Princess Diana and Prince Charles married in their spectacular royal wedding in 1981. Their engagement announcement in February of that year was a sensation as royal watchers around the world prepared for the wedding of the century. However, according to biographer Anthony Holden, the joyous moment of the proposal happened at the marital home of Charles’ ex-flame Camilla Parker Bowles.
Mr Holden, writing in Vanity Fair in 1993, said: “The unmarried Charles was known to be very close to two married women: Camilla and Lady (Dale) Tryon – who marketed some of her fashion designs under the label Kanga, the nickname Charles gave her.
“They were even said at the time to have formed a committee to vet virgins fit to marry the Prince, and put Diana at the top of the list.
“Where, after all, did Charles propose to Diana? Beside the cabbage patch in the Parker-Bowleses’ back garden.”
Although Mr Holden, a respected biographer of figures such as Shakespeare and Tchaikovsky as well as the Royal Family, there is some uncertainty where the proposal may have taken place, with other sources citing the nursery at Windsor Castle, and others claiming over dinner in Charles’ Buckingham Palace apartments.
Princess Diana and Camilla Parker Bowles (Image: Getty)
Prince Charles and Princess Diana announced their engagement in February 1981 (Image: Getty)
However, author Tina Brown is in agreement with Mr Holden about how Camilla persuaded Charles to propose to Lady Diana Spencer.
In 1985, the Vanity Fair editor wrote: “His family wanted it. The public wanted it.
“Like the last Prince of Wales, he liked to confide in married women, and his two favourites, Lady Tryon and Camilla Parker Bowles, wanted it.
“They had met the blushing little Spencer girl and deduced she was not going to give them any trouble. Better her than another fiery number like Anna Wallace.
“Prince Charles was exhausted. He proposed.”
