Key Takeaways
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Prince Charles treated Princess Diana poorly at the start of their marriage, according to a royal butler.
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Just three years after tying the knot, Charles told Diana he no longer wanted to be romantically involved with her.
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This contrasts how he treated Camilla Parker Bowles at the beginning of their marriage.
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According to another royal butler, Charles and Camilla were incredibly happy during the first few years after saying “I do.”
While Prince Charles and Princess Diana may have had a picturesque royal wedding on July 31, 2981, their private dynamic was much less idyllic. In a new book released by Paul Burrell, a former royal butler, he revealed how Diana once disclosed to him the shocking reason why Charles decided to propose to her. “Diana once told me that Charles had told her in the middle of one of their epic arguments: ‘I never loved you. I only married you to have children,'” he wrote in the book, Marie Claire reported. After Diana gave birth to Prince Harry in 1984, Charles made it clear that he was no longer interested in investing time or energy into their marriage, effectively ending the pair’s romantic partnership. According to Burrell, the prince told his wife, ”Well at least I’ve got my heir and spare now and I can return to Camilla.'”
However, even though Charles may have been adamant about the future he saw for himself, Diana didn’t share his vision. “She told me: ‘I cried myself to sleep that night knowing that my marriage was over,'” Burrell wrote. “‘I gave him four good years and he was gone. And for the rest of the time I had to pretend and put on a facade for the world.'” Yet, it took another eight years before the duo officially announced their separation. Their divorce was ultimately finalized in 1996. Yet, even with his attitude toward her, it’s clear that the princess didn’t want to witness the demise the partnership. “Diana never wanted a divorce,” Burrell wrote. “Despite everything that happened, I have no doubt that Diana fell in love with Prince Charles. Unfortunately for Diana, the feeling was not mutual.”
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Even though Charles may have treated Diana in such a way at the start of their marriage, he embodied a different approach when he tied the knot with Camilla Parker Bowles, according to Grant Harrold, a butler who worked for the duo. After a decades-long romance, the pair said “I do” to each other during a civil ceremony at Windsor Guildhall on April 9, 2005. Only a few family members attended the occasion, including Charles’s two sons, William and Harry.
In an interview with Marie Claire, Harrold noted how joyful Charles was in the years just after his marriage to Camilla. “He just got married, he was so happy, everything was going so well,” Harrold told the outlet. Rather than appearing angry and resentful, it appears that the royal was particularly excited about his union. “All I know is I witnessed the two of them, how they were, how happy she made him, how great she was with him, how she makes him laugh and smile and giggle and and I witnessed that,” Harrold added.
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