Their marriage lasted for more than 10 years, fraught with scandal and infidelity. But now it appears the trouble started not long after Prince Charles and the late Princess Diana's engagement announcement.
According to royal expert Sarah Bradford, Prince Charles thought of Diana as a "child" and wasn’t ready to marry her. “She is exquisitely pretty, a perfect poppy. But she is a child,” Charles reportedly said.
Bradford makes some scintillating claims in a new documentary on the royal couple's relationship in the run-up to their 1981 marriage.
“She does not look old enough to be out of school, much less married," Charles further said.
When Charles and Diana started dating, there was a lot of pressure on him to find a wife. Although he wasn’t in love with Diana, he was reportedly receiving pressure from both the press and his father, Prince Philip, to tie the knot, Cheatsheet.com reported.
Reportedly, after 12 dates only did Charles propose.
Fellow royal expert Ingrid Seward has backed up Bradford, saying that Charles's friends felt the wedding would be a "disaster." One friend, Penny Ramsey, also reportedly said that he knew deep down that he and Diana had nothing in common.
The couple announced their separation in 1992 while continuing to carry on with their royal duties. In August 1996, they divorced.
According to the History Channel, in exchange for a generous settlement and the right to retain her apartments at Kensington Palace, Diana agreed to relinquish the title of “Her Royal Highness” and any future claims to the British throne.