Prince Charles and Princess Diana. Tim Graham Photo Library via Getty Images
Princess Diana’s dance teacher, Anne Allan, opened up about how the late royal confided in her about her relationship with King Charles III, according to a new book.
Allan reflected on her relationship with Diana while she gave her dancing lessons following her wedding to Charles, now 75, in her memoir, Dancing With Diana. In a Wednesday, September 4, excerpt published in People, Allan recalled how Diana confided in her about her and Charles’ marriage woes.
“Slowly, after a few more minutes of gentle sobbing, [Diana] said, ‘I just can’t seem to do anything right when it comes to my husband. I do love him so much and want him to be proud of me, but I don’t think he feels the same way,’” Allan penned. “I just let her talk, not offering advice, but just listening. She continued, ‘I don’t understand why I am not enough for him; I think he prefers an older woman.”
According to Allan, she picked up on additional “tongue-in-cheek comments” Diana made about Charles and how she suspected he was allegedly having an affair. When Diana confided in her, Allan made sure she “reminded her how beautiful she was.”
Princess Diana Through the Years
However, after Diana shared that she didn’t feel like “enough” for Charles, the late princess claimed that she had a feeling Charles reconnected with Queen Camilla. Before Diana and Charles wed in 1981, the monarch and Camilla, 77, dated in the ‘70s. Camilla went on to marry Andrew Parker Bowles in 1973 following her and Charles’ breakup. Charles and Camilla allegedly had an affair in 1986, per Charles’ authorized biography.
The Prince and Princess of Wales. Jayne Fincher/Princess Diana Archive/Getty Images
“‘I know he is seeing Camilla again. Am I expected to accept that, like the other Princesses of Wales before, one just turns a blind eye to husbands having a mistress!’” Allan wrote, recalling what Diana told her in confidence. “‘Why does he not love me? I really don’t understand. I have tried everything, tried to conform to his wishes even though I don’t always agree. There’s no affection between us, and I am always on my own. I just want to be loved. I can’t keep going on like this. They are really expecting me to just say nothing and keep going. How do I do that?’”
In 1992, Charles and Diana, who share sons Prince William and Prince Harry, separated and finalized their divorce four years later. According to Allan, Diana’s priority was to keep her family “together.”
King Charles III and Queen Camilla’s Relationship Timeline
“I can still vividly remember the deep anxiety and dread she felt, the emotional conflict within her, and her fear for the future. It was a complex situation and she was searching for honest answers and solutions,” Allan penned. “The question of separation had been brought up, but I didn’t believe that separation was an option, and told her. The palace would never agree, and I honestly didn’t think that was what she wanted.”
Diana died one year after her divorce was finalized.
Dancing With Diana: A Memoir will be published on Tuesday, September 10.
