‘Camilla Gave You Those, Didn’t She?’: Princess Diana’s Honeymoon Rampage Against King Charles in a ‘Blazing Row’
Princess Diana reportedly destroyed then-Prince Charles’ paintings and art supplies during a fight on their 1981 honeymoon. According to RadarOnline, biographer Penny Junor claimed Diana got upset because Charles spent hours reading and painting instead of being with her.
Diana was 20, while Charles was 32 when they married on July 29, 1981. After the wedding, they set off on a Mediterranean cruise aboard the Royal Yacht Britannia. The trip lasted two weeks, from August 1 to August 15, and ended in Egypt. Their honeymoon reportedly wasn’t all romance.
The couple had arguments, and Diana grew suspicious of Charles’ relationship with Camilla Parker Bowles. In her book The Duchess, Junor wrote that Charles brought watercolors, canvases, and books by South African writer Laurens van der Post.
He hoped he and Diana could read together and chat about his favorite topics. But Diana reportedly wanted more time with her new husband. Junor wrote, “She resented him sitting for hours at his (art) easel, too, and they had many blazing rows.” She also described an alleged incident aboard the yacht.
“One day, when Charles was painting on the veranda deck of Britannia, he went off to look at something for half an hour. He came back to find she’d destroyed his painting and all his materials,” she said. However, Diana had a more positive take on the honeymoon in an August 1981 letter to her family’s former housekeeper, Maud Pendrey.
She called it a “tremendous success” and said they had a “glorious time.” But she later spoke about her worries over Charles’ relationship with Camilla. In recordings for Andrew Morton’s biography Diana: Her True Story – In Her Own Words, Diana recalled Charles wearing cufflinks with two intertwined Cs. She believed Camilla had given them to him.
Diana recalled confronting Charles about the gift. “On our honeymoon, cufflinks arrived on his wrists. Two Cs entwined like the Chanel ‘C.’ Got it. One knew exactly. So I said, ‘Camilla gave you those, didn’t she?’ He said, ‘Yes, so what’s wrong? They’re a present from a friend.’ And boy, did we have a row,” Diana alleged.
She added, “Jealousy, total jealousy. And it was such a good idea – the two Cs – but it wasn’t that clever.” Diana also claimed Charles had arranged a bracelet for Camilla shortly before the wedding. She said the gift added to her suspicions. Diana later recalled dreaming about Camilla during the honeymoon, too.
Soon, Charles and Diana announced their separation in 1992. Their divorce was finalized in 1996. After the split, Diana continued her charity work. On August 31, 1997, she died at 36 after a car crash in Paris. The Mercedes she was in crashed in the Pont de l’Alma tunnel.
Dodi Fayed and driver Henri Paul also died. Diana, meanwhile, died hours later in hospital from internal injuries. Her bodyguard Trevor Rees-Jones, though, survived. Charles later married Camilla on April 9, 2005, at Windsor Guildhall in a civil ceremony.
