after arriving in the Queen\u2019s Rolls-Royce.\n
Just days earlier, Queen Elizabeth had given her formal consent for Prince Charles to marry Lady Diana Spencer, marking the start of their fairytale engagement.\n
As the RAF VC 10 prepared for takeoff, Diana stood by to say farewell Charles. The Prince kissed her on both cheeks at the rainy and windswept airport ramp.\n
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This emotional scene marked several milestones \u2014 it was the first public kiss since the announcement of the Royal Engagement earlier that year, and it was one of the many images that defined Diana\u2019s early years in the public eye.\n
Reports from that day confirmed that Diana was indeed crying as she parted from Charles. The farewell was described as deeply emotional, and Charles himself appeared moved by the moment.\n
\u201cThe Prince tried to cheer her up, kissed her once on each cheek, then with a broad smile petted her left and said, \u2018Take care,\u2019\u201d reported the Western Daily Press in 1981.\n
The moment was photographed and covered by journalists worldwide, with the press labeling it a \u201ctender farewell.\u201d\n
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Airport officials remarked, \u201cWe have never seen such a touching farewell.\u201d\n
But as we would learn decades later, the truth was far more complicated \u2014 and far more painful.\n
In a 2017 documentary, Diana: In Her Own Words, the world finally heard Diana\u2019s side of the story. In the tapes she made for biographer Andrew Morton in 1991, she revealed that the tears weren\u2019t because of Charles leaving. Instead, they were due to a devastating revelation she learned just hours before.\n
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\u201dYou may recall seeing a picture of me sobbing in a red coat when [Prince Charles] went off on his aeroplane,\u201d Diana says on the tapes. \u201dThat was nothing to do with him going. The most awful thing had happened before he went.\u201d\n
The cameras had no idea what was really happening behind closed doors.\n
At just 19, Diana was still a young woman, inexperienced in the complexities of royal life and relationships. But Diana had discovered something that would change everything: Charles\u2019s ongoing relationship with Camilla Parker Bowles.\n
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\u201dI was in his study talking to him about his trip,\u201d Diana recalled. \u201dThe telephone rang; it was Camilla, and just before he was going for five weeks. So I thought, \u2018Shall I be nice, or shall I just sit here?\u2019 So I thought I\u2019d be nice, so I left them to it. And it just broke my heart, that.\u201d\n
Later, while Charles was away, Diana would learn of a bracelet Charles had made for Camilla, a gift that struck at the heart of her worst fears.\n
\u201dI walked into this man\u2019s office one day and I said, \u2018Ooh, what\u2019s in that parcel?\u2019 And he said \u2018Oh, you shouldn\u2019t look at that.\u2019 So I opened it and there was the bracelet.\u201d\n
\u201dI was devastated,\u201d she continued. \u201cAnd I said, \u2018Well, he\u2019s going to give it to her tonight.\u2019 So rage, rage, rage. You know, \u2018Why can\u2019t you be honest with me?\u2019 But no, absolutely cut me dead. It was as if he\u2019d made his decision, and if it wasn\u2019t going to work, it wasn\u2019t going to work.\u201d\n
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Despite the heartbreak, Diana tried to stay strong, even when faced with the painful realities of her engagement.\n
A lunch with Camilla, meant to be a light-hearted affair, took on a darker meaning when Camilla subtly laid claim to Charles in a way that Diana could never ignore.\n
\u201dYou are not going to hunt, are you?\u201d Camilla had asked.\n
\u201dI said, \u2018No.\u2019 She said, \u2018I just wanted to know,\u2019 and I thought as far as she was concerned that was her communication route,\u201d Diana recalled.\n
Royal biographer Tina Brown, in The Diana Chronicles, believes the tears Diana shed at the airport were not of sorrow, but of anger. \u201dDiana\u2019s tears at the airport were not of grief but of rage,\u201d Brown wrote. And rage is exactly what Diana was feeling. Her fianc\u00e9, the man she was about to marry, had given a deeply personal gift to another woman. In Diana\u2019s eyes, that was a sign of things to come.\n
\u201cHe\u2019d found the virgin, the sacrificial lamb \u2013 and in a way, he was obsessed with me, but it was hot and cold, hot and cold, you never knew what mood it was going to be, up and down, up and down,\u201d Diana said, reflecting on the emotional rollercoaster that was her relationship with Charles.\n
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Just before the wedding, Diana went for another lunch \u2013 this time with her sisters.\n
\u201cI went upstairs, had lunch with my sisters who were there, and I said, \u2018I can\u2019t marry him. I can\u2019t do this. This is absolutely unbelievable,\u2019\u201d Diana can be heard saying during an audio recording in the documentary Diana: In Her Own Words.\n
Diana confided in her sisters, hoping for support, but they gave her the harsh reality check she needed. \u201dWell, bad luck, \u2018Duch.\u2019 Your face is on the tea towels so you\u2019re too late to chicken out.\u201d\n
The wedding went ahead, despite the storm brewing in Diana\u2019s heart. By 1996, after years of infidelity and emotional turmoil, Charles and Diana divorced, following a letter from the Queen advising them to end their troubled marriage.\n
\u201cThere were three of us in this marriage, so it was a bit crowded,\u201d Diana later said.\n
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According to Charles\u2019 authorized biography, as quoted by Town & Country, Charles and Camilla\u2019s love affair started in 1986. At that time, Charles was still married to Princess Diana, and she found out about it.\n
In 1989, Diana confronted Camilla over the affair, telling her to back off.\n
\u201cI know what\u2019s going on between you and Charles and I just want you to know that,\u201d Camilla recalled Diana saying in a tape released by The Telegraph, as quoted by Town & Country.\n
\u201c[Diana] said to me: \u2018You\u2019ve got everything you ever wanted. You\u2019ve got all the men in the world falling in love with you and you\u2019ve got two beautiful children, what more do you want?\u2019\u201d\n
\u201cSo I said, \u2018I want my husband.\u2019 And I said, \u2018I\u2019m sorry I\u2019m in the way and it must be hell for both of you. But I do know what\u2019s going on. Don\u2019t treat me like an idiot,\u2019\u201d Camilla explained.\n
Princess Diana would tragically pass away in a car crash on August 31, 1997.\n
This is how Princess Diana found Prince Charles was cheating on her, 1996 pic.twitter.com\/XqhSREsmts\n
\u2014 Historic Vids (@historyinmemes) November 19, 2024\n
At the time, no one really knew what Diana was feeling, but looking at those photos from Heathrow today, it\u2019s clear they tell a different story.\n
What seemed like a sweet, emotional farewell was in fact much more complicated.\n
Looking back, it\u2019s crazy how much more we understand now. What\u2019s your take on it all?\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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