Former Royal Staff Claim Princess Diana Was "Predatory" and "Devoted a Great Deal of Time" to Her "Media War" With King Charles
"I took this as a joke until she repeated it."
Royal fans continue to be fascinated by Princess Diana and King Charles's marriage decades after it ended. Having announced their separation in December 1992, Charles and Diana finalized their divorce on August 28, 1996. The split was contentious, and resulted in multiple media storms and leaks taking place. Now, a report from 1995 has revealed that Diana was viewed as being much more savvy when it came to the royal "media war."
As reported by the Times, 30-year-old files regarding Charles and Diana have just been released from Ireland's National Archives. Diplomats working on behalf of the Republic of Ireland penned the report regarding the media war between Diana and Charles, which is sure to raise some eyebrows.
Referencing an official visit to Ireland in June 1995, the report discusses a series comments made by King Charles's then-deputy press secretary, Sandy Henney, to diplomat Joe Hayes. Celebrating the success of Charles's visit, Henney reportedly "remarked that if practice to date was any guide we could shortly expect an approach from Princess Diana!"
Hayes continued, "I took this as a joke until she repeated it and assured me that in the media battle between the two, the princess was by far the more predatory and skilled and her staff devoted a great deal of time to finding ways and means of upstaging St. James's Palace."
"The princess was by far the more predatory and skilled."
The report also called Charles's visit to Ireland "part of a long-term public relations strategy to rehabilitate the prince in the eyes of the British public." At the time, details of The King's extramarital relationship with Queen Camilla—then-Camilla Parker Bowles—had been made public. As a result, it makes sense that Charles would want to generate some good publicity.
"Her staff devoted a great deal of time to finding ways and means of upstaging St. James's Palace."
As revealed by the release of reports from Ireland's National Archives, Charles's team viewed Diana as a threat after their split, particularly when it came to engaging with the press.
