The true events leading up to the wedding of Princess Diana and Prince Charles

The couple married in 1981 after a very short engagement

Princess Diana in 1983 ( Photo by Robin Anderson/REX)

Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer announced their engagement at Buckingham Palace in February 1981, and were married only months later in July.

However, their marriage was not to be the royal fairytale that it was often publicly portrayed as – the royal couple divorced in 1996 after having two sons together, William and Harry.

There were, perhaps, some signs there could be trouble ahead – Diana herself said that she had only met Charles 12 times before they became engaged and Diana was only 19 years old when she accepted Charles proposal – the prince was 32.

Charles allegedly had reservations in the lead up to the marriage, not least because of his feelings for his (now wife) Camilla Parker Bowles, who he eventually married in 2005. 

But what about Diana? Did she have any reservations beforehand, and did she try to act on them? Here’s everything you need to know.

How does The Crown tell the story of the lead up to the wedding?

The entire run up to the wedding is covered by episode three, which begins with Diana leaving her flatmates in Earls Court and moving into Buckingham Palace, in order to receive “princess tutorials” from her own grandmother, Lady Fermoy.

Viewers later see the couple interviewed by the media following their engagement. As happened in real life, when asked if they were in love, Diana replies that they “absolutely" were. Prince Charles’ responds saying “whatever love means”.

In The Crown, Prince Charles leaves shortly after the engagement to go on tour, leaving Princess Diana at a loss. 

After going for lunch with Camilla Parker Bowles (Emerald Fennell), she discovers that Charles has had a bracelet made for his ex-lover with their nicknames for each other – Fred and Gladys – inscribed on it. 

(Des Willie/Netflix)

Incensed, on-screen Diana tries desperately to get through to Prince Charles or any member of the Royal Family to discuss this. “This wedding can’t go ahead, it’ll be a disaster for everyone,” she says over the phone when she demands, and fails, to speak to the Queen.

She confronts Charles before the wedding rehearsal, where he tries to reassure and placate her with his signet ring. 

Later, the Queen wrestles with whether to call off the wedding, but instead advises Charles to go ahead and prioritise his “duty”, promising that “love and happiness will surely follow”.

Did this happen in real life?

There were a few upsetting moments in the lead up to the big day. According to biographer Andrew Morton, on the Monday before her wedding day Princess Diana found out about the Fred and Gladys bracelet. This reportedly upset her, causing her to seriously consider calling off the wedding.

“At lunchtime she knew that Prince Charles had gone to present Camilla [Parker Bowles] with her gift, even leaving behind his senior bodyguard, Chief Inspector John McLean,” Morton alleges. After confiding in her sisters, Diana was told that it was too late to “chicken out”.

"She was confused, upset and bewildered by the train of events. At that moment, as she seriously considered calling off the wedding, they made light of her fears and premonitions of the disaster which lay ahead,” Morton said.

(AFP via Getty Images)

Did Charles try and put a stop to the marriage before it started?

Charles also reportedly had misgivings about the relationship before he proposed, particularly about the media frenzy that was forming around Diana.

According to royal biographer Robert Jobson’s 2018 book Charles At Seventy: Thoughts, Hopes And Dreams, Charles was encouraged by his father the Duke of Edinburgh to either release Diana, or propose to her as a means of stabilising things for her. 

Unfortunately, choosing to propose escalated the media frenzy and brought into sharp relief how little the couple had in common.

(AFP via Getty Images)

“I desperately wanted to get out of the wedding in 1981, when during the engagement I discovered just how awful the prospects were, having had no chance whatsoever to get to know Diana beforehand.” he told Jobson.

"To have withdrawn, as you can no doubt imagine, would have been cataclysmic,” he said. “Hence I was permanently between the devil and the deep blue sea.”