King Charles was 'plagued by guilt' he couldn't make Diana marriage work

The King was "plagued by guilt" that he couldn't make his first marriage to Princess Diana work, a royal expert has claimed. 

Speaking on the live recording of HELLO!'s A Right Royal Podcast filmed at Quaglino's, Diana's friend Ingrid Seward said that Charles "did love" his wife, but that they "were just not suited at the time". 

In a live discussion with HELLO!'s Emily Nash, Emmy Griffiths, and Andrea Caamano, Ingrid suggested that if they'd met when they were older, "they probably would have made it work".

Charles and Diana married in 1981 and welcomed two sons, Prince William and Prince Harry, but finalised their divorce in 1996, one year before she sadly passed away. 

© Tim Graham Photo Library via Get

Ingrid, who is the author of the new book Catherine & Diana, told us: "He did love her. He may not have loved her in the very beginning, and he may not have loved her by the end, but he felt so bad that he couldn't make the marriage work. 

"He was plagued by guilt because he knew he was the one who should have made it work. But her intense jealousy and many, many other things… they were just not suited at the time."

The royal biographer added: "But Diana also said to me she thought if they'd met when they were older, they probably would have made it work and conquered the world; that's what she loved to say."

King Charles's marriage to Princess Diana

Princess Diana was 20 years old when she married Charles at St Paul's Cathedral in London in 1981. 

Charles, who married Queen Camilla in 2005, was 32 at the time, meaning they had an age difference of nearly 13 years.

© Ron Bull

There were reports of marital difficulties throughout the relationship, with Diana later confessing in her 1995 BBC Panorama interview that there were "three of us in this marriage". 

But Diana told Ingrid that there had been a lot of love in the relationship – and she wanted William and Harry to know this. 

Ingrid added: "She actually told me that she really loved Charles. He was the one she would always love. 

"He was the one that got away, and she said, ‘It's very important to me, Ingrid, that my boys know that their father loved me. It's really, really important.'

"Charles wrote her the most beautiful love letters, in which he praised her and talked about her in the most loving way, saying, 'I think about your beautiful long brown legs.' I mean, that's very charming, isn't it? Quite sexy, I suppose."

The discussion came as Earl Spencer revealed Swan Song: Diana my Sister, a memoir about his late sister, including her marriage to the then-Prince Charles.

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