3. Eating disorders
As Princess Diana was still a teenager when the two became an item, the press was after them immediately after the announcement. You can imagine this did not bode well for the mental health of a teen, one unprepared to have so many eyes following and criticizing her at every corner. This affected her self esteem a lot and as a result, her relationship with food changed. No longer did she believe she could enjoy her meals freely.
She lost a lot of weight ahead of her wedding, about 4 inches in her waist, getting to a 23 inch waist, and as a result, developed bulimia. Her deteriorating relationship with her husband, the way she was never taught to navigate the life of a royal member with all the attributes they had, made her become more and more isolated. Her cries for help were ignored and the feeling of desolation pushed her to extreme measures, like the developed eating disorder and deteriorated sense of self: she declared in an interview with the BBC how she felt ashamed she could not cope with everything.
Life as a royal is sometimes rose-tinted by the media and the popular portrayal.
4. Affairs and love
Many people are aware of the affair between Prince Charles and Camila Parker Bowles, one that spans over about three decades, but not many are aware of the ones that Princess Diana had. There is something to be said about having an unhappy marriage, then following up with a few affairs, and never being able to find a true love that would be willing to stay beside you and face the wrath of the British media.
It’s no surprise that when one part of a marriage is unfaithful and it is almost public knowledge that they are, the other partner may find solace in someone else as well. That is what happened with Diana too. By the tapes she recorded, when her lover was unnamed, it has been revealed that one of her bodyguards, Barry Mannakee, might have been the princess’s greatest love. However, the man saw an early demise as he was removed from her security personnel and then died a year after in a motorcycle accident. The princess apparently never believed it to be an accident despite all the evidence that pointed towards it.
Afterward, the ex-royal found herself falling in love with other men as well, including a heart surgeon, but they didn’t last very long. Tragically, they were either short lived, or her partners did not want to associate themselves with her due to the media always hounding her. It seemed she could have found her happily ever after in her boyfriend, Dodi Fayed, but tragically both of them died in the car crash in France.
