Although Prince Charles and Princess Diana appeared to have the perfect royal wedding, the couple had an awkward engagement. When the Prince of Wales proposed to his 20-year-old love interest, she reportedly “burst out laughing.”

Charles and Diana’s marriage was riddled with drama, affairs and scandal. Years before their relationship fell apart, Diana was left disappointed when Charles proposed to her.

In the Channel 5 documentary, “Charles and Di: The Truth Behind Their Wedding,” Ingrid Seward claimed Charles failed to create a romantic environment before he proposed to Diana.

Prince Charles invited Diana to Windsor Castle and gave her a warm greeting upon her arrival. He then led her to the castle’s nursery and asked for her hand in marriage. However, the royal didn’t get the reaction he was hoping for.

“She burst out laughing, I think that was probably her nerves. She didn’t think it was the most romantic of proposals, but she had the proposal,” Seward said.

Royal biographer Christopher Wilson claimed the moments after Charles and Diana’s engagement became official were even more awkward. “He didn’t pick her up in his arms and embrace, or do any of the things we might do when we propose marriage to the one that we love,” he explained.

“He rang his mum, simply to say there, I’ve done it now. You’ve asked me to get married to somebody, and I’ve fixed it. What he’d done was, he’d finally found a wife.”

Although Charles failed to meet Diana’s romantic expectations, she was still surprised by his proposal and thrilled to be engaged to the future king.

In an interview following their engagement, Diana reflected on the moment the two decided to take their relationship to the next level. “He said, do you realize that one day you'll be Queen. And I said, ‘I love you so much, I love you so much,’” she revealed.

“He said, ‘whatever loves means.’ He said it then. So I thought, that was great. I thought he meant it,” she added.

Prince Charles and Princess Diana married in 1981. The couple shared two sons, Prince William and Prince Harry. Charles and Diana finalized their divorced in 1996, a few years after she learned about his affair with Camilla Parker Bowles.

Prince Charles and Princess Diana
Prince Charles and Princess Diana are pictured at an official event during their first royal Australian tour 1983 in Newcastle, Australia. Patrick Riviere/Getty Images