As the UK prepares for the 21st anniversary of Princess Diana’s death, an interview has come to light about the shocking moment Diana realised that her husband, Prince Charles, was having an affair with Camilla Parker-Bowles.
In 1981, Charles left on a five-week royal tour, and the press all noticed Diana’s heartbroken and teary farewell to the Prince. But as this newly discovered interview revealed, the tears weren’t due to the Charles leaving at all, but instead due to Diana discovering the affair Charles was having with Camilla.
In the archive recordings shared by the National Geographic, Diana said: “You may recall seeing a picture of me sobbing in a red coat when he went off on his aeroplane.
“That had nothing to do with him going.
“The most awful thing had happened before he went.
“I was in his study talking to him about his trip.
“The telephone rang, it was Camilla.
“Just before he was going for five weeks.
“So I thought, ‘Shall I be nice or shall I just sit here?’
“So I thought I’d be nice, so I left them to it.
“And it just broke my heart, that.”
She also said of her relationship with Charles:
“I was still too immature to understand all the messages coming my way.
“And then someone in his office told me that my husband has had a bracelet made for her.
“I walked into this man’s office one day and I said, ‘Ooh, what’s in that parcel?’
“And he said ‘Oh, you shouldn’t look at that’.
“So I opened it and there was the bracelet.”
Diana added: “I was devastated, and I said ‘Well, he’s going to give it to her tonight’.
“So rage, rage, rage. You know, ‘Why can’t you be honest with me?’
“But no, absolutely cut me dead. It was as if he’d made his decision, and if it wasn’t going to work, it wasn’t going to work.
“He’d found the virgin, the sacrificial lamb – 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.”
In July 1981, Charles and Diana were married. In 1996 they divorced, following a letter from the Queen advising them the end their relationship.
Princess Diana died in a car crash on August 31, 1997.
