Opinion: Charles and Camilla can’t escape Princess Di on Coronation day

More than 25 years on from her tragic death, there are moments when Princess Diana still feels very present — the crowning of King Charles and Camilla is one of them.

When the world celebrated the ‘fairytale’ marriage of Prince Charles and Princess Diana in 1981, they were also imagining her as their future Queen.

So, when Queen Camilla is officially crowned alongside King Charles this Saturday, many people around the world will be thinking of Diana and wondering what could or should have been, not least her sons Princes William and Harry.

Camilla, who has gone from the “other woman” and public enemy No.1 in the 1990s to Queen in 2023, has still not quite won over the people.

A survey in March showed that only 14 per cent of Brits were happy that Camilla was being crowned Queen, while 23 per cent said Camilla should have no title at all.

Prince Charles, Prince of Wales and Diana, Princess of Wales, wearing a wedding dress designed by David and Elizabeth Emanuel and the Spencer family Tiara, leave St. Paul's Cathedral following their wedding on July 29, 1981 in London, England. Picture: Getty Images

Charles, Prince of Wales, kisses his bride, Lady Diana, on the balcony of Buckingham Palace when they appeared before a huge crowd, on July 29, 1981, after their wedding in St Paul's Cathedral. Picture: AFP

Recently, a colleague found a 1981, 50 cent coin in his wallet, with the image of the then Charles and Diana, the Prince and Princess of Wales.

Perhaps rather cheekily, I asked whether I could have it as a keepsake and he obliged.

While marvelling over the image, I thought back to the wedding day itself and the excitement and the possibilities this union seemed to offer.

Lady Diana Spencer and Camilla Parker-Bowles at Ludlow Races where Prince Charles competed in 1980. Picture: Express Newspapers/Archive Photos

Here was a beautiful young princess who was about to join the rather fusty royal family.

She went from a shy ‘Sloane Ranger’ to the ‘People’s Princess’, a title she earned from having such a warm approach to the people she met.

Camilla Parker-Bowles (left) and Lady Diana Spencer (later the Princess of Wales) at Ludlow racecourse to watch the Amateur Riders Handicap Steeplechase in which the Prince was competing. Picture: PA Images via Getty Images

Little did we know just how close she would come to bringing the whole lot monarchy down, with her revelations of her husband’s infidelity, eating disorders and crippling loneliness.

More than 25 years on from her tragic death in a car accident in Paris, there are moments when she still feels very present, and this is one of them.

Harry’s memoir Spare revealed how he is still struggling with his mother’s death.

This week Catherine, Princess of Wales, told a well wisher in the crowd that her sapphire engagement ring, which was previously Diana’s, fitted exactly, and that even though she had never met her, she would have been a “brilliant grandmother”.

The Prince of Wales and Camilla Parker Bowles visit Canisbay Church in Caithness in 2002. Picture: PA Images via Getty Images

Catherine then said how much she was missed, “So much. The family miss her every day”.

Recently in a podcast, Diana’s brother, Charles, Earl Spencer, replied to the host who said she would be thinking of his sister on the day of the Coronation: “I think that’s very complimentary,” the Earl said. “Obviously, I think of Diana every day, in a different context”.

However much King Charles will be hoping the people have accepted his “darling wife”, Camilla, who is very much a people person too apparently, the spectre of Diana will hang over the Coronation.

Like the former Princess of Wales famously said in her Panorama interview, “There were three of us in this marriage, so it was a bit crowded”.

One is left wondering whether Charles himself might reserve a thought for Diana on the biggest day of his life.

Originally published as Opinion: Charles and Camilla can’t escape Princess Di on Coronation day