What Diana told Camilla about Charles affair, but Netflix's Crown S4 didn't show you

The Crown Season 4 missed showing a crucial episode from Princess Diana's life, when she confronted Camilla Parker Bowles over her affair with Prince Charles. This is what Diana said, in her own words, about that confrontation with Camilla.

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Mumbai
November 25, 2020
UPDATED: November 25, 2020 16:27 IST
Princess Diana confronted Camilla about her relationship with Prince Charles.

In the initial episodes of The Crown Season 4, we see Princess Diana trapped within the walls of an ever decked-up Buckingham Palace. Right after announcing their engagement, Prince Charles went on a six-week tour, leaving the Princess behind. While Diana received hundreds of letters from her well-wishers from all around the world, she didn't get a note from her soon-to-be husband.

This made Diana, then Spencer, suspicious of Charles's relationship with Camilla Parker Bowles but after some convincing, she married the Princess of Wales in a fairytale wedding in 1981. This is where the fairytale ended and reality hit home.

WHEN DID DIANA DECIDE TO CONFRONT CAMILLA?

Even after Diana and Prince Charles's wedding, his whirlwind romance with Camilla Parker Bowles continued, worsening Diana's mental and physical health. Ten years into the marriage, Diana decided to confront Camilla and give Parker Bowles a piece of her mind.

The Crown Season 4, which has once again triggered an interest in Princess Diana's short life and tragic death, missed this crucial episode from the princess's life. Or perhaps the makers of the widely acclaimed Netflix series might be saving it for the next season. Whatever the reason be, Princess Diana's fans can read about it in her biography, Diana: Her True Story - In Her Own Words, by Andrew Morton.

Princess Diana and Prince Charles.

WHERE DID DIANA CONFRONT CAMILLA?

In the biography, the Princess of Wales mentioned that she went to the 40th birthday party of Camilla's sister with an aim to confront her. This was February 1989.

Calling it the bravest moment of her marriage life, Diana said, "One of the bravest moments of my entire ten years was when we went to this ghastly party for Camilla's sister's 40th birthday. Nobody expected me to turn up but again a voice inside me said: 'Go for the hell of it.' This was my big step."

Talking about how she confronted Camilla, Diana said, "After dinner we were all upstairs and suddenly noticed there was no Camilla and no Charles upstairs. So this disturbed me, so I made my way to go downstairs. I know what I'm going to confront myself with. They tried to stop me from going downstairs but I said, 'I'm just going to find my husband.'"

A 'HAPPY LITTLE THREESOME GOING ON DOWNSTAIRS'

After making her way downstairs, Diana found Camilla and Charles talking to another man. She said, "I go downstairs and there is a very happy little threesome going on downstairs - Camilla, Charles and another man chatting away. So I thought: 'Right, this is your moment', and joined in the conversation as if we were all best friends and the other man said, 'I think we ought to go upstairs now.'"

Diana asked Charles and the other man to leave her with Camilla. She said, "We stood up and I said, 'Camilla, I'd love to have a word with you if it's possible', and she looked really uncomfortable and put her head down, and I said to the men, 'Okay boys, I'm just going to have a quick word with Camilla', and 'I'll be up in a minute', and they shot upstairs like chickens with no heads, and I could feel upstairs all hell breaking loose."

Prince Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles.

THE ACTUAL CONFRONTATION BETWEEN DIANA AND CAMILLA

The Princess of Wales was terrified of Camilla but she mustered all her courage and had a one-on-one conversation with Parker Bowles. Diana said, "'I would just like you to know that I know exactly what is going on.' I said to Camilla. I was utterly terrified of her and I said, 'Camilla, I would just like you to know that I know exactly what is going on.' She said, 'I don't know what you're talking about!' And I said, 'I know what's going on between you and Charles, and I just want you to know that.' And she said, 'Oh, it's not a cloak-and-dagger situation.' I said, 'I think it is.'"

WHAT WAS CAMILLA'S RESPONSE?

Camilla said a few words in this conversation, but they stayed with Diana forever. Revealing the same, Diana said, "Camilla told me, 'You've got everything you ever wanted. You've got all the men in the world falling in love with you, and you've got two beautiful children. What more could you want?' I didn't believe her, so I said, 'I want my husband.'"

Prince Charles with Camilla.

DIANA EVEN APOLOGISED TO CAMILLA

In the emotional moment, Diana even went on to apologise to Camilla. The Princess said, "I'm sorry I'm in the way, I obviously am in the way and it must be hell for both of you, but I do know what is going on. Don't treat me like an idiot."

On her way back home, Diana couldn't control her tears. She said, "In the car on the way back my husband was over me like a bad rash and I cried like I have never cried before - it was anger, it was seven years' pent-up anger coming out. I cried and cried and cried and I didn't sleep that night. And the next morning when I woke up I felt a tremendous shift."

THE INTERNET'S REACTION TO CAMILLA AND CHARLES ON THE CROWN SEASON 4

The Crown Season 4 largely focusses on Princess Diana and her disturbed marriage with Prince Charles. In her candid interview with the BBC, Diana had revealed the exact state of her marriage. "Well, there were three of us in this marriage, so it was a bit crowded," she had said.

The Crown Season 4 re-opened the old wounds that fans have tried patching over all these years. Soon after the show dropped on Netflix on November 15, Diana's fans marched to Twitter and blasted Camilla and Charles. Many called Diana the only Princess.

One user wrote, "Not me yelling at my tv everytime i see Camila and Charles. Charles didn't deserve Diana, the whole rotten royal family didn't deserve Diana #TheCrownNetflix #TheCrown #Diana."

Another user wrote, "Princess Diana in Heaven watching The Crown exposing Camilla and Charles to a new generation. #TheCrown #diana."

One more user wrote, "She deserved so much more #PrincessDiana #crown."

Another user wrote, "They never like looking in the mirror. #TheCrown #TheCrownSeason4 and it sure makes #PrinceCharles and #Camilla look as bad as we knew they were. #Ladydiana."

DIANA, THE PEOPLE'S PRINCESS

On August 31, 1997, Princess Diana died in a car crash in Paris. It has been 23 years since she breathed her last but she still remains the queen of people's hearts; pretty much the only thing she wanted, and not the Crown.

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