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    1. Celebrity
    2. Royals

    After Her Divorce From King Charles, All Princess Diana "Had Ever Wanted" Was For "People to Understand" One Particular Thing, Per Royal Butler

    "The princess also needed to realize...that anger was a natural emotion."

    Amy Mackelden's avatar
    By Amy Mackelden
    Published 3 July 2026 In News

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    King Charles crosses his arms and wears a suit and striped tie while Princess Diana wears a dress with a white top and a black bodice while holding roses
    (Image credit: Georges De Keerle/Getty Images)
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    Princess Diana experienced both negative and positive press throughout her life, and endured a number of personal challenges in the public eye. Namely, the former Princess of Wales split from King Charles, an event which was voraciously reported on by the tabloids. According to her former butler, there was one particular thing that Princess Diana really wanted "people to understand" about her life.

    In his book, A Royal Duty, former royal butler Paul Burrell claimed, "All she had ever wanted was for the British people to understand what she had gone through, how difficult it had been. And while she felt that [King] Charles had truly made her suffer, she had learned from her suffering."

    According to Burrell, the princess's divorce knocked her confidence in a major way, after a lifetime of self-doubt.

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    "She felt her low self-esteem had taken root in childhood when she had acquired many of her ideas about herself," the former butler wrote. "She had taken that poor self-image into the marriage with [King] Charles."

    Princess Diana on her 1981 wedding day

    "She had taken that poor self-image into the marriage with [King] Charles."

    (Image credit: Getty Images)

    A Royal Duty

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    Burrell continued, "In [Charles], she focused solely on deriving a boost to her ego, through his recognition of her achievements. When it was not forthcoming, she said she felt rejected."

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    According to the former Royal Family butler, Diana also had to learn to come to terms with the emotions she was experiencing.

    "The princess also needed to realize, and I think many people told her this, that anger was a natural emotion, but she felt many women found anger distressing," he wrote.

    Marie Claire Newsletter

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    Burrell further explained, "She even hired a boxer to come to [Kensington Palace] with his punchbag so that she could rid herself of her anger. Diana, Princess of Wales, could certainly pack a mean punch."

    princess diana

    "All she had ever wanted was for the British people to understand what she had gone through, how difficult it had been."

    (Image credit: Getty Images)

    Ultimately, Princess Diana had to go through some incredibly difficult moments in her life, while navigating her role as a famous person, which can't have been easy.

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    Weekend Editor

    Amy Mackelden is the weekend editor at Marie Claire, where she covers celebrity and royal family news. She was the weekend editor at Harper’s BAZAAR for three years, where she covered breaking celebrity and entertainment news, royal stories, fashion, beauty, and politics. Prior to that, she spent a year as the joint weekend editor for Marie Claire, ELLE, and Harper's BAZAAR, and two years as an entertainment writer at Bustle. Her additional bylines include Cosmopolitan, People, The Independent, HelloGiggles, Biography, Shondaland, Best Products, New Statesman, Heat, and The Guardian. Her work has been syndicated by publications including Town & Country, Good Housekeeping, Esquire, Delish, Oprah Daily, Country Living, and Women's Health. Her celebrity interviews include Jennifer Aniston, Jessica Chastain, the cast of Selling Sunset, Emma Thompson, Jessica Alba, and Penn Badgley. In 2015, she delivered an academic paper at Kimposium, the world's first Kardashian conference.

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