Separation And Divorce

It was news that stunned the world, even if the tabloids had long claimed the Royal marriage was in trouble. On August 28, 1996, Prince Charles and Princess Diana divorced…

On December 9th, 1992, British Prime Minister John Major announced the formal separation of Charles, Prince of Wales and heir to the British throne, and his wife, Princess Diana. Major explained that the Royal couple were separating “amicably.” The report came after several years of speculation by the tabloid press that the marriage was in peril, citing evidence that Princess Diana and Prince Charles spent holidays apart and official visits in separate rooms.

During that time Princess Diana was sure that her husband was seeing Camilla, so in a tit-for-tat gesture she began an affair with James Hewitt, a cavalry officer that she met at a polo match. Her health was suffering and she indulged in bouts of bulimia, which left her fragile and painfully thin.

She didn’t let it affect her charitable activities however, particularly with Barnardos’s Help the Aged and the AIDS Foundation. Her most high profile moment had come in 1987 with the opening of the first UK AIDS ward. A photo of her shaking hands with an AIDS patient made front pages news all around the world. In a similar way her 1989 visit to the Harlem Hospital Centre in New York transformed the perception of AIDS in the United States.

ANNUS HORRIBILIS

1992 was the fortieth anniversary of the Queen’s accession to the throne. It was also famously her Annus Horribilis, one of the worst years for family problems. The first shock in the General Election year came with the separation of Prince Andrew and his wife Sarah Ferguson. Then Princess Anne divorced her husband Mark Philips, accompanied by rumours of an affair with one of her policemen. On November 25th, Prince Charles and Princess Diana met privately at Kensington Palace and not long afterwards their official separation was announced by the British Prime Minister.