After four years of separation, and heir to the British throne, and his wife, , formally .
On July 29, 1981, nearly one billion television viewers in 74 countries tuned in to witness the marriage of Prince Charles, heir to the British throne, to Lady Diana Spencer, a young English schoolteacher. Married in a grand ceremony at St. Paul鈥檚 Cathedral in the presence of 2,650 guests, the couple鈥檚 romance was, for the moment, the envy of the world. Their first child, Prince William, was born in 1982, and their second, Prince Harry, in 1984.
Before long, however, the fairy tale couple grew apart, an experience that was particularly painful under the ubiquitous eyes of the world鈥檚 tabloid media. Diana and Charles announced a separation in 1992, though they continued to carry out their royal duties. In August 1996, two months after Queen Elizabeth II urged the couple to divorce, the prince and princess reached a final agreement. In exchange for a generous settlement, and the right to retain her apartments at Kensington Palace and her title of 鈥淧rincess of Wales,鈥 Diana agreed to relinquish the title of 鈥淗er Royal Highness鈥 and any future claims to the British throne.
In the year following the divorce, the popular princess seemed well on her way to achieving her dream of becoming 鈥渁 queen in people鈥檚 hearts,鈥 but on August 31, 1997, she was killed with her companion Dodi Fayed in a car accident in Paris. An investigation conducted by the French police concluded that the driver, who also died in the crash, was heavily intoxicated and caused the accident while trying to escape the paparazzi photographers who consistently tailed Diana during any public outing.
Prince Charles married his longtime mistress, Camilla Parker Bowles, on April 9, 2005. Charles became King in 2022 following the death of Queen Elizabeth II; Camilla took the title of Queen.
