How Diana hid secret tension in marriage to Charles during iconic visit to ... trends now
It was a visit that came just two years before Charles and Diana separated - and the tensions behind the scenes were etched on their faces.
The royal couple's five-day trip to Nigeria was one remembered for their largely separate engagements and their few awkward joint appearances.
However, when the then Prince Charles and the Princess of Wales arrived in Lagos on March 15, 1990, thousands of fans welcomed them with cheers and flags.
Diana looked resplendent in a series of dresses by designers Catherine Walker and Paul Costelloe as she characteristically attracted much of the limelight.
She displayed the kindness that she was so loved for when she held the hand of a leprosy patient at a hospital, as Charles initially stood awkwardly by her side.
At the time, the couple's marriage troubles were not public knowledge, but they were both engaged in secret affairs.
Charles was seeing Camilla, now the Queen, and Diana was romantically involved with James Hewitt, a Captain in the British Army. She had also had a fling with her protection officer, Barry Mannakee.
It was a visit that came just two years before Charles and Diana separated - and the tensions behind the scenes were etched on their faces. Above: The royal couple visiting a farming village in Port Harcourt, Nigeria, on March 19, 1990
Charles and Diana appear to have a difficult conversation on the day of their visit to the Molai Centre, a leprosy hospital in Maiduguri, northern Nigeria
Former royal correspondent Elizabeth Blunt recalled that Diana's Nigeria trip with Charles was an attempt by the Palace to 'revive' interest in them.
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She previously said: 'The West African tour was officially meant to be for Prince Charles, as future head of the Commonwealth, to get to know the region; in reality it was very much more about getting the right kind of coverage in the British press.
'Looking back, this was a low point in the royal couple's popularity; the glamour and novelty of their marriage had worn off; the problems in their relationship had not yet become public; the palace press office was keen to revive flagging public interest in the future King and Queen.
'The chosen solution was a punishing round of activities which took them to every corner of Nigeria and Cameroon; Prince Charles opened a British Council Library, walked in the rain forest, and greeted war veterans in a tropical botanic garden.
'Princess Diana visited children's hospitals, traditional hand loom weavers and women's development projects. And wherever Diana went, the royal press pack followed.'
She added: 'I had Prince Charles's engagements virtually to myself; no-one else was in the slightest bit interested.'
At the time of the visit, Charles and Diana were both engaged in extra-marital affairs. Above: Diana wearing a pink and white floral patterned Paul Costelloe dress as she sits next to Charles
Charles and Diana talk to medics during a visit to the Molai Centre in Maiduguri, northern Nigeria
Charles wears a pale blue safari suit during a visit to Port Harcourt, Nigeria, in March 1990
The Princess of Wales displayed the kindness which she became famous for when she held the hand of a leprosy patient as her husband initially stood by awkwardly. The patient, named Lucky, beamed when the princess held her hand at the Molai Centre, a leprosy hospital and rehabilitation village in Maiduguri, northern Nigeria, in March 1990
The 1990 visit was Diana's first time in the country. Charles had been as a young boy in 1956, when he accompanied his mother Queen Elizabeth II on her royal tour.
He has been back three times since, in 1999, 2006 and 2018.
Five years before the 1990 trip, Charles and Diana had shared an awkward kiss at a polo match.
By then, their two children were too young to pick up on any tension between them. Prince Harry not even a year old, whilst Prince William was barely three.
In 1987, there was another sign that the couple's marriage was in trouble when Diana did not join the Royal Family on their annual summer trip to Balmoral.
Two years later, transcripts of an intimate phone conversation between
