Hearts broke around the world when news broke of Princess Diana’s tragic death on August 31, 1997.
And while Prince Charles may have appeared composed as he comforted the couple’s two sons – William and Harry – at such a terrible and heartbreaking time, behind palace walls the Prince of Wales ‘fell apart.’
“The news hit him hard,” explains royal author Tina Brown.
“He was worried about the fallout from the public, and the impact it would have on their sons.”
She continued: “He was absolutely distraught. He fell apart. He knew, instantly, that this was going to be a terrible thing, that he will be blamed, that they (the Royal family) will be blamed, for the death of Diana.”
When Diana died after a car crash in Paris, Prince Charles had to break the news to William and Harry.
“How you deal with that, I don’t know,” Harry, who was just 12 at the time, told BBC documentary Diana, 7 Days back in 2017.
“One of the hardest things for a parent to have to do is to tell your children that other parent has died.”