Overview
- In a Daily Mail serialization of his upcoming Queen Elizabeth II biography, Hugo Vickers reports both Diana and Charles had doubts before their July 1981 wedding, including Charles asking a dinner neighbor if one can fall in love after marriage.
- Vickers writes that Charles kept in contact with former girlfriend Camilla Parker Bowles during the lead‑up and was not eager to proceed with the match.
- He recounts that Charles, in tears, told a friend he was not sure he could handle the situation and, after being told it was not too late to call it off, said he felt he had no choice.
- The excerpt says Diana hardly knew Charles before the engagement, called him “Sir,” and left a note in his dinner jacket saying she loved him before he flew to New York.
- A separate Marie Claire piece from the same serialization cites Princess Margaret telling Vickers in 1993 that Charles undermined Diana and became difficult over the children, with all accounts presented as Vickers’ recollections rather than verified royal records.