Real reason why Diana ‘lacked discipline Royal Family expected from her’ revealed
PRINCESS DIANA is often recognised as the royal rebel, and an unearthed biography has revealed a potential reason why she "lacked the discipline" the monarchy expects from all those within the royal fold.
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Diana was initially considered a perfect match for the heir to the throne, Prince Charles, as she was from the aristocratic Spencer family and hit it off with the Prince of Wales. However, a few years into the marriage, she began to rebel against royal conventions and expectations, winning the nation’s heart in the process. Her explosive 1995 Panorama interview shocked the country as well the Royal Family when she openly defied the “never complain, never explain” mantra of The Firm.
Diana’s decision to speak out also pushed the Queen to request the couple to finally divorce after three years of separation.
Writing in his 2007 biography ‘Charles: The man who will be King’, Howard Hodgson revealed a key difference between Charles’ childhood and Diana’s which may have led to her willingness to rebel against convention.
Even though both were sent to boarding schools which they thoroughly disliked, their response to the difficult environments varied hugely.
Mr Hodgson explained: “Unlike the Prince of Wales, Diana was also quick to bombard her parents with pleading letters saying how unhappy she was and begging them to take her away without delay.
“The fact that they acquiesced after just one term is in stark contrast to the years of misery suffered by Charles at Gordonstoun and perhaps offers more than a little explanations to why, in her later role, she often lacked the discipline that her husband and his family expected of her.”
The biographer explained how Charles was sent to Gordonstoun, a boarding school in Scotland, far away from his family, where his father Prince Philip hoped he would ‘toughen up’ and become more stoic.
Charles is reported to have dubbed it ‘Colditz in kilts’ and a “prison sentence”, but he stuck it out from 1962 to 1967.
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Diana was sent to a finishing school called Institut Alpin Videmanette in Switzerland after failing her O-levels twice.
The lessons were to be taught entirely in French even though when she arrived, her understanding of the language was poor.
She subsequently became much more timid, afraid to embarrass herself.
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As Mr Hodgson explained, “the result was that she had difficulty fitting in socially and her class work — which she had always found difficult enough in her native tongue — was now nothing short of pathetic”.
Yet, while Charles’ complaints were ignored, Diana’s parents relented after a term and she moved in with her mother Frances Shand Kydd in Knightsbridge.
The Prince of Wales has since been much warmer about his boarding school experience.
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In a 1974 interview with the Observer, the heir said: “I am glad I went to Gordonstoun.”
He claimed that “it wasn't the toughness of the place” which has been “much exaggerated” but an “emphasis on self-reliance” which he enjoyed.
He claimed: "I didn't enjoy school as much as I might have, but that was only because I'm happier at home than anywhere else."