It was in 1981 that he announced his intention to marry Lady Diana Spencer, and from there, it caught on: the shy Di and the great love of the 32-year-old prince. Six months of courtship brought this royal couple from a fairytale to the altar of marriage on the 29th of July, 1981, where they publicly proclaimed their official engagement on the 24th of February, 1981.
The Lord Chancellor was disclosing, by a statement, that the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh are much pleased to announce that the Prince of Wales will marry Lady Diana Spencer, daughter of the Earl Spencer and the Honourable Mrs Shand Kydd.
The announcement was followed by a joint interview with the BBC at Buckingham Palace, in which Charles expressed his delight, saying he was taken aback when Diana agreed to marry him, and she described him as “pretty amazing.” It was, however, during this interview when a cringing moment presented itself.
#OnThisDay 1981: Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer announced their engagement to the world https://t.co/TtYDvzss7c
— BBC Archive (@BBCArchive) February 24, 2016
When asked if they loved each other, Diana meekly said they did, but Charles said something which possibly or unwittingly he had said but it would trouble Diana in reflection. He said, “Whatever in love means.” This, said Diana later, was traumatic.
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Still within this rather awkward moment, the pair told of Charles’ three-week-old proposal at a private dinner at Buckingham Palace. With no time wasted, Diana accepted the proposal and left for her Kensington flat to move to Clarence House in preparation for the wedding.
On the day of the announcement of her engagement, Diana donned a pretty cobalt blue skirt suit from Harrods and flashed her engagement ring to the world. The ring was in 18-karat white gold and bore history: it had a 12-karat oval blue sapphire surrounded by diamonds and was a part of the inspiration piece for a brooch that Prince Albert had commissioned for Queen Victoria back in 1840.
The ring then became a symbol of love within the royalty and was passed on to Prince William, who gave it to Kate Middleton in the year 2010 when they got engaged.
On July 29, 1981, at St. Paul’s Cathedral, Charles and Diana were married in the biggest ceremony ever televised worldwide, which had millions of people surprised at this marriage of the future King and Princess of Wales.
Yet, for all its complications and difficulties, such is the iconic engagement of Prince Charles and Lady Diana; it was quite literally a match seemingly made in heaven, which was to cast its spell over the world time and time again.
