Diana recorded secret tapes charting marriage breakdown
PRINCESS DIANA secretly recorded herself describing her despair over the state of her marriage to Prince Charles, her biographer has revealed.
Andrew Morton said that the Princess contacted him via a friend to offer him an interview with her for his upcoming book on the royal couple.
In transcripts of interviews conducted by Mr Morton in 1991, Diana revealed she was extremely unhappy in her marriage and had attempted to commit suicide a number of times. Her long struggle with eating disorders have been well documented, but in the tapes, Diana claimed her bulimia began when the Prince told her she was “a bit chubby”.
The Princess said she developed the eating disorder a week after she became engaged – when Charles put his hand around her waist and commented on her weight. She said his remark, coupled with her anxiety over his affair with Camilla Parker Bowles, triggered the bulimia and gave her a way to release the “tension”.
Transcripts of the tapes published in the Daily Mail reveal that when Charles proposed to Diana, the Princess was already aware of his relationship with Camilla.
In the tapes, Diana said Camilla knew about the couple’s private travel arrangements and would caution the Princess against pushing Charles into doing certain things.
“I couldn’t understand it,” she said. “Eventually, I worked it all out and found the proof of the pudding, and people were willing to talk to me.”
She claimed she attempted to discuss the affair with Charles and even the Queen, but was met with a blank “wall” of silence.
In the tapes Diana also describes her struggle to adjust to the public scrutiny her place in the Royal family attracted.
She described Buckingham Palace and the royal staff as cold and distrusted everyone around her, adding she often felt lonely once she left her own flat to move into the royal residences.