KEY POINTS

  • Prince Charles mourned Princess Diana's death for years
  • Prince Charles didn't feel guilty about Princess Diana's death
  • Prince Charles was convinced that he did everything to make his relationship work

Prince Charles mourned the death of Princess Diana for quite some time even though they were no longer together then.

In the book “The Firm,” royal author Penny Junor said that deep down inside, the heir to the throne really loved his ex-wife. After all, Princess Diana was the mother of his sons, Prince William and Prince Harry.

Following the Princess of Wales’ death, several publications claimed that Prince Charles felt guilty about the tragedy that his ex-wife faced. But according to Junor, this wasn’t the case.

Prince Charles didn’t feel any guilt about Princess Diana's death or the fact that he had an affair with Camilla Parker Bowles. The future King knew that he had done everything in his power to make his marriage work, but he failed.

Around the time that Junor’s book was released, she said that the inability to make his marriage to Princess Diana work was what hurt Prince Charles the most. And that was what still hurt him eight years after Princess Diana’s passing.

“There had been some moments of happiness in the morass of misery, but he was keenly aware that he had failed to make the happiness last, failed to make her his friend and failed to create the secure, loving home for their children that they both had dreamed of,” Junor said.

Meanwhile, Junor also denied the allegations that Prince Charles never cared about Princess Diana. But at the beginning of their relationship, this wasn’t the case.

Over time, Prince Charles realized that he couldn’t cope with Princess Diana’s behavior and sudden mood swings that he became hardened and at times downright callous in his attitude towards his ex-wife.

Some of the things that Prince Charles tried to do included cutting out some of his friends that Princess Diana disliked. He also found a top psychiatrist for the late royal. But in the end, none of these things worked.

During her interview with Martin Bashir for Panorama, Princess Diana revealed that she also tried hard to make her marriage work especially since she came from a home with divorced parents.

“I desperately wanted it to work, I desperately loved my husband and I wanted to share everything together, and I thought that we were a very good team,” she said.

Princess Diana and Prince Charles
Princess Diana and Prince Charles at the Chelsea Flower Show, London, May 1984. She is wearing a navy maternity coat by Jan van Velden. Getty Images/Jayne Fincher