According to royal expert Jennie Bond—and per The Daily Mail—Princess Diana said “Charles wasn’t cut out to be King” and felt he was “stuck in a rut” following their 1996 divorce. Diana died just 368 days after their divorce was finalized, perishing in a Parisian car accident on August 31, 1997.
Bond said Diana told her inside the walls of Diana’s Kensington Palace home that “The truth is that Charles would be much happier living in Tuscany, painting the landscape or studying architecture.” Diana then allegedly went on to say that Charles wasn’t cut out to be King, as he had “enough problems” as heir to the throne.
Diana also allegedly told Bond that Charles—who was then Prince Charles—needed to overhaul some of his patronages and royal engagements. By then, Charles had already been working as a royal for 30 years, and Diana allegedly said “He’s stuck in a rut. Just take a look at his program. He’s doing exactly the sort of things he was doing 10 years ago.”
Bond said the conversation with Diana happened in the drawing room of Diana’s Kensington Palace home, not long after Charles and Diana’s divorce was finalized on August 28, 1996. The year prior, Diana made similar comments in an interview on Panorama with Martin Bashir, saying that Charles may find it “suffocating” to be King.
Charles is currently seven months into his reign and will be crowned King at his Coronation ceremony on May 6 at Westminster Abbey in London.
