Queen Elizabeth II, Who 'Bows to Nobody,' Made an Exception Just for One Person

She was 'the' Queen Elizabeth; the world bowed down to her and not the other way around. However, the late monarch once broke the rule for a surprising family member and it was none other than the late Princess Diana, who was also dubbed the "People's Princess." Diana's marriage with now-King Charles was notorious back in the day, but although Diana broke away from the royal family, Her Majesty still seemed to respect her. 

When the news of Diana's untimely death on August 31, 1997, reached Buckingham Palace, Queen Elizabeth mourned the loss in a live TV address, calling her an 'exceptional and gifted human being.' Additionally, to pay her last respects, her Majesty did something that she never did for anyone else, as historian Jane Ridley recalled to CNN: "The Queen bows to nobody – ever." But when Diana's funeral rode past the Palace, she was seen 'making a bow to her daughter-in-law.'

In her lifetime, Diana couldn't fully fit herself into the royal family. Instead, she defied many rules challenging the British Monarchy unlike any other. Her life as Princess of Wales was subjected to intense media scrutiny, personal struggles, infidelity, and health concerns among other confrontations. While going through all this, she gave birth to two sons, Prince William and Prince Harry, and lovingly raised them in her own way.

While the princess was silently enduring the hardships before the news about their marital strife became common knowledge, the cracks in her tumultuous marriage began to show and by 1992, she separated from Charles. She wasn't an active royal family member in the years before she tragically died in a car crash in Paris, but she had cemented her own place nonetheless. 

Furthermore, according to a book by Andrew Morton, The Queen: Her Life, the monarch was 'very supportive' of her former daughter-in-law. "Diana always felt that the Queen was a kind of marital referee and that the Queen should really intervene over her husband's relationship with Mrs. Parker Bowles. But the Queen's policy was to hope for the best," Morton told People. But towards the end of their relationship, the Queen didn't know how to help devastated Diana come out of her marital miseries. 

In 1992, when Charles and Diana's love triangle with Camilla Parker Bowles reached its breaking point, the late Princess visited her mother-in-law at Buckingham Palace bursting into tears. A lady-in-waiting recalled, "The Queen didn't know what to do. She has always hated this kind of emotional confrontation and, frankly, has never had to deal with it before or since." The least Her Majesty could do was to reassure a sobbing Diana that she wouldn't be challenged for the custody of her two boys. 

"My mother-in-law has been totally supportive but it's so difficult to get a decision out of her," Diana once said about the late Queen while waiting to learn about her fate in the royal family. However, while it took a while for Elizabeth to contemplate their marriage, when Her Majesty finally made up her mind, she reportedly wrote a letter to Diana in which the monarch mentioned that she'd consulted everyone and decided the 'best course for you [Diana] is divorce.'

This article originally appeared 2 months ago.