From the Royal Archives: "Happily? Or just ever after? After six years Charles and Di's fairytale marriage loses its glow"

Photo credit: People magazine

People magazine published an article on June 8, 1987 about Prince Charles' and Princess Diana's deteriorating marriage, viewable here. This article was one of several that went against the myth of a fairytale love match, but instead provided an accurate insight into Charles' and Diana's dying marriage. Keep in mind, this was several years before Andrew Morton exposed the sham the marriage had become in his 1992 biography about the Princess.

To set this article in context, there was intense speculation by the British public into the growing distance between the couple, fueled by the media. Buckingham Palace's press office strenuously denied that the Wales' marriage was coming undone at the seams. Charles and Diana did their best to cover up their marital difficulties and put on a public display of unity, such as their 1985 joint TV interview. As Diana later stated during her Panorama interview, "albeit what was going on in private, we were a good team." However, body language doesn't lie, and the British public was becoming increasingly disturbed by what it was seeing.

Separation and divorce is a tragedy for all parties concerned, but even more so when the white hot glare of the press is added to the mix. Emotional, spiritual, and mental wounds were created that never fully healed. The royal family was ripped apart, and the reverberations were felt long after the divorce papers were signed. For example, Prince William had a nagging fear of having his heart broken; Princess Diana (allegedly) loved Charles to the end and never wanted to be divorced from him.

After a disastrous joint tour of South Korea in November 1992, Charles and Diana separated a month later. They were divorced in August 1996, and Diana died in a tragic car accident the following August.