Princess Diana revealed Charles was ‘disappointed’ after Harry’s birth because ‘we wanted a girl’
Previously unheard tapes of Princess Diana claiming King Charles said he was “disappointed” after Prince Harry’s birth because he “wanted a girl” have been revealed for the first time.
According to ABC’s Good Morning America, Diana recorded the audio while speaking to James Colthurst in the 90s for her biographer, Andrew Morton. In total, she recorded seven hours worth of audio. The tapes were then used by Morton to write and publish the 1992 book titled Diana: Her True Story.
The audio clips are supposed to air in an upcoming documentary about the late Princess titled, Diana: The Rest of Her Story, according to the ABC show. The tapes have been released just one day after the 26 anniversary of her death in a car crash.
In the recording, Diana makes the claim that King Charles told her stepmother, Raine Spencer, at Harry’s christening: “We’re so disappointed, we wanted a girl.” According to Diana, Spencer then “snapped his head off,” letting Charles know that he “should realise you are lucky to have a child”.
“Ever since that day, the shutters have come down. That’s what he does when he gets somebody answering back at him,” Diana is heard saying in the tapes.
This wasn’t the first time Diana’s stepmother and Charles had a falling out. In the tapes, she says Charles “won’t even talk to mummy”.
The tapes also feature Diana speaking about her relationship with her stepmother and how strained it was. Raine married Princess Diana’s father John in 1976 after her mother Frances Shand Kydd left. After John’s death in 1992, she left the family seat of Althorp due to her strained relationship with stepson Charles.
Diana said her own relationship was at times just as strained.
She explained: “I was so angry. I said I hate you so much. If you only knew how much we all hated you for what you’ve done. You ruined the house. You spent daddy’s money. I have said everything I possibly could. Raine said you have no idea how much pain your mother put your father through.
“I said pain Raine? It’s one word you don’t even know how to relate to. In my job I see people suffer like you never see. You call that pain? I said you’ve got a lot to learn.
“I remember really going for her gullet.”
Previously, it has been reported that Diana and her siblings did not like their stepmother and referred to her as “Acid Raine” and often sang “Raine, Raine, go away!”
Diana also used the tapes to talk about her wedding day, explaining how “ridiculous” she found the ceremony to be. “It was grown up. Here’s Diana, a kindergarten teacher. I mean the whole thing was ridiculous,” she said.
The upcoming documentary is said to be a follow-up to the 2017 documentary about Princess Diana called Diana: In her Own Words.
The producer of both documentaries, Tom Jennings, discussed the initial public reaction to the first documentary while speaking to ABC, saying: “When the first film came out, people were blown away because they had not heard Diana talk like this before,” according to the Daily Mail.
He continued: “It’s a style of storytelling that is very difficult to do but I think it is the closest thing to the truth that you can get because nothing gets in your way.
“It is important as part of Diana’s legacy to allow more of those tapes to be heard.”
The Independent has contacted Buckingham Palace and Tom Jennings for comment.
