Prince Charles and Princess Diana married in 1981 and divorced in 1996, the year before Diana died in August 1997 at the age of 36. The Queen was with Prince Charles, alongside Prince William and Harry, at Balmoral that summer when the devastating news came from Paris. Royal author Penny Junor, in her 2017 biography “The Duchess: The Untold Story”, describes how Charles did not turn to his mother when he learned that Diana had been involved in the car crash that killed her. 

Ms Junor writes: “Never was the relationship between the prince and his mother more sharply demonstrated than that night.

“They were just feet away from each other in separate rooms, divided by paper-thin walls, but they didn’t go to one another, either for comfort or to discuss logistics.

“It was left to Camilla, 500 miles away, and other friends the Prince rang, to do the comforting through what remained of the night.”

Elsewhere, Ms Junor described the Prince of Wales’ relationship with the Queen as emotionally distant, and reveals that Charles was “infuriated” by his mother  in the years following Diana’s death as she refused to acknowledge Camilla as his new partner.  

Ms Junor also described how the Queen broke ages-old royal protocol after Diana’s death. 

She said: “The Royal Standard is only ever flies when the monarch is in residence, and it never flies at half mast because technically the country is never without a monarch – a fact expressed in the age-old saying, ‘The King is dead long live the King’.

“Therefore, while every other flag in Britain was lowered, there was no flag flying at Buckingham Palace.

“It seemed symbolic of everything that was wrong with the monarchy – stiff, hidebound and out-of-touch – compared with everything that was so perfect about Diana, who was warm, compassionate and loving.”

The Queen ordered a break with protocol and the Union Flag, otherwise known as the Union Jack, was flown at half mast over the Palace on the day of Diana’s funeral. 

Since Diana’s death, the Union Flag flies from the Palace when the Queen is not in residence, and has flown at half mast upon the deaths of members of the Royal Family.

The tradition continues at other times of national mourning such as following the terrorist bombings in London in 2005, and the terrorist attacks in Christchurch in 2019.

Royal biographer Katie Nicholl also described how prince Philip played an essential role of support for the young princes, and encouraged them to walk behind their mother’s gun carriage at the funeral. 

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Katie Nicholl writes how William initially did not want to walk behind Diana’s gun carriage at his mother’s funeral alongside his younger brother.

The Queen organised a dinner at Buckingham Palace in a “final attempt to persuade the reluctant William”.

Ms Nicholl writes: “The 15-year-old was resolute he could not face the walk from Kensington Palace to Westminster Abbey.

He was not strong enough; there were too many people; he feared he would break down and embarrass his grandmother.”

However, the Duke of Edinburgh stepped in to counsel the young prince. 

Courtier Lady Elizabeth Anson told Ms Nicholl: “It was the Duke who persuaded William to walk at the very last minute.

“Philip knew that if William didn’t walk he would regret it for the rest of his life.

“He said to William, ‘If I walk, will you walk?’

“I think William was overcome with gratitude. He would have done anything for his grandfather, who had been a pillar of strength for him.”

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