The wedding of Princess Diana and Prince Charles was a fantasy come true, but the proposal was far from romantic.
Diana was just 20 years old, more than a decade younger than her future husband, when she was welcomed to Windsor Castle for a visit that would permanently transform her life.
When she arrived at the famous royal residence, Charles told her he had “missed her very much” before leading her to the nursery, unknown to her, to propose.
Charles had only met Diana 12 times, yet she was engaged to the future king by the time she left the palace.
Majesty magazine editor Ingrid Seward revealed facts about the not-so-romantic proposal in the Channel 5 programme Charles and Di: The Truth Behind Their Wedding.
She claims the heir to the throne proposed in the nursery at Windsor Castle “because the nursery is like a home.”
He said: “Prince Charles didn’t pick her up in his arms and embrace or do any of the things we might do when we propose marriage to the one that we love.
“He rang his mum, simply to say ‘there, I’ve done it now. You’ve asked me to get married to somebody and I’ve fixed it.’
“What he’d done was he’d finally found a wife.”
In a later interview, Diana revealed further details about the proposal.
She said: “He said do you realise that one day you’ll be Queen. And I said ‘I love you so much, I love you so much’.
And in the biography, Diana: Her True Story, the Princess reflected: “A voice said to me inside, ‘You won’t be queen but you will have a tough role…
“‘Yes,’ I said. ‘I love you so much, I love you so much.’ He said, ‘Whatever love means’ and so he ran upstairs and rang his mother.”
