Prince Charles and Princess Diana married in their spectacular 1981 royal wedding. However, their marriage would prove to be notoriously rocky, and the pair would separate by 1992. The Prince of Wales’ parents, the Queen and Prince Philip, chose not to get involved in their son’s rapidly unravelling relationship until the last moment, according to a royal author. 

Biographer Penny Junor, in her 2015 book “the Firm”, writes how the monarch’s intervention came “too late” to save the troubled marriage. 

Ms Junor writes: “Parents of any couple having difficulties in their marriage would be naturally reticent reticent about intervening, uncertain as to whether help would be welcome. 

“But this wasn’t any couple. 

“The breakdown of this marriage had huge implications for the monarchy, and yet both the Queen and Duke of Edinburgh had held back and chosen not to get involved. 

“Plenty had already been written about the state of the marriage; it was no secret that Charles and Diana were leading separate lives, seeing separate friends and that the marriage was in trouble.” 

Ms Junor explains how a meeting was called between the Queen, Prince Philip, Charles and Diana at Windsor in the summer of 1992, “to discuss the situation and see what could be salvaged from the marriage.” 

She notes: “This was the first time there had ever been a discussion of this kind.” 

However, Ms Junor writes: “Calling a conference now was too late. 

“Diana had gone public, and, intoxicated with the power she had over the husband who had cheated on her, she announced she wanted a trial separation. 

“The Queen and Duke were sympathetic, but were firmly against the idea of separation, and urged them both to for the sake of the boys as well as Crown and country to try and find way of making the marriage work. 

“They all agreed to meet again the next day to talk further, but Diana didn’t show up.” 

This was not the first time the lack of communication between Prince Charles and his parents had had disastrous ramifications, according to the author. 

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Ms Junor also writes about how the lack of face-to-face discussion between the Prince of Wales and his father caused Charles to make a “catastrophic” decision. 

In her 2017 book “The Duchess”, Ms Junor explains how Prince Philip, who was alarmed by the frenzy of media interest in the pretty and shy Lady Di, wrote a letter to his son in 1981 to urge him to “make up his mind about Diana”. 

She added that Philip’s view was: “Either marry her or let her go; with all the media madness, it was not fair to keep her hanging on, and he was in danger of tarnishing her reputation.” 

However, Ms Junor writes: “The Prince saw it as an ultimatum to marry, although others who saw the note think this was the wrong interpretation.  

“The note was, however, ambiguous and the two did not sit down and talk about it.” 

“Charles was preparing to propose marriage to a girl he barely knew as a result of a misinterpreted memo from his father. 

“It could not have been more catastrophic.” 

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