Earl Spencer’s new memoir alleges that the King told him “we’ll forget her soon enough” following the death of Diana, Princess of Wales in 1997 – a claim Buckingham Palace has rejected by saying “the pain of fraternal grief can cloud reason”.
In the book – Swan Song: Diana, My Sister, serialised in the Daily Mail – the earl claims that Charles, then the Prince of Wales, subjected him to a “stream of anger” after he insisted Diana would not have wanted Princes William and Harry, then aged 15 and 12, to walk in her funeral procession.
With Charles and Diana’s relationship back under the spotlight following these claims, the Press Association has dipped into its picture archive to look at how it evolved over time.
Charles and Diana were guests at an entertainment evening in aid of the Royal Opera House Development Appeal in the picture above from 1981. This was Diana’s first royal engagement.
The couple, who announced their engagement in 1981, met some four years earlier in 1977 at Althorp when Diana was just 16. Charles, who dated Diana’s sister Sarah, proposed to 19-year-old Diana on February 6.
On July 25, 1981, at Tidworth Polo Club a few days before her wedding, Diana broke down in tears after becoming overwhelmed by intense press and public attention. A visibly distressed Diana sought refuge inside a private pavilion, prompting Charles to leave his match to comfort her.
During a visit to Leeds in 1982, Diana revealed a royal secret – that her baby was due on her 21st birthday.
Following the birth of Prince William on June 21 1982, the then prince and princess brought their newborn baby to the steps of the Lindo Wing at St Mary’s Hospital to introduce him to the media for the first time.
Diana wore a dress by fashion designer Gina Fratini while attending a banquet with Charles during their tour of Canada in June 1983. As the couple left, Charles commented to press photographers: “Isn’t she lovely?”
The couple met the Pope during a private audience at the Vatican in Rome as part of their 17-day official visit to Italy in 1985. The first reports of difficulties in the royal marriage emerged that year.
Charles received a kiss from Diana when she presented him with a runners up medal after his polo team, Windsor Park, were beaten in the final of the Garrard Trophy, at Smith’s Lawn, Windsor, in 1986. It was during this year that Diana began a five-year affair with cavalry officer James Hewitt and Charles turned to former flame Camilla Parker Bowles.
The Princess of Wales was famously photographed in front of the Taj Mahal during a royal tour of India in February 1992 with Charles.
Later that year, Andrew Morton’s book Diana: Her True Story, on which Diana had secretly collaborated, was published, alleging she was deeply unhappy, had attempted suicide and had suffered from bulimia.
Diana and Charles were dubbed “The Glums” for looking miserable on a tour to South Korea in November 1992. The intimacy between Charles and Camilla became apparent that year when the so-called “Camillagate” tape conversation between the two surfaces.
The following month, prime minister John Major announced that Charles and Diana were to separate amicably.
Charles, in a television interview on June 29 1994, admitted he was unfaithful to Diana after their marriage broke down. The same evening, the princess appeared at the Serpentine Gallery in what is dubbed her “revenge dress” – a figure-hugging, low-cut, off-the-shoulder black silk gown.
Later that year, Diana’s love affair with Captain Hewitt is exposed after he co-operates with the bombshell book Princess In Love, written by Anna Pasternak. Then an authorised biography of Charles by Jonathan Dimbleby further confirms his affair with Camilla.
In November 1995, Diana gave an interview to the BBC’s Panorama programme in which she says of her relationship with Charles: “There were three of us in this marriage”, and casts doubts on the prince’s suitability to be king. Queen Elizabeth II urged the couple to divorce a month later. The final divorce decree was granted in August 1996.
In August 1997, Diana and her boyfriend Dodi al-Fayed were killed in a car crash in Paris.
Diana’s funeral took place at Westminster Abbey. William and Harry walked through the streets behind their mother’s coffin with Charles, the Duke of Edinburgh and Diana’s brother Earl Spencer.
An extract from Earl Spencer’s book serialised in the Daily Mail in September 2026 claims Charles told him, “rest assured, we’ll forget her soon enough”, days after Diana’s death.
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