The Prince of Wales and Lady Diana Spencer: 29 July 1981

[fandesacs2003]

Originally Posted by Naggi

"Behind the curtain" photos I have never seen before. I love how the pageboy is trying to sort her train on the sceond photo.

Untitled | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

Untitled | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/4736837...ream/lightbox/

Very nice pics, thanks. The third pic is so sad if you know the end of the story. It is the beauty and the innocence of a young girl, entering into a fairy tale... which turned to a nightmare.

[Bassoonist]

I think they had very different expectations from marriage. As she said, she wanted a father figure who would protect her and love her and (subconciously) who would make her abandonment issues go away. He wanted someone to have his children and then let him live his life as he wished. He was used to being cared for, not doing the caring. They could have been great and they were wonderful at traveling and mixing with the people. But their personality conflicts made it impossible.

[nascarlucy]

They lived in two very different worlds, even though they were married to each other. This is one of the first impressions that I got of them. The two different worlds were difficult to bring together for a variety of different reasons.

I think as the Prince of Wales came into his 30's, there was a lot of pressure on him to find someone who was suitable to marry. There wasn't a large pool of women to pick from (limited by social standing and virginity being a requirement) and by the time one gets into their late 20's and early 30's especially at that time period late 1970's, early 1980's), most women who might have been eligible in his age group were probably already married, a few of them possibly divorced and a few perhaps living with a partner. Being divorced or having lived with a partner previously would have made one ineligible for marriage.

I imagine you would have been very hard pressed to find a woman in her late 20's or early 30's who was still a virgin and who was in the right social standing to be the bride of the Prince of Wales. So the woman had to be much younger than him for that reason.

[Pranter]

Well I think he'd had a few 'no thank you' replies as well prior to Diana. Still I can't imagine she was the only virgin from his social set.


LaRae

[cepe]

Originally Posted by Ish

See, I think the opposite. The reason why they had so many personal problems, in my opinion, was because they weren't good together. I think Charles is much better suited with Camilla.

I agree and I wish the past could be left alone.

[Dman]

Charles was pretty excited about his marriage to Diana. I remember when he was trying to figure out the landscaping for their Highgrove Estate, he had menioned in a documentary that he wanted to design the grass with lots of C's and D's. Diana even said they were really happy in the beginning.

Then again, that was the past. Nothing can be changed now.

[GracieGiraffe]

Originally Posted by fandesacs2003

Very nice pics, thanks. The third pic is so sad if you know the end of the story. It is the beauty and the innocence of a young girl, entering into a fairy tale... which turned to a nightmare.

Everyone was so filled with so many expectations of this marriage. I was a kid, and can still remember the Archbishop of Canterbury remarking on "The Prince and Princess on their Wedding Day;" he captured the essence of it all to so many of us in that very simple line, but so filled with meaning. They were supposed to be a fairy tale.

It's almost difficult, even for me, to look at these photos now. Looking at the wedding photos now, those candid behind the scenes shots makes you feel like you're there, you have a crystal ball, and you want to leap up and put a stop to the whole thing, and you feel so helpless that you can't.

[Dman]

I think people have to understand that marriage is no fairytale, despite it being a royal marriage. Married royal couples have their ups and downs just like other couples.

I think that's the sad part about Charles & Diana's marriage, people put too much high expectations on their shoulders. I think it all became too great a burden for them to carry. The press wasn't much help either. Marriage is already hard but to have the media making everything into a soap opera, I think will really put a strain on anyones marriage.

[bethaliz6894]

The world did put to push pressure on Charles and Diana's marriage. I remember everytime there was a picture of those two and they weren't looking at each other, or were looking at something else. ever talking to different people. There were reports about a Royal Breakup. It was every month, weekly by the end of the marriage.

[Lumutqueen]

Originally Posted by bethaliz6894

The world did put to push pressure on Charles and Diana's marriage. I remember everytime there was a picture of those two and they weren't looking at each other, or were looking at something else. ever talking to different people. There were reports about a Royal Breakup. It was every month, weekly by the end of the marriage.

Perhaps, but if they really wanted to stay together, papers, reports and "the world" wouldn't have made an ounce of difference if their life.

[GracieGiraffe]

Oh, no, it was not the public or the press that doomed that marriage. Those outside forces at times don't help a bad situation, but that bad situation was already in existence.