The tension of trying to balance royal protocol versus spontaneity was one that marked Princess Diana’s whole relationship with the Royal Family. Royal biographer Ingrid Seward discusses in her 1995 book how Prince Edward felt his mother, the Queen was the “symbol of the nation” which he viewed as to be “cherished and and protected”. And when Princess Diana “began redefining the Royal Family to reflect her own personality, it grated against his sense of propriety” writes Ms Seward in her book “Prince Edward: A Biography”.
Ms Seward said: “The faster Diana spun her glamorous web, the further Edward distanced himself from her”.
Members of the royal family, Edward once observed, “have got to try keep up some sort of appearance”.
Ms Seward claimed the Earl is a man of fierce loyalty, to his friends and to the institution he embodies.
As far as Prince Edward was concerned, Princess Diana, along with Sarah Ferguson “had let the side down”.
How Princess Diana’s ‘glamorous web GRATED against Prince Edward' (Image: Getty)
Edward was "wary of the Princess of Wales", even though he had watched Diana’s romance with his brother Prince Charles develop.
Ms Seward explained in the biography that Edward “sensed the trouble she would cause” Charles and by “keeping the Princess at arm’s length”, the Earl was
