Lip Reader Reveals What Queen Elizabeth Told Diana on Palace Balcony During Her Wedding Day

Princess Diana and Prince Charles may have had a troubled marriage, but their wedding day was undeniably eventful. The photographs from July 29, 1981, the day the former royal couple tied the knot, were cherished for years. Among those was one image where Queen Elizabeth II said something to Diana from the palace balcony and a lip reader now decoded the message. 

The lip reader told the Daily Mail that when Diana and Charles were joined by the rest of the royal family on the Buckingham Palace balcony, they waved to the guests and Elizabeth pointed towards the crowd and whispered to Diana to "look" at the people who have "been there all day" to have a glimpse of her. The expert also added that Charles complimented Diana, saying, "You look perfect" and told her to give him her hand and kiss. 

Diana and Charles got married at St. Paul's Cathedral before 3,500 guests including the royal family alongside 750 million global audience from 74 countries who witnessed the historic event on their TV screens. Britain declared it a public holiday and BBC made every effort possible to ensure the wedding reached the widest audience. And to this day, the royal wedding remains one of the most-watched programs.

Though the fairytale wedding was historic for its glitz and glamor, some behind-the-scenes moments turned it into a tabloid favorite topic. For instance, a night before [the wedding], Diana dealt with a "devastating blow" as Charles told his bride-to-be that he didn't love her. Penny Thornton, an astrologer Diana consulted in her lifetime, made this claim in ITV's 2020 documentary The Diana Interview: Revenge of a Princess. 

"I think Charles didn't want to go into the wedding on a false premise. He wanted to square it with her, and it was devastating for Diana," Thornton noted. As a result, Diana "didn't want to go through with the wedding at that point; she thought about not attending the wedding." However, obviously, it was too late to call off the wedding and she went ahead and got married at the age of 20. 

However, according to the late Queen Elizabeth's former press secretary, the royal couple were seemingly in love on their wedding day and couldn't keep their hands off each other. In fact, despite media scrutiny around their troubled marriage and divorce, Diana wished people could see the love letters Charles sent her early in their romance to show that the affection between them had once been genuine. 

In July 2024, The Times reported that royal biographer Ingrid Seward said at an Oldie magazine lunch, "Diana told me very shortly before she died that she wished people could see the love letters that she had from Charles. She really wanted people to know that she loved Charles and he loved her. There was a period of great love between them," which she also wanted her boys Prince William and Prince Harry to know and believe.