Princess Diana’s true feelings about London revealed in honeymoon letter
“I adore being outside all day,” the late Princess wrote.
A previously unpublished letter Princess Diana sent to her school friend has revealed her feelings about London. Shortly after her royal wedding, the late Princess described her Royal Yacht Britannia cruise, where she and then Prince Charles celebrated their honeymoon. Writing from the family’s Scottish home, Balmoral Castle, she admitted that she “adored” being outside, enjoying the “endless sun” and “calm seas”, much more than staying in the Palace.
In a note to her former classmate Katherine Hanbury, she wrote: “We had a blissful honeymoon with endless sun and luckily calm seas… we are now up in Scotland until the end of October, which is a big treat for us – I adore being outside all day & hate London!”
She added: “Its wonderful being married – I think its safe to say that after two months…!”
The Princess wed the now King Charles III at St Paul’s Cathedral in a ceremony watched by an estimated 750 million people worldwide. Following their wedding on July 29, 1981, the couple embarked on a 12-day Mediterranean honeymoon aboard the Royal Yacht Britannia before spending several months at Balmoral.
The September 27 letter, The Telegraph reports, is part of a collection being auctioned by Katherine, a former school friend of the princess. The sale also features school photographs, including one showing the future royal alongside actress Tilda Swinton and filmmaker Joanna Hogg.
The items are set to go under the hammer at Gorringe’s Fine Art & Interiors in July, with the collection expected to fetch between £4,000 and £6,000.
Albert Radford, books and manuscripts specialist at Gorringe’s, said: “This intimate archive offers a rare glimpse of Diana, Princess of Wales, before duty and fame had the final say.”
He added: “She appears here as a young woman suspended between love and history – hopeful, unguarded, and not yet entirely claimed by the institution that would come to define her. In these small, fragile traces, innocence lingers – along with a quiet stubborn belief in something as simple and elusive as love.”
