15 Facts About Princess Diana, Revealed
In her living days, the world knew Princess Diana as an epitome of a pristine princess and, being the future king's wife, everything about her seemed like a fairytale brought to life. But behind all the glitz and glamour, which tipped until her untimely death, the Princess of Wales' life served as a cautionary proof that not all fairytale-like marriages end happily ever after.
Theirs was thought to be a match made in heaven. Princess Diana was just 16 years old when she met 29-year-old Prince Charles who was, at that time, still not convinced in the idea of settling down. But at that moment, Prince Charles was smitten over Lady Diana and believed she had the potential to become his bride.
The pair didn't start dating until two years later. On February 1981, Lady Diana was bestowed to Prince Charles and it minted her to a tumultuous life with the Royal Family - one that stirred so many controversies and later changed the course of British Monarchy to which no part in rulebook made any help.
As a consort to the heir, she had power in her hands. Yet, in her heart, she's powerless as she struggled amid neglect, infidelity, restriction, and pain. So many secrets were guarded and have been revealed only until her passing - and here are only a few of them.
15 Her wedding day was the "worst day" of her life
Secret footages of the late princess revealed that she considered her wedding day the “worst day” of her life. This revelation wasn't known until Channel 4 released these never-before-seen footages of the princess being candid about her frustrations.
According to Independent, the video tapes were recorded at Kensington Palace in 1992 and 1993. She even added that if she could write her own script, “I would have my husband go away with his woman and never come back.”
Prior to her wedding day, Princess Diana confided to her sisters that she can't do it and as it would be “unbelievable” to marry Prince Charles. Her sisters, however, reminded her that she can't chicken out anymore and told her “your face is [already] on the tea towels.”
14 She tried to end her own life
Due to her eating disorder, there were countless times that Princess Diana tried to end her life. At one instance, she revealed in her secret tape that she tried cutting her wrists using a razor blade. She also shared how she felt complete remorse when the prince clutched into her waist and said: “A bit chubby here, aren't we?”
Aside from her bulimic tendencies, Mirror reported that Princess Diana blamed her depression for her other suicidal attempts. The princess got extremely depressed and paranoid over her husband's infidelity as he continued seeing his mistress and former lover Camilla Parker-Bowles, who Prince Charles married later on after the death of Diana.
“I was obsessed by Camilla totally. I didn't trust (Charles) - thought every five minutes he was ringing her up, asking how to handle his marriage.”
13 She also tried to terminate her pregnancy with Prince William
In a desperate attempt to seek Prince Charles attention and to have him sit down and listen, Princess Diana threw herself down the stairs while carrying her firstborn inside her. The princess was four months pregnant at the time when the suicidal moment occurred - a revelation divulged only when Andrew Morton wrote Diana's autobiography after her death.
The tapes were sent out to the journalist by Princess Diana herself and were reportedly recorded in 1991. Halfway through their relationship, Diana grew more forlorn with Charles' inattention and lack of understanding up to a point when she resorted to harming herself and their child.
The Queen saw the ordeal herself and was said to be frightened. Princess Diana's husband, however, remained unmoved and carried on to say “You're always doing this to me. I'm going riding now.”
12 She was allegedly pregnant when she died, said Dodi's father
Dodi Al Fayed's father, Egyptian billionaire Mohamed Al Fayed claimed that the deaths of Princess Diana and his son weren't accidents but rather a planned one. Allegedly, the former Harrods owner said that the killing plot was because Princess Diana had already been impregnated by Dodi, which if turned out true, would be catastrophic for the Royal Family despite the Diana and Charles' divorce.
According to multiple reports, the Al Fayed patriarch believed that it was Prince Philip - the Queen's husband - who orchestrated the accident because the family cannot stand to accept the fact that a Muslim would be a sibling to princes William and Harry.
Mohamed also claimed that at the time of his son's passing, he was already engaged to Princess Diana. This, however, was unproven especially on the accounts of Princess Diana's close friends who knew that the princess was still reeling from her heartbreak caused by Hasnat Khan.
11 She was infatuated with her bodyguard Barry Mannakee
While Princess Diana never revealed Barry Mannakee's name, she did mention that she was deeply in love with her bodyguard even during her relationship with Prince Charles. The princess' footage which was a part of the secret tapes filmed by Settelen showed Princess Diana getting candid about her extramarital affair.
She even said that she was willing to “give all this up and to just go off and live with him” because the unnamed bodyguard made her quite happy. At the time of the reported affair, Barry was married with two children. Mannakee was assigned to be Princess Diana's bodyguard in 1985 and had been transferred to the Diplomatic Protection Group a year after. On 1987, Mannakee died from an apparent accident.
10 She also allegedly believed her affair caused Barry Mannakee's death
Barry Mannakee's death on May 10, 1987 was easily dismissed by the police as an accidental crash but Princess Diana believed against it. In fact, she admitted in her secret recording that Mannakee may have been “bumped off” by the royal family to save them from embarrassment.
According to police reports, Mannakee was killed in a motorcycle accident after 17-year-old Nicola Chopp collided against the ex-bodyguard. Mannakee was reported to be traveling at 35 mph and ultimately broke into two pieces, killing him instantly.
Conspiracy theorists strongly believed that Mannakee's death is suspicious, especially that it occurred just months after he was transferred to the Diplomatic Protection Group.
Chopp, who claimed she had been pressured to own the responsibility for the death of Mannakee, withdrew her statement later on and said: "I have always wondered if some more sinister forces were at work that night, although I could never prove it. I believe, with conviction, I was not the cause of Barry Mannakee's death."
9 The Royal Family Was Threatened By Her
Princess Diana became an embodiment of a tide that went against the strong current of the royal household and because of her inner strength, she believed she threatened the reigning monarch.
In the same secret footage, Princess Diana said she didn't have as much supporters in the royal household and added that they saw her “as a threat of some kind.” True enough, a friend of the Queen recently confirmed this perception of Princess Diana and said that she was a “pretty misfit,” as the queen said.
But in the footages, Princess Diana explained that it's just she did things differently, adding that she ruled by her heart and not with her head without any rulebook. “I'm here to do good, I'm not a destructive person,” she said.
8 Diana's sister, Sarah, dated Prince Charles first
Princess Diana and Prince Charles first met during a polo game in the late 1970s and that time, the heir to the throne was still seeing Lady Sarah, Diana's older sister. Charles was the finest bachelor in the land and a playboy then, and he might have been with Sarah but his eyes were all on Diana.
Lady Sarah couldn't care less - it was clear to her that she had no intentions of marrying the prince and even said that she still wouldn't “if he were the dustman or the King of England.” Turns out, it was her younger sister who would be Prince Charles' wife.
In an interview with The Guardian, Lady Sarah acknowledged the fact that she first had Prince Charles' heart but later on admitted that it was her who introduced them to each other. She even called herself “Cupid.”
7 She's related to Prince Charles
Although Princess Diana and her husband have a common blood running in their veins, their relation to each other isn't too close to be considered incest. According to Time, the former couple was 16th degree cousins.
In fact, an extensive family tree of the Royal Family showed that Princess Diana may have, literally, more English royal blood than her husband as she had four ancestors that became the English kings' mistresses.
By affinity, the Spencers have always been close to the Royal Family since the 16th century. Diana earned her Lady status when her father, godson to the late Queen Mary, became the eighth Earl Spencer. Meanwhile, Diana's maternal grandmother, Lady Fermoy, worked for Queen Elizabeth as a lady in waiting. Diana's younger brother, Charles, also happened to be the Queen's godson.
6 Behind Closed Doors, Their Love Life Was Dryer Than The Sahara
In the same secret footages, Princess Diana shockingly spoke of how she unremarkably made love with the prince. She told her friend and voice coach, Peter Settelen, of how intercourse has never been a requirement for the prince.
The princess further revealed they would only do it once every three weeks and it became odd to her because it followed a pattern. "He used to see his lady once every three weeks before we got married,” she said.
Emotionally, Princess Diana claimed to receive only little amorous gestures from the prince behind closed doors. She added that every time she “tried to come up for air” due to her bulimic episodes, “he pushed me back down again.”
5 Diana and Prince Charles only saw each other 13 times before marrying
Princess Diana and Prince Charles' marriage was born out of fickle-mindedness and pressure brought by an image they were trying to keep. While the marriage seemed like a blissful fairytale, it was revealed only to be just a facade of a love that wasn't even there to begin with.
Princess Diana lamented in one of her secret tapes that she and her husband only met 13 times before he proposed. 13 times were hardly enough to build a lasting foundation for marriage and both of them knew that their marriage was a regret waiting ahead, yet they didn't have the courage to back out.
In one of his biographies, Prince Charles has also expressed his doubt in marrying Princess Diana but because of the pressure - with the Queen's expectation and millions of eyes on watch - he had to just go on with the flow without minding of the consequences.
4 She allegedly believed Charles wanted her killed
Since her untimely demise, millions of fans expressed vitriol over Princess Di's sufferings behind the doors of Buckingham Palace and this gave birth to countless theories regarding her death. One of which is that her fatal crash has been planned. This was heavily evidenced by a letter reportedly written by the princess herself, saying that her former husband wanted her dead.
In a Daily Star report, a photographed letter revealed of Princess Diana's desperate cries for help as she was in her life's “most dangerous” phase. “My husband is planning 'an accident' in my car, brake failure, and serious head injury in order to make the path clear for him to marry Tiggy,” the letter read.
The said evidence was reportedly sent to Paul Burrell, Diana's former butler. However, there were several people who expressed disbelief on this “evidence” like, for one, the princess' closest friend, Lucia Flecha De Lima. The late confidant of Princess Diana said that Burrell is capable of imitating Diana's handwriting.
3 She wasn't only linked to Dodi Al Fayed -- there was Hasnat Khan
Princess Diana's life may have ended and have been memorially tied with her last fling, business tycoon Dodi Al Fayed, but unknown to most, he wasn't the man Diana was “madly in love with” until her dying breath.
After her divorce from Prince Charles was finalized, Princess Diana dated an inconspicuous, understated yet modest man, Hasnat Khan - an obvious contrary to Al Fayed who was notorious for being flashy, fame-loving and a playboy.
Khan lived a simple life, working 90-hour work weeks, doing his own laundry and dishes - and Diana loved him as well as the normalcy he brought. Khan's lifestyle was a far cry from the household Diana stuffed herself in. The extremely discreet relationship, however, ended after two years together. Since then, the heart surgeon never left Diana's heart until her last moments with Al Fayed.
2 She never wanted to be queen
Escaping from the abusive relationship was hard enough for Princess Diana. Hence, it made sense why she never dreamt of being the queen because, for her, it will only tie her even more to the institution she trapped herself into.
Although she was supposed to be the future king's wife, Princess Diana deliberately expressed in her secret footage that she didn't think of ascending to the throne due to her rebellious personality. What she explained further cemented her in becoming a well-loved icon that's far more influential than becoming a monarch.
“I'd like to be a queen of people's hearts, in people's hearts, but I don't see myself being a queen of this country,” she said. “I don't think many people would want me to be a queen. When I say many people, I mean the establishment I'm married into because they have decided I'm a non-starter.”
1 She often ate in the kitchen
Princess Diana knew herself that she doesn't fit in the royal household and didn't bother going by some of the rules. For one, the princess frequently ate in the kitchen - a deliberate act against the regal etiquette.
According to her personal chef, Darren McGrady, Princess Diana would often go straight to the kitchen countertop even if the staffers were still finishing their chores. At times, McGrady said that Princess Diana would make coffee for him, an extremely unusual gesture for a queen consort.
The people's princess broke so many codes in the rulebook and proved that there is nothing wrong in living a non-royal life. To enumerate a few more, she was the first royal to send her kid to a public school, rode the bus, wore casual clothes like jeans and baseball caps and let the boys eat at McDonald's.