A Princess of Wales

Chapter Eleven: Couple 31

28th of August 1996 - Kensington Palace

After four years of separation, it was all coming to an end, Charles and Diana would be formally divorce after fifteen years of marriage. 

On July 29, 1981, nearly one billion television viewers in 74 countries tuned in to witness the marriage of Prince Charles, heir to the British throne, to Lady Diana Spencer, a young English schoolteacher. 

Married in a grand ceremony at St. Paul's Cathedral in the presence of 2,650 guests, the couple's romance was, for the moment, the envy of the world but looking back Diana couldn't help but think it was her greatest mistake. 

The fairy tale couple grew apart, an experience that was particularly painful under the ubiquitous eyes of the world's tabloid media. 

Diana and Charles announced a separation in 1992, though they continued to carry out their royal duties. 

In August 1996, after Queen Elizabeth II urged the couple to divorce, the prince and princess reached a final agreement; in exchange for a generous settlement, and the right to retain her apartments at Kensington Palace and her title of "Princess of Wales," Diana agreed to relinquish the title of "Her Royal Highness" and any future claims to the British throne.

 The negotiations had been long, both knowing what they wanted out of this and Diana had been set on keeping what was rightful hers; she was the mother of the future King afterall, she deserved that to be recognised no matter what she might have said about Charles and his inability to reign. 

There was no doubt in her mind that William would make a far greater King than his father, she would help mould him into that and Diana knew that her eldest son would always have her back, he was her confident in all matters these days. 

Harry and Adeline would be his greatest supports when the time came, they would be the ones that William would rely on when his reign came to be. 

Diana adored her three children, William, Harry and Adeline were the best things to come from her marriage and Diana knew that this entire situation had not been easy on any of them as they had front row seats to the collapse of their parents marriage. 

Diana didn't regret doing the interview that had kicked started all of this, she had wanted to show that she was no "vulnerable victim of the media," as she's so often portrayed by the media. 

This was her taking control of the narrative around her, she refused to be seen as someone who would take what was happening to her lying down or allow Charles to lay blame at her feet. 

Dressing for the day, Diana tried to wrap her head around the fact that her marriage was actually coming to an end; a part of her was sad to know that her marriage had failed much like her own parents marriage had done. 

That like her parents marriage, it had collapsed due to infidelity and that was something that didn't quiet sit right with her; even if she had played a part in the collapse of her marriage. 

There were times that she hadn't always told the truth, even her brother had noted that she had real difficulty telling the truth purely because she liked to embellish things; that she had outright lied to him more than once about things. 

Even her own friends had accepted the fact that dishonesty as simply a part of her personality. 

That she looked them straight in the eye when she spoke this so they could see how plausible she could be when she was telling a whopper, they would ask her whether this had happened or that had happened, and she would tell them a complete lie and they never held it against her as that was her way, that was her character.