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King Charles’ separation from Princess Diana remains one of the most widely discussed chapters in modern royal history. Their marital troubles fueled years of public speculation before the couple announced their split in December 1992.

Although the duo announced their split in December 1992, speculation about trouble in paradise had been circulating long before. Now, veteran royal photographer Arthur Edwards recalled how an infamously awkward photograph appeared to capture the bitter secret of their failing marriage.

In his new autobiography, Cup of Tea, Arthur? My Extraordinary 50 Years Photographing the Royal Family, Edwards revealed how an uncomfortable moment between the former couple during their 1992 India tour showed that their marriage was pretty much hanging by a loose thread.

The photograph showed then-Prince Charles leaning in to kiss his wife, who awkwardly turned her head away.

The photographer also revealed that he asked the late Princess Diana about the increase in her solo appearances without her then-husband. The royal photographer penned in an excerpt published by The Sun, “I became so concerned about the amount of time she and Charles were spending apart that, at a cocktail party in Madrid, I asked her to explain.”

Edwards recalled telling Diana, “What’s this all about you leading separate lives?” to which Diana remained unfazed by the question and instead cracked a joke about the rumors lingering within the press about her marriage.

The former Princess of Wales blamed them not doing joint public engagements for the increase in the number of invitations for both of them. She said, “We couldn’t possibly get through many if we did them all together. So, we’ve decided to accept as many as we can separately. That means we can get to twice as many places and meet twice as many people.”

Arthur Edwards remembered almost believing Princess Diana’s light-hearted statement until her infamous picture with King Charles during their India tour in February 1992 told a different story.

The longtime royal photographer explained, “When I am with the Royal Family, I am looking for a picture that tells you the story without a caption, a picture that screams out what it is.”

Edwards recalled capturing Charles and Diana during their visit to the Rajasthan Polo Club for Arthur Edwards picture that “was screaming at the reader, ‘Our marriage is in trouble.”

The veteran royal photographer wrote in the excerpt, “Prince Charles probably didn’t think it was a great shot when he went to kiss Diana at the polo match in ­Jaipur and she turned her head to produce ‘the kiss’ that missed.”

The former Princess of Wales, who was donning a yellow and pink ensemble, awkwardly turned away as the then-Prince Charles tried to land a kiss on the side of her head.

Recalling the impact that the unpleasant moment had made, Arthur Edwards said, “I recall being in a room with my satphone, trying to find the satellite to send that picture, which I knew would be on page one because it definitely did not need a caption.”

Needless to say, the picture gave a brutal foreshadowing of their doomed marriage. After his separation from Princess Diana, King Charles married the now-Queen Camilla on Apr. 9, 2005. Diana passed tragically in a car crash in Paris on Aug. 31, 1997.

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