Diana's letter from Queen that ended marriage to Charles and left her furious
More than 15 years after her fairytale wedding captivated the world, Princess Diana's marriage to the now King Charles ended in divorce.
The pair were unable to make their union work following their 1981 nuptials, resulting in an acrimonious split followed by divorce, which was officially finalised on this day in 1996. Although the marriage officially ended then, the couple actually split four years earlier in 1992, but insisted it was a separation, rather than aa divorce.
It was said that Diana especially was not interested in making things official, but it seems that a letter from the late Queen, who intervened in the split, officially prompted the dissolution of the marriage - and it left the late princess furious.
Princess Diana with her ex-husband Charles and former mother-in-law the late Queen (Tim Graham Photo Library via Getty Images)Labelled with the crest of the House of Windsor, the handwritten letter arrived just weeks after Diana gave her bombshell Panorama interview in late 1995. In the one-to-one with the since discredited Martin Bashir, Diana uttered the famous line "there were three of us in this marriage" when referring to Charles and his long-term love Camilla, now the Queen Consort
The interview, which was watched by 22.8million viewers, caused huge embarrassment for the Royal Family after she also said the monarchy was in desperate need of modernisation and called the prince's camp the "enemy". It plunged the royals into crisis as the general public sided with Diana - prompting the late Queen to write the letter, which left the princess in no doubt about her annoyance.
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The late monarch isa said to have told her: "I have consulted with the Archbishop of Canterbury and with the prime minister and, of course, with Charles, and we have decided that the best course for you is divorce." It reportedly left Diana seething as she felt she was being forced to agree to a divorce - despite not wanting one.
The Queen on the Buckingham Palace balcony with Diana and Charles on their wedding day (Getty Images)Days later, Buckingham Palace formally announced the divorce in a statement saying "after considering the present situation the Queen… gave them their view, supported by the Duke of Edinburgh [the late Prince Philip] , that an early divorce is desirable."
The following year on August 28, 1996, the divorce was complete. It brought to an end the marriage of the pair that began with a huge fairytale ceremony at St Paul's Cathedral on July 29, 1981.
As part of a settlement, Charles and Diana agreed to share custody of their sons, Prince William and Prince Harry. Diana was reportedly awarded a lump sum of £17million along with £350,000 each year to run her private office. She was also allowed to keep her apartments at Kensington Palace.
However, one thing she was stripped of was her title of Her Royal Highness. She then became known as Diana, Princess of Wales.
This led to a heartbreaking conversation between Diana and a then 14-year-old William that left her in tears, according to her butler Paul Burrell. The young prince reportedly told his mum: "Don't worry Mummy, I will give it back to you one day when I am King."
However, William's promise to give his mother back her HRH title was made even more heartbreaking almost exactly a year after the divorce was finalised. Diana died following a car crash in Paris on August 31, 1997, alongside her companion Dodi Fayed - with this year the 25th anniversary of her shocking death.
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