Long before King Charles and Queen Camilla (formerly known as Camilla Parker Bowles) tied the knot, the current monarch married Princess Diana in what was dubbed the “Wedding of the Century.” Then-Prince Charles and the late princess said “I do” on July 29, 1981, at London’s St. Paul’s Cathedral in front of around 3,500 guests. What many people don’t know is one of those guests was Camilla.
Diana actually met Camilla several times before she married Charles and they were reportedly on friendly terms. But that doesn’t mean the princess was happy her soon-to-be-husband’s former flame was at their wedding.
In secret audio tapes to biographer Andrew Morton, Diana explained that when she arrived at the cathedral that day she looked for Camilla in the congregation. “I knew she was there, of course. I looked for her. So walking down the aisle, I spotted Camilla, pale gray, veiled pillbox hat, saw it all, her son Tom standing on a chair … you know — vivid memory.” Now, a video that has gone viral claims to have captured Princess Diana’s reaction after she spotted Camilla.
Footage of Princess Diana and Charles’ wedding that Camilla attended
The 11-second video uploaded to TikTok is titled “Poor Princess.” It has more than 2 million views with over 115,000 likes and hundreds of comments. The clip shows footage from the prince and princess’s wedding as Diana walked down the aisle with her father. She appears to smile at Charles as she approaches. Then, the video cuts to a closeup of Diana looking upset. The caption reads: “Princess Diana’s reaction when she sees Camilla at her wedding.”
Many of the commenters questioned why Camilla was there, while others talked about how bad they felt for the princess. “Poor Di the things she had to put up with, heartbreaking,” one person wrote. Another added: “Can you imagine someone invading your day like that?”
How Princess Diana said she felt about seeing Camilla at her wedding
According to one of Diana’s friends, the princess knew something didn’t seem right the day she married Charles and revealed what was going through her mind when she saw Camilla inside the cathedral. Former BBC correspondent Jennie Bond got to know Diana over the years and became one of the princess’s close confidants.
In the documentary Charles & Camilla: King and Queen in Waiting, Bond recalled: “Diana told me much later in one of our private conversations that she had felt like a lamb to the slaughter as she walked up the aisle, which is very sad. But I think she knew that things weren’t quite right. When she saw Camilla in the congregation she was immediately uneasy about it.” Charles and Diana separated in 1992. Their divorce was finalized in 1996, one year before the princess’s tragic death. On April 9, 2005, Charles married Camilla.
