Though it has been several decades since her passing, millions worldwide still miss Princess Diana. Her sudden death left the world in shock, and her funeral remains one of the most-watched television broadcasts in history.
Diana’s time within the Royal Family was rocky, as the affair between Charles and Camilla practically ripped their marriage apart. At the same time, however, Diana also was also rumored to have engaged in an affair.
The “People’s Princess” didn’t have any problem sharing details about how life within the Royal Family was, and what she deemed to be unfair treatment. Several of Diana’s letters have been re-discovered or found in recent years, and now, two more are up for auction.
This time, we get to see a side of Princess Diana most will likely be rather unfamiliar with. By that we mean her naughty side, after she sent the King of Greece letters that almost certainly would have shocked the late Queen Elizabeth – and many other royals to boot.
Princess Diana’s life within the Royal Family was ever turbulent. After meeting, then marrying then-Prince Charles, the couple’s relationship developed into a toxic one.
The late Queen Elizabeth II is said to have tried to save Diana and Charles’ marriage many times. Just a month after Diana’s infamous BBC interview aired, the late queen sent the couple a letter urging them to get the divorce sorted out.
Princess Diana letters
According to royal expert and author Katie Nicholl, Queen Elizabeth saw the “damage it was causing to the monarchy as an institution” and that its reputation needed to remain intact.
Finally, Charles and Diana got their divorce. In 1997, the princess found love with Egyptian film producer Dodi Al Fayed, who also died in the same car accident as Diana later that same year.
Diana was known to have had many letters sent to her during her time within the royal sphere. Two new letters were sold on auction in February for $169,663. They reveal her true feelings about the divorce proceedings she shared with Charles.
As reported by the Mirror, the 32 “emotionally” raw letters were written by Diana to her two friends, Susie and Tarek Kasseem, during the acrimonious split. Diana described how she was left “on my knees” by the divorce settlement,and feared that the royals had bugged her phone.
One of the letters, written on April 28, 1996, revealed new details about Diana’s divorce from Charles. She said she had to cancel a trip to Italy and apologize to her friends because of how she felt mentally.
“I am having a very difficult time, and pressure is serious and coming from all sides. It’s too difficult sometimes to keep one’s head up, and today I am on my knees and just longing for this divorce to go through as the possible cost is tremendous,” Diana wrote.
A few weeks later, Diana wrote another letter: “As I don’t have a mobile, it is difficult to discuss personal issues as my lines here are constantly recorded and passed on.
“If I’d known a year ago what I’d experience going through this divorce I never would have consented. It’s desperate and ugly.”
Queen Elizabeth advised Charles and Diana to divorce
Diana also thanked the couple for letting her spend Christmas with them in 1995 while Harry and William stayed with Charles at Sandringham.
The letters were sold at auction for an estimated $110,000. Some of the proceeds were to be donated to charities in which Susie and Diana were involved. The queen advised Charles and Diana to divorce on December 18, 1995. The day after, Diana wrote another letter, included in the soon-to-be-auctioned bunch.
“I may have been described as a butterfly but I don’t want to fly away from this loving family,” Princess Diana wrote, referring to the Kassem family.
“I’m immensely touched by how protective you both are of me….. I’m not used to that,” adding that she “never had such love and support from a married team before.”
Mimi Connell-Lay, of Lay’s Auctioneers said the letters are “frankly astonishing.”
“Susie met Diana at the Royal Brompton Hospital, and it is obvious that they clicked straight away; Diana says as much in one of her letters,” she told the Mirror.
“They had a very strong connection, and what is clear is how much Diana valued their friendship and support and advice at a time of great emotional turmoil for her.”
Connell-Lay added: “She wrote a lot about what was going on in her life at the time, especially her divorce, and repeatedly referred to not having the support from the Royal family.”
Princess Diana’s tragic death
At approximately 12.23 am, Diana’s car crashed in The Pont de l’Alma tunnel in Paris, France. She received lengthy treatment by medics at the scene, but suffered cardiac arrest while in the ambulance.
Diana had reached the hospital by six minutes past two in the morning.
Upon arrival at the hospital, she underwent an X-ray that revealed she had suffered severe internal injuries. As a result, she immediately received a blood transfusion.
The passing of Diana was a national tragedy. Not long ago, an individual in the middle of the disaster stepped forward.
Just 15 minutes after arriving at the hospital, Diana suffered another cardiac arrest. Surgeon MonSef Dahman was working at a hospital in Paris at the time of Diana’s death and was charged with trying to keep the princess alive. They performed a surgical procedure, but Diana’s injuries were too grave.
Her heart simply would not restart.
“We tried electric shocks several times and, as I had done in the emergency room, cardiac massage,” Dahman explained in a lengthy interview with the Daily Mail.
“Professor Riou had administered adrenaline. But we could not get her heart beating again.”
Dahman and his medical team fought to keep Diana alive. But in the end, there wasn’t much they could do. He explained that the Pitié-Salpêtrière hospital was one of France’s best centers for these types of emergencies, and saving people brought in made him “happy and proud.”
Diana feared plot to kill her
In Diana’s case, he felt hope at the beginning. But ultimately, they couldn’t save her.
In 2003, several new Diana letters appeared, which were quite spooky to read— that time from Diana’s former butler, Paul Burrell, who had kept several of them.
She had told him to hold on to her letters “just in case,” warning him of a plot to kill her in a car crash just ten months before she died. Per reports, Diana believed her death was planned so Prince Charles could remarry.
She predicted her death ten months before she died in the fatal car crash.
Over the years, many people have speculated whether the crash was an accident. In her letter, Diana predicted she would die through “brake failure and serious head injury.”
“I am sitting here at my desk today in October, longing for someone to hug me and encourage me to keep strong and hold my head high. This particular phase in my life is the most dangerous,” the letter read, as first reported by Daily Mirror back in 2003.
“XXXXX is planning ‘an accident’ in my car, brake failure and serious head injury.”
“I have been battered, bruised, and abused mentally by a system for 15 years now, but I feel no resentment … I am strong inside, and maybe that is a problem for my enemies.
“Thank you Charles for putting me through such hell and for giving me the opportunity to learn from the cruel things you have done to me.”
Former butler Paul Burell’s role
The newspaper at the time said that they knew the identity of the blacked-out name, but would not publish it for legal reasons.
“With the benefit of hindsight, the content of that letter has bothered me since her death,” Burrell told the newspaper.
Burrell – who also spoke recently about why he believes Prince Harry married Meghan Markle – said that he decided to disclose the content of the letters after his 2002 trial, in which he was accused of stealing them.
The trial collapsed not long after it had started, as it was revealed that he had told the queen just after Diana died that he had taken many of her papers for safekeeping.
Burell began working for Charles and Diana at Highgrove House in 1987 and stayed with the princess until her passing in 1997. He once claimed Diana told him he was the “only man” she trusted.
While Harry and William didn’t have a bad relationship with Burrell, things changed when Harry, at 19, worked as an unpaid farmhand in Australia.
Former butler Burell has been very outspoken about his life within the royal sphere and his friendship with the late princess. But in 2003, his relationship with her children came crashing down.
In his 2003 book, A Royal Duty, Burrell published several private revelations which left Harry furious. Harry and William even released a statement accusing Burrell of “a cold and overt betrayal.”
Harry was furious with his mother’s former butler
Paul responded by suggesting a meeting with Harry and William to justify his book. Moreover, he wanted to tell them more about the side of their mother’s life that they had not witnessed.
“I’d love to give them a piece of my mind,” he added.
From that day on, Harry and Paul were at odds. In Spare, Harry lashed out at his mother’s former butler, saying he was “milking” his mother’s death for money. Harry said that the release of A Royal Duty “made his blood boil.”
Harry recalled that at the time, he had received word via a package from the Palace warning him of the “delicate matter.”
“Mummy’s former butler had penned a tell-all which actually told nothing. It was merely one man’s self-justifying, self-centering version of events. My mother once called this butler a dear friend and trusted him implicitly. We did too. Now this,” Harry said.
“He was milking her disappearance for money. It made my blood boil.”
Furthermore, Harry explained that he wanted to fly back to Britain to immediately “confront” Paul Burrell. Ultimately, his father and brother talked him out of it.
It didn’t take long for Burrell to respond to the claims made in Harry’s book. In a video from his home in Florida, the former butler said Harry has “changed fundamentally” and that his mother would be “appalled.”
Naughty Princess Diana letters
“What I see now is an angry, petulant, privileged prince who is constantly blaming other people and not taking accountability on his part.”
He added: “[Diana] would be angry at these personal, vindictive revelations which don’t just undermine Harry, but his country, his family, the institution – which his mother was very proud of – and his late grandmother’s legacy.”
One might think that there aren’t many Diana-written documents to discover. But of course, there are. In May, earlier this year, two greeting cards sent by Princess Diana to the King of Greece – Constantine II – went up for sale at auction, as reported by the Mirror.
They featured several sexual references, portraying a funnier, more non-serious side of Diana. Moreover, the greeting cards included handwritten messages and her signature.
The first card’s front consisted of a naked man leaning on a tree. The caption read, “Adam came first….Men always do!….”
The second greeting card Diana sent showed a naked woman with a message that read, “What’s the definition of the Perfect Man?’
It was followed by the answer: ‘A midget with a 10″ tongue who can breathe through his ears!’”
See pictures of the greeting cards here.
Constantine II was the last king of Greece, and became good friends with Diana. The cards sent to him from the princess were signed, reading: “Dearest Tino, lots of love from Diana.”
