Princess Diana Determined To ‘Go Solo’ After Successful Tour, Charles Couldn’t Stop Her

Princess Diana didn’t know where she stood when she first joined the royal family. She was just 20 years old, while Prince Charles was already in his 30s.

But it didn’t take the Princess of Wales very long to find her niche in the royal family. The woman who seemed shy at first became more comfortable whenever she’s around thousands of people.

In fact, after her successful tour of Pakistan, Princess Diana became more determined to do things by herself. This was the moment that Prince William and Prince Harry’s mom felt that she could perform duties without Prince Charles in tow.

“The Princess could barely contain her elation. As far as she was concerned, she had arrived as a public figure on the world stage… Her success in Pakistan crystallized the Princess’s determination to ‘go solo’, a phrase she loved to use. Nobody, and especially not her husband, was going to stop her now,” Ken Wharfe said.

Princess Diana returned to Pakistan in 1996 and 1997 and both trips were also very successful. In his book, Princess Diana’s former protection officer, Wharfe, said that Princess Diana took the country by storm.

“The headlines screamed that Diana had taken Pakistan by storm, that her visit had been a resounding success. The tabloids predictably hailed her vociferously as the jewel in the royal family’s crown, one of them claiming, employing a typically lame pun, that she was ‘All the Raj.’” he said in “Diana – Closely Guarded Secret.”

Meanwhile, two members of the royal family will be heading to Pakistan in the coming weeks. Prince William and Kate Middleton will be following in the late royal’s footsteps of visiting Pakistan from Oct. 14 to 18. The royal couple will be joined by Prime Minister Imran Khan, who was a good friend of Princess Diana.

Prince Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles also visited Pakistan in 2006. According to The Telegraph, the Duke and Duchess of Cornwall’s tour of the country were one of their most challenging trips in terms of security.