‘Followed me like a puppy’: where Prince Charles and Diana Spencer met

The previous season of The Crown featured this version of events: the handsome and proud Prince Charles rode a horse (and what else would a prince ride?) to Sarah Spencer, Diana’s sister. And he met nearby the future mother of his sons, who, for greater effect, although she did not prance on a mare, but displayed herself in the costume of the heroine of Shakespeare’s comedy.

Diana is said to have met Charles in November 1977. At Sarah’s invitation, he came to the Spencers at Althorp Manor to hunt pheasant. Such a hunt is not done on horseback, so the phenomenon on horseback is indeed an invention of the scriptwriters. And it is unlikely that a show was put on for the prince’s visit.

Charles and Diana opened up about their first impressions of each other in an engagement interview. The prince noted that he found the girl (Diana, note, was just 16) “cheerful, funny and attractive”, and the royal bride herself recalled Charles being “invited by her sister” and that he turned out to be “an amazing person.”

Despite the two diligently avoiding this topic, Sarah Spencer cannot be left out of this equation. And she really had an affair with the prince – that’s why he came to Althorp. And it was far from their only appearance together: Charles and Sarah were repeatedly released together as a couple. But what prevented the development of their romance? According to Lady Sarah, something quite banal: she did not like the queen’s son. He was also “too slow”.

After their first meeting in Althorp, Diana and Charles did not see each other for two years. And then they met at a reception at the Balmoral estate (yes, the same one where Elizabeth II died in September 2022). Charles was extremely upset by the death of Lord Mountbatten – his own Uncle Louis, brother of Prince Philip. Louis was shot dead by soldiers of the Irish Republican Army: the royal relative, who was unaware of the assassination attempt, was sailing in his own boat.

The heir to the throne had a very close relationship with the lord – he was said to literally replace Charles’s father, which always caused great embarrassment to Elizabeth’s husband.

It was Louis who supported Charles’ affair with bride Camilla Parker-Bowles, and he also advised his nephew to find himself “a pure, sweet bride that people will love.” Well, the prince has fulfilled all of his uncle’s instructions!

Interesting fact: Shortly after Lord Charles’ funeral, in a disheveled sense, he proposed to Louis Mountbatten’s granddaughter, Amanda Knatchbull. But the girl, apparently, wisely assessed the situation – and refused. So the prince went in search of another “clean and gentle”.

When, at a reception at Balmoral, Diana Spencer said words of consolation to Charles over the death of her beloved uncle, he threw himself on her with kisses and “walked around like a puppy all evening” – Diana herself spoke about this after the divorce.

Thus began this strange romance. Charles and Diana married in July 1981, when Diana was 20. What happened next, you know.