Prince Charles and Princess Diana Were āAll Over Each Otherā During This Part of Their Marriage, Royal Photographer Says
Prince Charles and Princess Diana Were āAll Over Each Otherā During This Part of Their Marriage, Royal Photographer Says

Rachel BurchfieldMon, November 9, 2026 at 1:47 PM UTC
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Princess Diana and Prince Charles in Australia on March 29, 1983.Credit: GettyThe Gist -
Longtime royal photographer Arthur Edwards has snapped pictures of the royal family for more than 50 yearsāincluding during Prince Charles and Princess Dianaās often tumultuous marriage.
Early in their marriage, though, rumors that Charles didnāt love Diana were ānot true,ā Edwards said in a recent podcast appearance.
When the couple visited Australia together in 1983, āthey were all over each other,ā he said.
As history looks back on Prince Charles and Princess Dianaās often tumultuous marriage, it is sometimes described as one lacking affection or romance. And, while the union eventually deterioratedāculminating in their separation in 1992 and their divorce in 1996āit was anything but loveless, according to a veteran royal photographer.
Arthur Edwards has photographed the royal family for more than 50 years, and during a recent interview on Hello!ās āA Right Royal Podcast,ā he described a period in the Prince and Princess of Walesā marriage where āthey were all over each other.ā

Princess Diana and Prince Charles in Australia on April 7, 1983.Credit: Getty
āPeople say to me, āWell, he never really loved her,āā Edwards said. āWell, thatās not true, because I did that five-week tour to Australia, and I promise you, they were all over each other.ā
After marrying on July 29, 1981 and welcoming son Prince William on June 21, 1982, the family of three went on a royal tour to Australia and New Zealand from March 20 to April 30, 1983. Charles and Diana would also return to Australia in 1985, and again in 1988.

Prince Charles and Princess Diana in Australia on March 29, 1983.Credit: Getty
āIt was a wonderful tour,ā Edwards added. āBut she liked shopping and he liked shooting, and thatās the difference, and they didnāt agree on those things.ā
Edwards said that after he and Diana split up, Charles āacted with great dignity,ā adding, āI know that he wrote to all of his friends saying, āDo not any of you say bad things about Diana. Please donāt speak badly of Diana or youāll lose my friendship.ā Thatās what he said to them.ā
āOne of his friends told me that,ā Edwards continued, noting that a friend of Charlesās told him āthey were queuing up to say things about Diana, but [Charles] wouldnāt have that, because she was the mother of his children.ā

Prince Charles and Princess Diana during their marriage.Credit: Getty

Princess Diana and Prince Charles in Australia on March 21, 1983.Credit: Getty
To the point that there was romance in their marriageāat least in the early days of itāroyal biographer Ingrid Seward previously said in an interview (per The Times), āDiana told me very shortly before she died that she wished people could see the love letters that she had from Charles.ā
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Diana wanted āthe early days of her romance with the heir to the throne to be properly reflected,ā Seward said.

Prince Charles and Princess Diana sharing a kiss.Credit: Getty
āShe really wanted people to know that she loved Charles, and he loved her,ā she continued. āAnd I always remembered that. And she wanted the boys [William and Prince Harry] to know that. There was a period of great love between them.ā

Prince Charles and Princess Diana on their 1981 honeymoon.Credit: Getty
Speaking on the podcast, Edwards said that after Dianaās tragic death in an August 31, 1997 Paris car crash, he refused to take a photo of William and Harry viewing floral tributes to their late mother.
āWell, thereās a 12-year-old boy [Harry] reading these letters about his mother and his face just creased up,ā Edwards said. āWell, what are you going to do? No oneās going to publish that picture anyway, so why would you do it? And also, I thought it was brave of them.ā
āIt was a hard week that week,ā he continued, adding, āHarry was a little boy, and I remember that funeral so well because I was opposite Westminster Abbey. And as the cortege came āround, it was silent. Everywhere was silent. All you could hear was people sobbingānot crying, sobbing. And this woman said, āGod bless you, Harry.ā It was just so moving. It was probably the worst job I ever did, that funeral.ā

Prince William, Prince Harry, and Prince Charles at Princess Dianaās funeral.Credit: Getty
There was another photo after Dianaās death that Edwards took but never publishedāone of Charles and Dianaās sisters Lady Sarah McCorquodale and Lady Jane Fellowes in Paris, where they went to bring Diana back home to the U.K. āI saw Prince Charles there at the hospitalāhe was very upset,ā Edwards said. āI took the picture of them, but I didnāt send it.ā
āThat was real griefāthe sisters were in a terrible state,ā he added. āAnd I couldnāt do it. It was a sad moment.ā
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Source: āAOL Entertainmentā