Princess Diana's Private Secretary Claims King Charles Is Still Damaged From Their Divorce
Diana, Princess of Wales, and her former husband, now King Charles III, went through a very public divorce. After the couple tied the knot in 1981, all eyes were on them. They were a fixture in the media and popular culture. However, their separation, which was followed by a formal divorce, had the public talking even more (via History).
Charles and Diana were separated for four years before they signed divorce papers. It was made public that they had finally cut all ties on August 28, 1996. Prior to their separation, however, rumors were swirling that they were having marital troubles. These rumors persisted through the late 80s and into the early 90s before it was announced that they were indeed separating (per Vogue).
In 1992, Princess Diana gave details of the couple's tragic marriage in her memoir, "Diana, Her True Story," where she shared that her former husband was having an affair with Camilla Parker Bowles.
While Diana made it clear how her marriage and its ending impacted her life, Charles seemed to remain rather quiet. Now, we are learning that it may have affected him more than we knew.
Charles had his own struggles with the divorce, Diana's secretary claims
It was clear that Diana, Princess of Wales, struggled with her divorce from King Charles III. According to her friend Simone Simmons, she didn't want to divorce Charles and instantly came to regret the interview she did with Panorama, where she shared intimate details of their relationship struggles (via The Mirror).
"The day afterward? Yes," Simmons says. "Then, when the Queen wrote to her and demanded they get a divorce, she was blubbering on the phone, and I went over to calm her down. She said, 'Simone, I never wanted to divorce Charles. I always loved him.'"
It seems that the divorce left a lasting impact on Charles, too. According to Chris Ship, ITV News' Royal Editor, Princess Diana's private secretary, Patrick Jephson, shared in a new interview just how damaging the divorce was for Charles.
In a teaser for the interview on Twitter, Jepson says, "I think the separation and the divorce damaged the Prince of Wales, and I think that damage continues. After all, he was the older, more experienced, allegedly the wiser of the two people in that marriage."
He continued, "I feel that Charles has been badly done by it actually. He knows he failed and carries that sense of failure with him to this day, but he did his best. But the public, by and large, I think condemn him for having failed."