Interview with Lady Diana on BBC channel in Russian. Seven fatal mistakes of the Princess of Wales
On the 20th anniversary of Princess Diana's death, we've collected famous and unknown photographs of her.
Illustration copyright PA Image caption Diana Frances Spencer was born on July 1, 1961 in Sandringham, Norfolk. She was youngest daughter Viscount and Viscountess Althorp.
Illustration copyright PA Image caption Her parents divorced when Diana was 7 years old. She took their separation hard.
Illustration copyright PA Image caption Diana first attended school in Norfolk, then in Kent, then in Switzerland.
Illustration copyright REX/Shutterstock Image caption In 1978, Diana moved to London, where she began working as a teacher's assistant in kindergarten.
Illustration copyright PA Image caption The friendship between Diana and Prince Charles received close attention from the press, and rumors of a love affair soon began to spread.
Illustration copyright PA Image caption On February 24, 1981, the engagement of Prince Charles and Diana Spencer was officially announced. The ring cost about 30 thousand pounds. A large sapphire is surrounded by 14 diamonds.
Illustration copyright PA Image caption On July 29, 1981, Diana walked down the altar at St. Paul's Cathedral, arm in arm with her father. Her wedding dress, made of silk taffeta, decorated with lace, hand embroidery, rhinestones and 10 thousand pearls, also had a 10-meter train.
Illustration copyright PA Image caption Diana was only 20 years old when she became a member royal family.
Illustration copyright PA Image caption 60 thousand people lined up along the route of the wedding procession; millions of television viewers were waiting for stories about the royal wedding.
Illustration copyright PA Image caption Charles and Diana spent their honeymoon on the royal yacht Britannia on a cruise in the Mediterranean, and then flew to Scotland to Balmoral Castle.
Illustration copyright Tim Ockenden/ PA Image caption Diana always dreamed of big family. A year after the wedding, on June 21, 1982, she gave birth to a son, Prince William, who became second in line to the throne after his father.
Illustration copyright PA Image caption Diana wanted her children to grow up in normal conditions. William became the first heir to the throne to go to kindergarten.
Illustration copyright PA Image caption On September 15, 1984, William's brother was born. He was baptized Henry but became known as Prince Harry.
Illustration copyright PA Image caption The princess quickly fell into the rhythm of the royal family. She began to often visit schools, hospitals, and various events. Her sincerity and openness impressed the public and made her a universal favorite.
Illustration copyright PA Image caption During her first official visit to the United States in 1985, Diana danced at the White House with actor John Travolta. Even then, the public eagerly discussed the princess’s outfits.
Illustration copyright REX/Shutterstock Image caption
Charitable activities Diana only increased her popularity. Diana did a lot to change public opinion about people with HIV. She fought prejudices in one of the following ways: by demonstrating that you can shake hands with a person with HIV without fear of becoming infected.
Illustration copyright PA Image caption The Prince and Princess of Wales often appeared at events together, but by the end of the 80s, problems in their family life became known to the general public.
Illustration copyright Martin Keene/ PA Image caption During an official visit to India in 1992, Diana posed alone for a photograph at the world famous Taj Mahal. This photo became a kind of public confession of loneliness.
Illustration copyright Duncan Raban/ PA Image caption Diana continued to be a loving mother to her sons. Prince Harry once said that she was "one of the most mischievous parents."
Illustration copyright PA Image caption Diana maintained a close relationship with Mother Teresa. Mother Teresa died just 5 days after Diana's death.
Illustration copyright PA/BBC Image caption On November 20, 1995, Princess Diana gave an amazing frank interview Martin Bashir for the BBC. The interview was seen by millions of people. In it, Diana talked about her postpartum depression, the deterioration of her relationship with Prince Charles, her divorce and difficult relationships with members of the royal family.
Illustration copyright Anwar Hussein/Getty Images Image caption Despite personal problems, the princess continued her charitable work. She traveled all over the world. Diana visited, in particular, a hospital for cancer patients in Pakistan.
Illustration copyright PA Image caption Charles and Diana officially divorced on August 28, 1996. The following June, the Princess of Wales auctioned off 79 of her dresses, raising $4.5 million for charity.
Illustration copyright PA Image caption On August 31, after dinner at the Ritz Hotel in Paris, Diana and her producer, the son of Egyptian billionaire Mohammed Al-Fayed, Dodi Al-Fayed, got into a limousine. As a result of a car accident in the tunnel in front of the Alma bridge on the Seine embankment, Dodi and the driver of the car died instantly, Diana died in the hospital 2 hours later. According to one version of what happened, the princess's limousine was pursued by paparazzi on motorcycles in the hope of getting exclusive photo Diana and her companion, whom the public has already listed as Diana’s new lover.
Illustration copyright JEFF J MITCHELL/Getty Images Image caption More than a million people lined up in London along the route of the funeral cortege carrying Diana's body. Following the coffin were Prince Charles, Diana's sons William and Harry and Diana's brother Earl Spencer.
Some idolize her, others consider her a skilled manipulator who made her name by opposing herself to the not very popular royal family. The truth, as usual, is somewhere nearby. But what Princess Diana did a lot in her life serious mistakes, which ultimately had tragic consequences for herself, is an indisputable fact.
Accepted Prince Charles's proposal
Now it seems incredible: if Diana had not married Charles in 1981, the world would never have known about her existence. It is unlikely that a shy, ordinary girl, who failed her final exams at school twice and barely made it through one semester in college, would be able to achieve the sky-high popularity and adoration that she had as a wife. crown prince. Contrary to popular belief, Diana was not rich before her wedding. According to British law, peerage titles (including the title of Earl Spencer), together with all movable and immovable property, are transmitted exclusively through the male line. Diana had younger brother Charles and two older sisters. The boy inherited everything, the sisters married quite successfully. As for the future princess, her fate could turn out to be very modest.
The year she became the official girlfriend of the Prince of Wales, Lady Di had already been living in London for a couple of years, first with her mother, and then in the apartment she was given for her 18th birthday. And since the girl did not have any special education, she took on any job, however, without staying long anywhere: she cleaned for money from older sister and some of her friends, helped organize parties, worked as a dance instructor for teenagers, as a nanny for US expats named Robertson, as a teacher's assistant at Young England School and as a kindergarten teacher's assistant. This is the track record that Lady Diana Spencer had by the time they began to actively push her towards the Prince of Wales.
The situation developed almost as if classic novel Jane Austen: the girl was in the right place at the right time time after time. All she had to do was catch the eye of Prince Charles (whom the Court was actively looking for a bride) and at least say something. Given the proximity of Diana's grandmother to the Queen Mother, as well as the proximity of the Spencer family estate and the royal residence in Norfolk, this was easy to organize. Charles paid tribute to Diana's modesty and sensitivity, but, of course, did not plan to develop a relationship, much less marry her. However, the information that the prince allegedly found himself new girl, with someone's light hand it turned out to be the property of journalists. The relationship between Diana and Charles became the subject of speculation in the press.
Prince Consort Philip decided to put an end to this issue. Since live human communication between father and son was not in honor of the Duke of Edinburgh, he wrote a stern letter to the eldest heir, in which he demanded to protect good name girls, as befits a man. Prince Charles, according to his aunt, Philip's cousin, Pamella Hicks, took this as an order: he proposed to Diana, which Lady Spencer, who had known the prince for only a few months and had nothing in common with him, accepted without hesitation. In an interview on the occasion of the official announcement of the engagement, Charles said that he was truly amazed that “Diana was ready to rely on him.” But the sarcasm of these words became obvious and understandable only many years later.
Overestimated herself and underestimated Camilla
It is not customary for the Windsor family to cry, even at the funerals of those closest to them. And even more so at a wedding. Even if this wedding means the collapse of all your dreams of happy life with the one you really love. Charles cried his tears for Camilla Parker Bowles ahead of the 'Wedding of the Century'. By that time, their love affair with obstacles had already lasted 9 years. This, of course, was known to Diana, who for the last two years had lived not in a remote village, but in London, where this kind of information always made it to the front pages of newspapers. What did the 19-year-old precocious bride expect, whose total experience of acquaintance with her future spouse was less than a year, and communication - even less? How was she going to outshine Camilla? (read: Princess Diana: “On the eve of the wedding, I said I couldn’t marry Charles”)
"The honeymoon turned out to be great opportunity get some sleep,” a phrase from Diana’s letter written to her maid of honor on August 15, 1981, 2 weeks after the magnificent royal wedding(read: Princess Diana: “I cut my wrists already on my honeymoon”). That is, as soon as she became the legal wife of a 33-year-old man who had a love affair with a temperamental and experienced rival in love affairs for 9 years, Diana found nothing better than to sleep through her honeymoon with a feeling of deep satisfaction. One can easily imagine how Charles missed Camilla at this time.
There was an intellectual and spiritual chasm between Charles and Diana. The almost 13-year age difference had to be compensated for by at least something, but she decided that it was he, Charles, who should take the trouble to “descend” to her level of development, and not she to “rise” to the level of her husband. She was not interested in the Prince of Wales's hobbies, did not try to make friends with his friends, criticized his habits and mocked his piety. They literally had nothing to talk about with each other, and Diana couldn’t listen to Charles the way Camilla did.
Remarkable fact: Lady Di's favorite books were romance novels Barbara Cartland. Even before her marriage, she read the book “The King’s Bride,” admitting that all her girlish dreams were embodied in it. In 1993, the writer herself would say: “Diana read only the books I wrote. Say what you will, but it's not best choice" American Mary Robertson, for whom Diana Spencer worked as a nanny shortly before the engagement, also recalled that she was extremely surprised by the girl’s limited literary tastes and even advised her to start reading The Times and the Daily Telegraph in order to be able to carry on conversations with Charles.
After it became obvious that Charles was bored in her presence, Diana made another strategic mistake (which is forgivable for a girl her age, but, alas, does not change the ending): she began to be jealous of her husband for his ex-lover. This greatly grounded Diana in Charles' eyes. And she, without understanding this, came up with new reasons for jealousy and new offensive nicknames for Camilla. One of them even remained in history - the Rottweiler. According to Diana, Camilla had a death grip on Charles, just like a dog of this guard breed does. It seems that the “Queen of Hearts” was never able to understand until the end of her life why she was always losing to her “older” and less attractive rival.
Allowed myself to be hysterical
Numerous memories of Diana and her own confessions made in BBC interview in 1995, clearly indicate that Lady Di had a hysterical personality type. For the first time, this manifested itself in all its glory when, being in the 3rd month of pregnancy (and Diana became pregnant almost immediately after the wedding), she faked a fall from the stairs. Of course, everything ended well, and the scared to death Charles spent the rest of Diana’s pregnancy blowing away specks of dust from her.
After giving birth, according to the princess herself, she again began to suffer from lack of attention, fell into postpartum depression, and then began to demonstratively inflict bodily harm on herself. True, they were just “demonstrative” ones, and not ones that could actually somehow harm her appearance. In an interview with the BBC, the Princess of Wales said she was perhaps "the first in the Royal Family to ever experience depression, or at least the first to allow herself to express it openly." Such regular “openness” repelled Charles and his family from her.
In addition to depression, Diana suffered from periodic eating disorders. She herself admitted that at the beginning of her marriage she suffered from bulimia for more than four years, which was associated with dissatisfaction with her figure and with nervous overstrain due to the life changes that befell her. Uncontrolled overeating, after which the princess went to the restroom to induce vomiting, also did not add romance to the marital relationship. Diana was sent for treatment more than once, however, as we know, this did not lead to anything, since the real problem lay in the self-centered nature of the young woman, in her insatiable thirst for the attention of others to her person and, most importantly, in her unwillingness to work on herself. In a country where the system of private psychotherapists and psychoanalysts was already well developed, Diana chose to reflect, feel sorry for herself and blackmail others with her antics. At first this frightened and upset Charles and Elizabeth, then the shock gave way to irritation and alienation. By 1985, the princess managed to completely distance herself from her husband. Charles remembered Camilla, and Diana remembered the red-haired riding instructor.
Cheated on the future King
England, which is proud of its history, still remembers the times when betrayal of one’s husband, the king, was equated with high treason. Of course, modern Windsors have come a long way from chopping off heads for the adultery of their spouses, and Charles is not yet a monarch. But in the royal family, the taboo against female infidelity is written down at the DNA level. Even if the husband himself goes to great lengths, the wife must remain a saint. Diana could not help but know how her affairs would turn out, given her status as the wife and mother of the heirs of the British monarchy. But she, apparently, preferred not to think about it. As well as the fact that the status of her lovers (grooms, drivers, officers) further humiliates both Charles and herself.
Biographers of the Princess of Wales counted 5 official and 6-8 unofficial lovers with whom Diana had relationships before and after her divorce from Charles. Prince Harry suffered the most for these novels, whom journalists declared a by-product mother's love, as soon as it became known about her long-term adultery with the red-haired officer and riding instructor James Hewitt. And after the memoirs of Diana’s former butler Paul Burrell, who claimed that Diana preferred not to use protection during her secret meetings with men, these rumors became completely unbearable. A simple DNA test could stop them, but the royal court will never agree to such a procedure. Perhaps, not least because the DNA of Charles and Harry may indeed not match, and no one knows what to do next in this case. Fortunately for Prince Harry, thanks to his older brother William and his wife Kate, he has already moved enough away from the throne for his true origins to concern only historians and those who like to delve into other people's dirty laundry. One more unofficial version, the DNA test has long been done secretly, and the relationship between Harry and Charles has been proven.
Stirred up the interest of the press
Television journalist Martin Bashir, during the famous scandalous interview, reminded Diana that she was often accused of artificially inflating interest in her person, shocking the press in the first years of her marriage to Charles. For example, she performed almost in a negligee on the stage of Covent Garden, paired with the famous ballet dancer Wayne Sleep. The number was a "gift" to Prince Charles for his birthday. However, in fact, Diana stole all the attention that the birthday boy should have enjoyed.
The second time this happened at a reception in the White House, where she danced rock and roll with John Travolta - the improvisation caused real hysteria among journalists and ordinary people, and Diana again eclipsed both her husband and the Reagan couple who hosted them. Before her appearance in the royal family, its other members, including young people, never caused such a stir, but, however, behaved much less emotionally. Even the rebellious Princess Margaret seemed to have fewer problems. Diana always denied the fact that she was playing for the public, but in reality she was flattered that she could become the first “celebrity” in the royal family. A previously inconspicuous girl with very modest tastes overnight turned into the wife of the crown prince and received unlimited access to the fashion collections of the best fashion designers in the world, and at the same time to the boxes with the family jewelry of Elizabeth II. Fashion became another passion of hers. Which other royal could afford to wear red tights to a formal event? Diana could. And this also made the front pages of newspapers.
The unhealthy interest of the press was also fueled by Diana’s talkative friends, whom (and this is most important) the princess herself allowed to talk about her difficult life at Kensington Palace. In the same 1995 interview, Lady Di admitted that her friends communicated with biographer Andrew Morton with her personal permission. The result of that communication was the infamous book “Diana. Her true story", published in 1992. Diana’s frank interview for the BBC television channel was just as provocative and exciting for all the “fried” hunters.
Gave a scandalous interview
On November 24, 1995, Diana gave an interview to the BBC. An hour-long conversation with the presenter of the Panorama program, Martin Bashir, had the effect of a bomb exploding. Diana honestly spoke about the problems that accompanied all 15 years of her marriage with Charles, admitted to bulimia, and several suicide attempts, and even to her own infidelities, which (and this showed between the lines) were a consequence of Charles’s infidelities. Diana was convinced that since she and Charles separated, she had become a “problem” for his circle, and then even called them “enemies” who set out to complicate her life, denigrate her and give trump cards to the Prince of Wales in the event divorce. "Do you think you will ever become Queen?" - "No. I don’t think so... I would prefer to become the queen of people’s hearts... I can’t imagine myself as the queen of this country. I don't think many people in this country would want me to become Queen. When I say “many,” I mean the establishment to which I belong...”
Against the backdrop of everything that was said about her husband and the royal family, it was strange to hear at the end of the program that Diana did not want to divorce Charles. However, after the program ended, it was no longer in her power. After such a public washing of dirty linen in public, there was no point in keeping the broken family boat afloat, at least the Queen did not see it. After a short time, Diana was called to Elizabeth II for a reception and the issue of divorce was resolved. By the way, this is how Diana received her fortune - 17 million British pounds at a time and another 700 thousand pounds of annual allowance for the maintenance of servants and that part Kensington Palace, in which she was allowed to remain as the mother of the heirs of the Crown.
According to the recollections of Diana's butler, Paul Burrell, until the last moment she doubted that she had done the right thing by agreeing to this interview. True, there is another theory. Diana could not help but understand that divorce would sooner or later become inevitable, and she wanted to tell people her version of why their marriage was destroyed. This was the revenge of a tired woman on her husband and his family. But the consequences of these revelations were more serious than she expected. Her sister and brother, who were close to members of the royal family, turned away from Diana, she was sharply condemned by her own grandmother and mother, and, finally, many doors that she had recently entered without problems no longer opened for her. Few were ready to lose favor for the sake of love for the “queen of hearts.” real Queen. And if Diana thought that her life became more complicated after she and Charles separated, then after the ill-fated broadcast this became her objective reality.
Was going to marry a Muslim
Even before the official divorce, Diana had an affair with Pakistani-born surgeon Hasnat Khan. According to friends and butler Paul Burrell, who organized their love affairs at Kensington Palace, Diana was so passionate that she seriously talked about the possibility of her changing her faith for the sake of a successful marriage. However, Hasnat believed that the princess was too in love with her star status And social life. The proposal never came, but when Diana's next Muslim lover appeared on the personal front, the Royal House became tense.
It was obvious that after the official divorce, Diana was nervous about her status and was in active search. Dodi al-Fayed was not the man of her dreams, but he had his father’s billions behind him and the opportunity to continue to lead the “celebrity” lifestyle to which she was accustomed and which she lost through the efforts of the Queen. Her friends also say that Diana was not in love, but considered Dodi as a possible candidate for her next husband. In the summer of 1997, Diana took both sons with her to spend a vacation with them on the Cote d'Azur. And then photographs of the heirs of the British Crown in the company of Diana and her Muslim lover appeared in the press. Diana not only introduced the children to the potential “new dad”, but allowed them to communicate closely. Diana obviously did not even think about the fact that such contacts could compromise the boys. She was aimed at organizing her personal life and, it seems, once again I forgot that she ceased to be an “ordinary woman” the moment she became the mother of the heirs of the Crown, and even a divorce from Charles could not change anything here.
Elizabeth and the Court were in a panic: given the influence that the unbalanced, outrageous mother had on her sons, what would happen if Diana accepted the Muslim faith (which she herself accepted as a sacrifice for the sake of a successful marriage)? What would happen if William and Harry had Muslim half-siblings? And this is not a question of tolerance towards people of other religions, it is a matter of life and death for the monarchy, one of the pillars of which is Protestantism. In the summer of 1997, it became clear that Diana, in pursuit of arranging her personal life, was becoming dangerous for her own children. Princes William and Harry were destined for a different fate, and there was no way they could become the stepsons of a Muslim billionaire.
Whether Diana's death was a planned act or a tragic coincidence, her death certainly came as a great relief to the Royal Court. An eccentric, unstable, throwing herself from one extreme to another, playing to the public, the princess turned out to be a black sheep in their herd. And it is unknown how else her story could have ended if it had not ended in that Parisian tunnel.
Television journalist Martin Bashir, during the famous scandalous interview, reminded Diana that she was often accused of artificially inflating interest in her person and engaging in outright shocking behavior. For example, many people remember her scandalous performance practically in a negligee on the stage of Covent Garden, paired with the famous ballet dancer Wayne Sleep. Diana gave this number to her husband for his birthday.
Princess Diana on stage at Covent Garden with famous dancer Wayne Sleep
The press was no less shocked by Diana's performance than her royal family.
The second time this happened was at a reception in the White House, where she hosted fiery dances with actor John Travolta. This improvisation caused real hysteria among representatives of the press and ordinary people, and Diana again managed to outshine both her husband and the Reagan couple who received them. Before her appearance in the royal family, its other members, including young people, had never caused such a stir, but, however, they were not so emotional. Even the rebellious Princess Margaret seemed to have fewer problems. Diana always denied the fact that she was playing for the public, but in reality she was flattered that she could become the first “celebrity” in the royal family. A previously inconspicuous girl with very modest tastes overnight turned into the wife of the crown prince and received unlimited access to the fashion collections of the best fashion designers in the world, and at the same time to the boxes with the family jewelry of Elizabeth II. Fashion became another passion of hers. Before her, no one could afford to wear such catchy and youthful things to various official events.
Diana rocks up with John Travolta at the White House in 1985
The unhealthy interest of journalists arose after an interview with the princess’s talkative friends, whom (and this is most important) the princess herself allowed to talk about her difficult life in Kensington Palace. In the same 1995 interview, Lady Di admitted that she had given friends the go-ahead to communicate with biographer Andrew Morton. The result was not long in coming, and was soon marked by the release of the scandalous, famous book “Diana. Her True Story,” which was published in 1992. Diana’s frank interview for the BBC television channel was just as provocative and exciting for all the “fried” hunters.
Scandalous interview
The television scandal occurred on November 24, 1995. Diana decided to give an interview to the BBC. After an hour-long conversation with Panorama presenter Martin Bashir, it was as if an information bomb had exploded in Britain. Diana decided to tell the public about all the problems that arose during the entire 15 years of her marriage with Charles; she admitted to bulimia, several suicide attempts, and even her own infidelities, which, according to her, were a consequence of Charles’s infidelities. Diana was convinced that since she and Charles separated, she had become a “problem” for his circle, and then even called them “enemies” who set out to complicate her life, denigrate her and give trump cards to the Prince of Wales in the event divorce.
"Do you think you can become Queen?"
"No. I don’t think so... I would prefer to become the queen of people’s hearts..."
In an interview with the BBC, Princes William and Harry said that they adhere to one of the main versions of the tragedy, according to which it was journalists who provoked the fatal accident in Paris, and each of them should bear collective responsibility for the death of their mother.
Prince William: “Like a pack of dogs, they followed her everywhere. They tracked her down, spat at her, screamed, tried to provoke her into responding with anger, an emotion that would look good on camera.”
Prince Harry: “One of the worst: my mother and I were driving to the tennis club, and my mother was so tortured by guys on a motorcycle that she parked the car and chased after them. Then she came back to us and cried and couldn’t stop. It was terrible to see my mother so unhappy.”
A car with a drunk driver at the wheel, a security guard from the Ritz Hotel, Diana herself, who always, except for this one time, wore a seat belt, and her boyfriend Dodi al-Fayed walked away from the paparazzi at a speed of 195 kilometers per hour through a Paris tunnel. The driver lost control and their Mercedes crashed into a guardrail. Dodi and the driver died on the spot, the guard survived, Diana died in the hospital on the operating table that same night.
Prince Harry: “The people who caused the car accident, the paparazzi, took pictures of her while she was sitting in the back seat of the wrecked car. She had horrific head injuries, but she was still alive, still breathing, and could see the same faces of her photographer tormentors who had beaten her to death. And now they were taking her last pictures. And then they sold them to agencies for a lot of money.”
The press tried to shift responsibility for the death of Diana to Elizabeth II and Prince Charles. The queen herself was accused of organizing the car accident. More respectable publications scolded her for not publicly throwing ashes on her head enough.
Subjects reproached the queen for remaining in quiet Scotland when London was struggling and choking in hysterics. People wanted to see Buckingham Palace a grieving monarch in mourning, but she was not there. She was in Scotland, seven hundred kilometers from London. These days, Elizabeth decided to be a grandmother, not a queen: she believed that it was more important to be with the little princes than with her nation, and she did not want to take them to London before the funeral and left them to mourn in peace and quiet.
Diana died on the night of August 31st. Charles, who was with the children at Balmoral Castle, wanted to wake up his sons and immediately tell them the news. But Elizabeth II forbade disturbing the last happy dream of their childhood.
Prince William: “All newspapers were removed from our sight, all televisions were turned off. We didn’t know there was such a huge reaction in the world to her death.”
Details in the story NTV correspondent Lisa Gerson.
In 2017, something happened that should have happened a long time ago: Camilla Parker Bowles spoke. The famous English patience was enough for 25 years of silence, but, obviously, there is a limit to everything. In the year of the “anniversary” of the death of Princess Diana, her ghost again haunted the UK - a new edition of the book “Diana. Her true story,” in which the already devastating truth about her fabulous life with the Prince of Wales was supplemented with revealing transcripts of Lady Di’s personal audio recordings. 25 years after the first publication of these revelations, her “rival” decided to make her part of the story public. In 2018, the book “The Duchess. The Untold Story, authored by the famous royal biographer Penny Junor. After spending many hours with Camilla, Charles, their friends and loved ones, interviewing their former secretaries, butlers and assistants, Junor wrote what the British Daily Mail rightly called "an explosive biography of Camilla."
Lying Princess
Princess Diana during an interview with the BBC, 1995.“There have always been three of us in this marriage, and this, you know, is too much,” Diana said, wiping away a sudden tear in a scandalous interview with the BBC in 1995. The one in question was sitting at the TV at home at that moment and could not hold back a sarcastic smile: those who knew Diana as well as Charles’s friends understood perfectly well that this was a one-man show. But the problem was that few knew the true Diana. For others, that day Camilla finally turned into absolute evil, a dissolute creature who destroyed the family of a beautiful and generous princess. By the time Diana gave this strange interview in every sense, the “halo effect” in relation to her was so powerful that few, in principle, could critically evaluate everything that she said.
For example, Diana said that when her book was published ex-lover James Hewitt, the first thing she did was rush to the children, terrified of what would happen to them when they found out about everything. But how is this concern related to the fact that a year later she herself gave an interview in which she told an audience of 20 million much more terrible things about her marriage?
Another lie was to deny, sitting in front of a television camera, his personal participation in writing the book “Diana. Her true story." The truth emerged only after her death - Diana did not just allow her friends to tell Morton about her suffering. She herself was the main storyteller. For weeks on end, she met with a friend, psychotherapist James Colthurst: they left Kensington Palace for walks, armed with a voice recorder, he asked her questions on the Morton list, and she answered them in a detailed form. Sometimes, when the situation allowed, they communicated by phone, and Diana dictated answers into the writing device at the other end of the line. So did she care what would happen to her sons when all this dirt reached them?
“I always thought that Andrew Morton's book should be taken with great caution,” recalls Penny Junor, author of the book about Camilla. “At that time, Diana had been in a marriage with Charles for more than 10 years, which was unhappy for both. She was angry, offended and wanted revenge. It is with this understanding of the situation that one must perceive its recordings. What was “true” for Diana was not necessarily true for others.”
Exploring the history of the most famous love triangle, Junor did a really great job. “Diana, in her revelations, often took facts and distorted them - as many of the participants in those events said. And that discouraged people." For example, this was the entire history of the relationship between Charles and Camilla - from the very moment of the prince’s engagement to Diana.
Someone else's bride
“There were always three of us in our marriage,” Princess Diana said, but this was not true, the biographer assures. Married Camilla was indeed Charles' mistress, but when the prince proposed to Diana, they ended the relationship. It was a conscious choice of both. At that time, Camilla knew firsthand what it was like to be the wife of an unfaithful husband: Andrew cheated on her throughout the years, his adventures were no secret to their friends (after all, he often chose his mistresses from their own circle). Charles believed that they could remain just friends, because they had a lot in common, not just sex. At the same time, he was determined to try to love the sweet girl whom he had chosen as his wife. He believed that this was possible (after all, there are many similar examples in history). The fact that the marriage was committed was beyond any doubt. Charles and Diana barely knew each other. They had few opportunities to meet where they could get to know each other better. They write that Diana behaved nicely, and, surprisingly, at first, most of Charles’s friends with whom he managed to introduce her liked her. Even Camilla considered her a worthy match for the prince, in fact, approving the choice of a wife for her, as it seemed to her then, already former lover.
According to a royal biographer, a month before her death (in 1993), Diana's grandmother, Lady Ruth Fermoy (companion of the Queen Mother), asked for forgiveness from Elizabeth, the Queen Mother and Charles because family ambitions did not allow her to warn them about psychological my granddaughter's disorders from the very beginning. According to Lady Fermoy, Diana was already a demonstrative, unbalanced girl prone to pathological lies, but she knew how to play to the public when necessary. But all Lady Ruth did back in 1981 was tell Diana that the royal family lifestyle was not for her, that she could not fit into this family. And the “shy” granddaughter decisively crossed her grandmother off the guest list at her wedding.
Passion for Camilla
Dramatic changes in Diana's behavior began just a few weeks after the official announcement of the engagement. As Penny Junor writes, Diana suddenly became suspicious, capricious, and irritable. It seemed to her that everyone around her was just talking about her. It seemed to her that Prince Charles was constantly talking about her with his friends and with the Queen. She was sure that all the servants in the Queen Mother's palace (where she had moved from her London apartment in order to protect herself from annoying paparazzi) were whispering about her and considered her unworthy of respect. It is curious that Diana said almost the same thing, only her voice sounded with conviction. She did not use the phrase “it seemed to me,” she stated that it was so. And no one could convince her otherwise. Exactly at that time, Diana’s attacks of bulimia returned - this eating disorder had visited her before, but not in such a pronounced form. She secretly filled her stomach with whatever she could find in the refrigerator and then vomited. Charles learned about this feature of Diana already during the honeymoon.
As Junor writes, Diana began to be jealous of Charles for all his friends, she did not like that he continued to spend time with them, it seemed to her that he should devote more time to her. The same applied to the communication between the Prince and the Queen. Charles, and others too, were sure that sudden changes in Diana - the result of stress due to the falling attention to her person, and that after the wedding she will come to her senses. Therefore, in order not to irritate the bride, Charles, in fact, limited his contacts with friends, transferring most of his communication to telephone format. He also communicated with Camilla on the phone. She was his only close female friend, so it was from her that he sought advice on how to deal with his depressed fiancée.
At this time, something terrible happened - someone reported to Diana about the nature of the relationship between Charles and Camilla. On the prince's part it was a terrible mistake do not make sure that the bride learns about this from him and, as they say, “on the shore.” A terrible scene occurred between them, Diana destroyed furniture and screamed, and the prince could only say that from the moment of their engagement he had not had and would never have any other woman except his wife. Of course, Diana didn't believe him.
From that moment on, Camilla became her obsession. Diana spied on her groom, looking for evidence of his infidelity, and he, like a fool, secretly called Camilla and asked what he should do about all this. When your mother is the Queen, you have little chance of just going to her and having a heart-to-heart talk. So, Camilla remained for Charles the only woman with whom he could honestly and without guile discuss the problems that had arisen.
Camilla didn't like her role. Charles's stories embarrassed her; it seemed right to her to withdraw, at least for a while. In the end, they could no longer be lovers, and, judging by Diana’s behavior, friends too. But Charles needed a friend. And he couldn’t completely let Camille go at such a moment, even if they didn’t see each other like before. Diana later said that she was greatly hurt when Charles sent Camilla a bouquet of flowers who had meningitis. But the most disgusting scandal over Camilla occurred a couple of weeks before the wedding (
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