Princess Diana and Prince Charles’ troubled marriage is still a major topic of discussion. However, their relationship might have been more “ugly” than we can ever imagine, and some of Di’s secret letters reveal how bad things became before they finally got divorced in August 1996.
One of the biggest reasons behind their rocky marriage was Charles’ long affair with Camilla Parker Bowles, which ultimately led the royal couple to split up just 15 years into their married life. Despite having two kids together, Prince William and Harry, things couldn’t be fixed, although many experts claim that they both tied the loose ends in Diana’s final months.
Years later, some of her confidential letters written to her close friends resurfaced, further unfolding how suffocating the relationship was for the Princess, who was otherwise loved by the public.
When things got difficult for her, she had a close-knit group of friends who offered her advice or just laid out their shoulders for her to cry on. Some of such close pals were Tarek and Suzy Kassem, who stood by her through thick and thin during her divorce from Prince Charles. The Kassem family treasured Princess Diana for more than 25 years and once described her as a “butterfly,” as she was a symbol of grace amid chaos.
The letters she wrote to them unfolded the intimate details of her tumultuous marriage to Charles. In one of such letters, dated back on April 28, 1996, just a few months before her divorce, Diana writes, “It’s too difficult sometimes, and today I am on my knees and just longing for this divorce to go through as the possible cost is tremendous. It’s desperate and ugly.”
Luckily (?) for her, just a few months after she parted ways with Prince Charles when the Queen urged the couple following Diana’s bombshell Panorama interview that remains key material for researchers to date.
32 personal letters & cards written by the late ‘Diana, Princess of Wales’ 1995~1996 to be auctioned this month! The collection has been privately owned for 25 years by two of her friends, Susie & Tarek Kassem! Now all being sold to raise funds for charities supported by them! pic.twitter.com/OUsZCFd6GL
— Diana Speaks (@Diana6197Davis) February 3, 2023
Another one of her letters dated May 20, 1996, unfolds her strange paranoia during her divorce that her phone was being tapped. She writes, “As I don’t have a mobile, it is difficult to discuss personal issues as my lines here are constantly recorded and passed on.” Reportedly, Martin Bashir also preyed on her paranoia and made her speak up in that infamous interview.
According to various reports, Diana wrote a total of thirty-two letters to her closest friends, which were recently auctioned. The memos are estimated at $111,000 with Cornwall-based Lay’s Auctioneers, and the revenue was reported to be donated to and forwarded to those charities that the late Princess herself backed with her life.
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The Mirror reports that Mimi Connell-Lay stated many of Diana’s letters were candid and astonishing: “She wrote a lot about what was going on in her life at the time, especially her divorce, and repeatedly referred to not having the support from the royal family.”
The auction house also made a statement about the Kassems, who treasured her letters for over 25 years. “The Kassems would like to give other people the opportunity of acquiring ‘a memento’ of the Princess, and in doing so, support causes that were important to her.”
