Queen Elizabeth approved
of Diana’s marriage to her oldest son, Charles in the year 1981. The prince
married Lady Diana Spencer at London’s St. Paul’s Cathedral in a fairy-tale
wedding watched by an estimated 750 million people worldwide. They later
divorced in 1996 after the royal family was rocked by revelations about the
news of infidelity. Charles has been a controversial royal over the years, from
his affair while married to Princess Diana, and alleged persistent political
interference, to occasional gaffes and scandals involving aides.
Speaking about the
relationship between Diana and Queen Elizabeth, as per New York Post,
Diana was not an outsider, Queen godmother to Diana’s younger brother, Charles
Spencer.
Though the princess knew how to
handle the royals, she was terrified of her mother-in-law in the early days, as
stated by the princess to the author Andrew Morton in his 1992 book “Diana: Her
True Story. Diana even once told Royal, biographer, Ingrid Seward noted in her
book “The Queen and Di” that “I have the best mother-in-law in the
world.”
The Queen wanted to help her
daughter-in-law but didn’t know how. “For Princess Diana, there was a hope
that somehow the queen would intervene to make things OK in their marriage
again,” Diana’s private secretary Patrick Jephson said in the Channel 5
documentary “Two Golden Queens.”
Elizabeth seemed, publicly at
least, unmoved by Diana’s death, even as the prime minister — media-savvy Tony
Blair — coined a memorable phrase in describing Diana as “the people’s
princess.”
The queen eventually relented
and came to London to pay her respects. The royal family then took steps to
regain public favor, in part by adopting the more people-friendly approach
Diana had used.
“She was an exceptional
and gifted human being. In good times and bad, she never lost her capacity to
smile and laugh, nor to inspire others with her warmth and kindness,” the
Queen said of Diana.
“I admired and respected
her – for her energy and commitment to others, and especially for her devotion
to her two boys.”
