Did Prince Philip Really Make This Threat To Princess Diana If She Divorced Charles?

Much has been made of the way the British royal family treated the late Princess Diana. But we don't necessarily need movies and TV shows to show us how Princess Diana suffered at the hands of the royal family. While she was still alive, Princess Diana was fairly open about how miserable it was for her to exist within the constraints of the royal family. In fact, it seems as though Princess Diana knew from the very beginning that joining the royal family would bring her hurt and pain.

"I felt I was a lamb to the slaughter. And I knew it," Princess Diana said of her wedding day to Prince Charles (via Insider). "I don't think I was happy," she said. "I never tried to call it off, in the sense of really doing that, but I think [it was] the worst day of my life."

Perhaps Princess Diana's most famous quote about her marriage to Prince Charles came in her BBC interview with Martin Bashir in 1995: "Well, there were three of us in this marriage, so it was a bit crowded," Princess Diana said, referencing her ex-husband's notorious affair with Camilla Parker-Bowles.

"I don't want expensive gifts; I don't want to be bought. I have everything I want. I just want someone to be there for me, to make me feel safe and secure," Princess Diana once shared of what she searched for in a relationship.

It's difficult to blame Princess Diana for wanting out of her marriage with Princes Charles — and out of royal life in general — but a royal divorce at that time was unheard of and completely against tradition. As covered by the "You're Wrong About" podcast, Prince Philip, among others, attempted to dissuade Princess Diana from divorcing Prince Charles.

However, one thing that is perhaps not widely known about Diana's marriage to Charles is that while he was cheating on her with Parker-Bowles, Diana was engaging in her own extramarital affairs. One reason this didn't come to light until later on is that when British author Andrew Morton wrote Diana's biography, he gave her a copy of the manuscript and allowed her to make edits. Naturally, information about her affairs didn't make the final cut.

But were it up to Prince Philip, the general public would have known about Diana's infidelities. Upon learning of Diana's intentions to divorce Charles, Prince Philip wrote Diana letters, essentially placing the blame for the destruction of the marriage on her. Per "You're Wrong About," at one point, "He threatens her and says, if you keep trying to leave this marriage, we are going to release tapes that we have of you having an affair."

Diana called Prince Philip on his bluff, however, and she was able to break free of the royal ties that bound her.