The Real Reason Prince Charles Was Jealous Of Princess Diana

Since Netflix released Season 4 of The Crown, many fans have begun to dive deeper into Princess Diana and Prince Charles tumultuous relationship. The streaming service's original drama series follows Queen Elizabeth II's reign from the 1940s to modern times. Thus, the fictionalized show explores an array of rumored royal secrets and scandals. Season 4, in particular, piled on the drama since it primarily revolves around Princess Diana, Prince Charles, and his affair with Camilla Parker Bowles, the now-Duchess of Cornwall. While Prince Charles' relationship with Camilla caused his marriage to crumble, it appears that there were other factors involved, including his jealousy toward Princess Di. 

So why was Prince Charles so jealous of his then-wife? In the 2017 documentary Diana: In Her Own Words, fans of The Crown can get an inside look at Princess Diana's personal life and her thoughts about Prince Charles. The documentary shares archival footage where Diana not only opens up about her struggles with Charles, but also her issues when adapting to life inside the royal family. In one segment of the documentary, The People's Princess gets rather candid about her former husband's jealousy. As it turns out, Charles does not like sharing the spotlight. Keep reading to hear what Diana had to say about the matter. 

While Prince Charles was born to be in the spotlight, the future king grew jealous after he married Princess Diana because she consumed the public's interest.

In a personal recording from Diana: In Her Own Words, Princess Diana reveals,"Everybody always said, when we were in the car, 'Oh we're on the wrong side. We want to see her, we don't want to see him.' And that's all we could hear as we went down these crowds. And, obviously, he wasn't used to that. Nor was I. He took it out on me. He was jealous." She continued, "I understood the jealously, but I couldn't explain that I didn't ask for it. I kept saying, 'Whoever you married would have been of interest for the clothes, and how she handles this, that, and the other. And you've built the building block for your wife to stand on to make her own building block.' He didn't see that at all. I learned to be a royal in one week. I was thrown into the deep end, which, now, I prefer it that way."  

Diana further highlighted an instance of increased tension after William and Harry were born. "By then there was immense jealousy 'cause every single day I was on the front of the newspapers." After Harry was born, she claimed that their marriage officially "went down the drain." Perhaps it was because Prince Charles just could not accept that Diana was indeed the People's Princess, as he obviously wished the spotlight would stay on him.