On July 29, 1981, 20-year-old Diana walked down the aisle to marry then-Prince Charles in front of 3,500 guests. It was indeed the wedding of the century, as a record-breaking 750 million people from across 74 countries were glued to their television screens to watch the royal wedding. 44 years later, people still love to talk about their ‘broken’ relationship, even though their marriage died a slow death long before Diana passed away in a tragic car crash.
The night before her wedding, Princess Diana reportedly spent a quiet evening at Clarence House. Ten years after the wedding, Diana opened up to journalist Andrew Morton and revealed that she “had a very bad fit of bulimia the night before.”
#OnThisDay the wedding of Prince Charles (later King Charles III) and Lady Diana Spencer took place on Wednesday, 29 July 1981, at St Paul’s Cathedral in London, England. The groom was the heir apparent to the British throne, and the bride was a member of the Spencer family. pic.twitter.com/VXdkoxTfPU
— Back To The 80s (@back21980s) July 29, 2025
In 1991 and 1992, Diana recorded tapes for Morton, which became a golden source of secrets of her life that Morton disclosed in his best-selling biography titled ‘Diana: Her True Story’. Diana confided in those tapes that her public persona was way different from her real personality.
The soon-to-be-bride who had just turned 20 and spent the evening with her sisters and bridal party. “‘I ate everything I could possibly find, which amused my sister, and nobody understood what was going on there,” she recalled, as per Daily Mail.
“It was very hush-hush. I was as sick as a parrot that night. It was such an indication of what was going on,” she added.
Restless Diana found it hard to fall asleep, so she went downstairs. The Queen Mother’s Steward, William Tallon, gave young Diana a glass of orange juice.
Diana then found a bicycle and hopped on it. As per Daily Mail, she cycled around in circles, ringing the bell and singing, “I’m going to marry the Prince of Wales tomorrow!”
On the day of her wedding, Diana said she was “very, very calm, deathly calm.”
29 July 1981— Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer are married at St. Paul’s Cathedral in London pic.twitter.com/pYFVQ6tB2n
— ALL PRINCESS DIANA (@princessdibooks) July 29, 2024
However, she added, “I felt I was a lamb to the slaughter. I knew it and couldn’t do anything about it. My last night of freedom was with Jane at Clarence House.”
Though Diana knew that her life was about to change forever, she was very much in love with Charles that she “couldn’t take” her “eyes off him.”
“He was going to look after me. Well, was I wrong on that assumption?”
#OTD, 28 July 1981, the then Prince Charles, the Prince of Wales married Lady Diana Spencer at St. Paul Cathedral in London pic.twitter.com/obtHZyx57j
— old royalty👑 (@oldroyalty1) July 29, 2025
Former BBC royal reporter Jennie Bond claimed that Diana later confided to her about her doubts and true feelings on her wedding day. In Channel 5’s documentary, Charles & Camilla: King and Queen in Waiting, Bond said, “Diana told me much later in one of our private conversations that she had felt like a lamb to the slaughter as she walked up the aisle, which is very sad, but I think she knew that things weren’t quite right.”
“When she saw Camilla in the congregation, she was immediately uneasy about it,” she added.
Bond said that Diana had discovered a bracelet that Charles had given to Camilla during their engagement. The thoughtful piece of jewelry had her initials engraved on it. Bond added, “She was enraged by it, and she wanted to know why he had gifted this to Camilla.”
Reportedly, Charles wore a set of customized cufflinks on his honeymoon. It had the initials C and C, for Charles and Camilla.
Now, when we look back, it appears that their marriage was destined to be doomed from the start, and Diana had a slight sense of it, but she was too young to understand the complexities fully. Their marriage is a living proof that getting a Prince Charming doesn’t always mean a happy ending.
