The world rejoiced in 1981 as Prince Charles and Princess Diana’s fairy-tale wedding united the United Kingdom. Unbeknownst to millions, however, the spectre of Camilla Parker Bowles loomed large over their honeymoon aboard the Royal Yacht Britannia.
The cufflinks That Launched a thousand ships (of tears) on the Mediterranean trip: during the pair’s 12-day Mediterranean cruise, the young Princess noted a pair of cufflinks on Charles’ wrists with two interlocking ‘C’s–akin to the famous Chanel logo–which he reportedly wore to symbolize him and Camilla.
In voice recordings later given to biographer Andrew Morton for his 1992 book Diana: Her True Story, Diana said of confronting Charles over the cuffs: “Cufflinks arrive on his wrists–two ‘C’s entwined like the Chanel ‘C’s.
Got it in one; knew exactly. ‘Camilla gave you those, didn’t she?'” As the couple argued, he is reported to have said the cufflinks were just from a friend, but it added insult to injury for Diana, already suffering from private distress at photos of Camilla tumbling from Charles’ diary as well as his past.
I dreamt of Camilla constantly After feeling insecure, Princess Diana’s nights spent in isolation became consumed by thoughts of her husband’s past lover.
“At night, I dreamt of Camilla the whole time,” Diana admitted in tapes.
“I was obsessed by Camilla totally.” It appears Charles, however, also wasn’t having a blast on their 12-day cruise around the Mediterranean. In a letter dated from the same honeymoon, Prince Charles described spending hours alone reading on the deck.
“Diana dashes about chatting up all the sailors and the cooks in the galley etc. While I remain hermit-like on the veranda deck, sunk with pure joy into one of Laurens van der Post’s books.” Whilst Princess Diana was fighting private battles with her bulimia, jealousy and anxiety during those first weeks as wife and mother-to-be, members of the press who managed to snag interviews painted a much different picture of domesticity and bliss.
In short, this supposed blissful honeymoon didn’t last the entire journey The Princess of Wales described their honeymoon in brief letter to friend shortly after their return as “blissful,” but years later, the devastating truth revealed fractures beginning to emerge very early on.
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Prince Charles and Princess Diana divorced in 1996, and Charles married Camilla Parker Bowles in 2005. Charles and Camilla became Queen Camilla and King Charles respectively following the accession of Prince Charles to the throne in 2022.