The Public Supported Princess Diana After Divorce From Prince Charles: Why Was The Queen Confused?
By TheBlast Staff on March 15, 2020 at 8:20 AM EDT
Gettyimages | Princess Diana Archive
The divorce between Princess Diana and Prince Charles was a huge Royal Family scandal under Queen Elizabeth's ruling. The Prince and Princess of Wales split-up in 1992 when the divorce was filed. However, their divorce wasn't final until 1996.
About ten-years, after they split-up, Charles married his long-time lover, Camilla Parker Bowles whom he was actually having an affair with during his marriage to Diana. This was what was believed to have caused them to file for divorce in the first place.
Charles suffered from some major backlash after the split. Because of the divorce and the affair Charles had with Camilla, the public felt sorry for Diana and gave her a lot of support. Queen Elizabeth II was very confused about this support for Diana.
Gettyimages | Princess Diana Archive
It seems that Charles wasn't the only one who was having an affair during the marriage between him and Diana. According to Express, a leaked tape of a phone call proves Princess Diana was also having an affair with someone.
Apparently, before the breakup of the marriage between the Prince and Princess was announced to the public, the recording of a phone call between Diana and her alleged lover, James Gilbey was a huge embarrassment for the Royal Family.
Express reported that the leaked phone call between the two lovers had confirmed the split was coming for the former Royal couple.
Gettyimages | Bettmann
Not only did the recording of the phone call reveal that the marriage was over, but it also revealed the embarrassing nicknames Diana had used for some of the members of the Royal family. Also, it talked about how Diana spoke against Charles badly for making her life "real, real torture."
Diana said, "I just felt really sad and empty. I thought, ‘Bloody hell – after all I’ve done for this f***ing family."
The recording of the phone call between Gilbey and Diana is believed to have happened during the holidays in 1989.
Gettyimages | Tim Graham
During this time, Diana should have been at Sandringham spending the holidays with Charles and The Queen.
After the recorded phone call was leaked to the public, the former Royal couple announced to everyone that they were divorcing.
During all of this drama, Queen Elizabeth II was really confused about all of the support from the public that the Princess was receiving.
She was confused because of the leaked tapes and how Diana had broken Royal traditions. Also, because of Diana being the one to call off the marriage.
Gettyimages | Max Mumby/Indigo
According to the documentary titled, Elizabeth I and Elizabeth II: Britain's Golden Queen, Sarah Gristwood, a royal expert revealed that because The Queen had thought of Diana as a Royal rule-breaker, she couldn't figure out why everyone loved the Princess so much.
Gristwood said, “It really was, ‘Diana, we love you, we’re with you, we’re behind you.’ And it must’ve puzzled the Queen. Why, that someone who in her terms was breaking the rules, was doing what wasn’t right, should be the one who garnered this massive international outpouring of sympathy.”
Gettyimages | Tim Graham
Although the leaked tape and the beginning of the end of the marriage between Diana and Charles was bad enough for the Royal family, the interview in 1995 that Diana did with Martin Bashir was the last straw for The Queen. This was when Diana told Bashir that there were "three of us" in the marriage. What she was referring to was the affair between Charles and Camilla.
A few weeks after this interview, The Queen sent a letter to Diana to ask her to finalize the divorce and get it over with. it wasn't until one year later when they officially divorced.