When King Charles Proposed, Princess Diana Laughed It Off, Thinking It Was a 'Joke'

When Prince Charles proposed to Lady Diana Spencer in 1981, her reaction was not what one might expect from a fairytale royal romance. Diana initially thought the heir to the British throne was joking when he popped the question. This surprising revelation came from Diana herself, in secret interviews she gave to biographer Andrew Morton for his 1992 book Diana: Her True Story - In Her Own Words. The book sent shockwaves through the royal family and the British public with its candid insights into Diana's unhappy marriage and life as a royal.

According to Diana's own account, she and Charles had only met 13 times before he proposed. She was just 19 years old and had never had a serious boyfriend before. When Charles asked for her hand in marriage, Diana was caught completely off guard. "I went to Windsor and I arrived about 5 o'clock and he sat me down and said 'I've missed you so much,'" Diana recalled in the taped interview. "Anyway, so he said: 'Will you marry me?' and I laughed. I remember thinking: 'This is a joke,' and I said: 'Yeah, OK,' and laughed," as per Business Insider. 

It was only when Charles became "deadly serious" that Diana realized he was not kidding. She described the pivotal moment: "He said: 'You do realize that one day you will be Queen.' And a voice said to me inside: 'You won't be Queen but you'll have a tough role.'" Diana accepted with a simple "OK." She then told Charles, "I love you so much, I love you so much." His response? "Whatever love means." This now-infamous line would come to symbolize the lack of affection in their marriage.

The proposal took place in the nursery at Windsor Castle. Notably, Charles did not get down on one knee - another sign that this was not the romantic moment Diana may have dreamed of. Looking back, Diana admitted she had nothing to compare the relationship to. "I didn't have anything to go by because I had never had a boyfriend. I'd always kept them away, thought they were all trouble – and I couldn't handle it emotionally," she told Morton.

In hindsight, Diana's initial reaction of laughter to Charles' proposal seems almost prescient. While Diana's parents were "thrilled" at the news of her engagement, her brother Charles Earl of Spencer had a more muted reaction. When Diana told him she was engaged, he simply asked, "Who to?" The whirlwind courtship and engagement led to what Diana would later describe as "the worst day of my life" - her wedding day on July 29, 1981.

Their marriage was marked by incompatibility, infidelity, and unhappiness on both sides. The lavish ceremony at St. Paul's Cathedral was watched by 750 million people worldwide. But behind the scenes, Diana was struggling with bulimia and doubts about the marriage. They separated in 1992 and divorced in 1996, just a year before Diana's tragic death, as per Vogue.