Charles and Diana Had "Serious Doubts" About Royal Wedding

Prince Charles and Princess Diana riding in a carriage on their wedding day — (Image credit: Getty Images)

Royal author Hugo Vickers has chronicled the lives of everyone from the Queen Mother to Wallis Simpson, and in his upcoming biography of Queen Elizabeth, he also explores the doomed relationship between Prince Charles and Princess Diana.

In an excerpt from Queen Elizabeth II serialized in the Daily Mail, Vickers wrote that both Diana and Charles “were having serious doubts” ahead of their July 1981 wedding at St. Paul’s Cathedral.

In fact, Lady Diana Spencer used to fantasize about marrying a different member of the Royal Family. “As a schoolgirl, Diana had a professed ambition: to marry her childhood playmate Prince Andrew,” he wrote. “The truth is she hardly knew Charles, and called him ‘Sir’ until the day of their engagement.”

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Prince Charles wearing a dark suit and Princess Diana wearing a blue suit in their engagement photo — Diana and Charles are pictured in one of their engagement photos in February 1981.

Prince Charles sitting next to Princess Diana on their wedding day — Princess Diana and Prince Charles are pictured during their wedding on July 29, 1981.

Prince Charles, who continued to see his old girlfriend, Camilla Parker Bowles, while her then-husband strayed, wasn’t thrilled about the prospect of marrying Diana, either. “During Ascot week, Prince Charles looked over at Diana at dinner and asked his neighbour: ‘Do you think you can fall in love after you’re married?’” Vickers wrote.

Noting that Diana had “put a note in his dinner jacket saying she loved him” before Charles headed on a pre-wedding trip to New York, the biographer added that the prince soon after approached a friend “with tears in his eyes.”

“I am not sure that I can handle this,” Prince Charles reportedly told his friend, who advised “it was not too late to abandon the plan.” However, Charles, who was due to marry Diana in just a month, he felt like he didn’t have a choice. Vickers wrote that the now-King told his friend: “‘I am afraid it is.’”

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Kristin Contino is Marie Claire's Senior Royal and Celebrity editor. She's been covering royalty since 2018—including major moments such as the Platinum Jubilee, Queen Elizabeth II’s death and King Charles III's coronation—and places a particular focus on the British Royal Family's style and what it means.

Prior to working at Marie Claire, she wrote about celebrity and royal fashion at Page Six Style and covered royalty from around the world as chief reporter at Royal Central. Kristin has provided expert commentary for outlets including the BBC, Sky News, US Weekly, the Today Show and many others.

Kristin is also the published author of two novels, “The Legacy of Us” and “A House Full of Windsor.” She's passionate about travel, history, horses, and learning everything she can about her favorite city in the world, London.