Princess Diana 'defied palace with final act of desperation to prove Charles loved her’
Princess Diana was hugely 'distressed' by Charles' claims that he'd never loved her and reportedly set out to prove him wrong
Video Loading
Click to play
Tap to play
The video will start in 8Cancel
The separation of Princess Diana and Prince Charles was one of the most acrimonious royal splits on record.
But things only got worse when Charles retaliated to Diana's 1995 tell-all interview with Martin Bashir with his own tome about their failed married.
In the sensational Prince of Wales: A Biography by Jonathan Dimbleby, he claimed he'd never been in love with Diana and said he only married her due to pressure from his father, Prince Phillip.
According to the book, Phillip was concerned that Diana's reputation would be 'compromised' by her frequent visits to Balmoral and told his son to either end things or propose.
"The prince interpreted his father's attitude as an ultimatum," the book read, insisting Charles married Diana in 1981 in a "confused and anxious state of mind."
Diana was devastated, and one week after the book was first serialised in the national press, a Palace contact speaking with her permission called the now-defunct News of the World.
The friend explained that Diana was 'very distressed' about Charles' claims and asked editor Piers Morgan if he remembered a set of pictures of the couple on their second honeymoon in the Bahamas.
"The snaps, she believed, were not published at the time because they were deemed too intrusive, but she would have no argument if we wanted to run them now," Piers wrote in his autobiography, Insider.
Why? "Because 'they prove he loved me."
Piers continued: "It's extraordinary she would do this, but also an indication of how hurt she's been by this particular revelation.
"We checked the safe, and sure enough there was a set of amazing photos of Diana and Charles romping together in the surf, looking for all the world like the most loving couple imaginable. We ran them under the headline THE LIAR KING."
The trip in question is believed to have been a 10-day holiday they took on Windermere Island, Eleuthera, when Diana was pregnant with Prince William.
The photographs saw her and Charles laughing, hugging and horsing around on the beach, with Diana clad in a bikini.
Years later, royal correspondent Ingrid Seward would reveal how furious the Queen had been over the images.
So much so that she summoned the editors of the country's top papers and urged them not to publish.
Speaking about the monarch's furious reaction, Ms Seward added: "The Queen was very annoyed and horrified about this."
MirrorCeleb