Princess Diana and Prince Charles married in their fairytale royal wedding in 1981, however their famously turbulent marriage would end in divorce in 1996 after a four-year separation. Although the Prince of Wales and Camilla Parker Bowles had cut off their love affair before his marriage to Diana, they remained good friends and Charles reveals in his authorised biography that they resumed their relationship in 1986. Diana was suspicious of the pair’s relationship from the start, and a discovery of a gold bracelet two weeks before her marriage made the Princess of Wales “rage” against an “insensitive” Charles.

Channel 5 documentary “Royals at War”, which aired on Saturday, heard from royal experts on the gift, which Prince Charles personally gave to Camilla two days before his wedding to Diana.

Editor of Majesty magazine, Ingrid Seward said: “At the time of the marriage, Charles was not seeing Camilla but Diana was convinced that he was, and then her worst fears came true.”

Royal commentator Victoria Arbiter explained: “Just before the wedding, Diana intercepted a package that arrived at Charles’ office and she insisted on opening it.

“It was a gold bracelet, with the initials F and G, for Fred and Gladys – which was what Charles and Camilla called each other.

“Diana of course [in] floods of tears, went to Charles and demanded to know what was going on.

“But Charles, so insensitive, he insisted on still giving it to Camilla.”

Royal biographer Penny Junor added: “Charles did not show huge emotional intelligence, if I’m brutally honest.”

In her 2017 book, “The Duchess: The Untold Story”, Ms Junor delves into the bracelet incident in more detail. 

Ms Junor writes: “What enraged Diana most of all was a bracelet destined for Camilla that she found on (secretary) Michael Colborne’s desk one Friday afternoon.

“Colborne had been asked by Charles to buy presents for various women who’d been special to him in one way or another during his bachelor years – namely Lady Tryon, Lady Sarah Keswick, Lady Cecil Cameron and Camilla Parker Bowles.

“The Prince is an inveterate giver of gifts, especially jewellery, as a way of thanking people – and he intended to see each of the women individually to say goodbye.”

In Andrew Morton’s book “Diana: Her True Story – In Her Own Words”, originally published in 1992, the Princess of Wales gave her side of the story in tapes given to the author. 

She told Mr Morton: ”I opened it and there was a bracelet, and I said: ‘I know where this is going.’ I was devastated. 

“This was about two weeks before we got married. 

“He [Michael Colborne] said, ‘Well, he’s going to give it to her tonight.’

“So rage, rage, rage! ‘Why can’t you be honest with me?’ But no, [Charles] cut me absolutely dead. 

“It’s as if he had made his decision and if it wasn’t going to work, it wasn’t going to work. He’d found the virgin, the sacrificial lamb.”

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