Remembering Princess Diana: The People’s Princess

Rocky moments in marriage

Diana rejected the traditional style of raising children in a royal family and decided to be much more hands-on with her two boys. She would even take them to school herself as often as she could. Although Diana remained extremely devoted to her two boys, her marriage was already falling apart. Shortly after their marriage, both Diana and Charles were engaged in affairs.

Diana had an affair with the aforementioned James Hewitt and Charles with his now-wife, Camilla Parker Bowles. In an interview with Martin Bashir, Diana famously said of the arrangement, “Well, there were three of us in this marriage, so it was a bit crowded.” The Princess also thought that Charles was engaged in another affair with the children’s nanny named Tiggy. Diana was apparently suicidal over the deteriorating marriage, which was recorded in the book by Andrew Morton. In 1992 the couple announced their official separation and by 1996 the divorce was finalized.

Diana’s Demons

During the end of the relationship, Diana suffered from numerous personal demons that were only exacerbated by the stress of the relationship. At one point Diana even claimed that the nanny Tiggy was pregnant with Prince Charles’ child which she then aborted. Tiggy refuted this claim. Over the years many writers that spoke of Diana’s life discussed her various mental health issues.

Some of her biographers have asserted that she suffered from a borderline personality disorder which may have accounted for the many other issues she experienced. In 1995, Diana herself discussed her issues in a BBC Panorama interview. Diana discussed her struggle with depression, a lifelong battle with bulimia and also apparently had taken to various forms of self-harm. In an interview with Martin Bashir, Diana confirmed that she had caused injury to both her arms and legs.