Princess Diana feared no one would date her after divorce because she had 'baggage'
Princess Diana feared she wouldn’t date anyone after her divorce from Prince Charles, because she thought she had too much “baggage”, according to a new documentary.
Jennie Bond, former BBC royal correspondent, revealed that Diana was worried about her love life after her divorce, which she also said Diana did not want.
Bond told Channel 5’s Diana in her Own Words: “I said to her ‘Diana, you are going to have men beating a path to your door’.
“And she said ‘I won’t, I won’t, who would take me with all the baggage I come with?’”
Diana did go onto date after her relationship with Prince Charles broke down, and dated Dr Hasnat Khan from 1995 to 1997.
After that broke down, she dated Dodi Fayed. Both were killed in a car crash in Paris in August 1997.
Former correspondent Bond, 69, formed a friendship with the princess despite her BBC job, and the pair bonded over both being mothers.
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But much of what Diana told Bond she would later tell her was not to be reported.
In the documentary, which is to be aired on Saturday evening, Bond also revealed that Diana did not want her divorce from Prince Charles, and thought they could work together.
Diana and Charles separated in 1992, but did not divorce until 1996, after the Queen instructed them to.
Bond said: “Diana was pretty unsettled with the divorce, she didn't want the divorce, she told me, ‘It's not something I want’.
“I think she felt somehow they could continue as separated but partners and parents to the two boys.
“I think she really did try to make it work, or wanted it to work.”
Diana revealed to the New Yorker in 1997 that she had thought she and Charles would be a good team, with her shaking hands and him making speeches.
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Bond added: “She found the day of the divorce extremely hard. She did go out, she was seen in public, and she was hurting badly.
“She told me that it was an extremely difficult day, but she went home and burst into tears.”
The documentary explores how Diana’s increasing distance from the Royal Family put her at odds with the other members, but reveals she tried to stay in the circle for the sake of her sons, Princes William and Harry.
The final straw for the Queen is said to be her 1996 Panorama interview with Martin Bashir in which she said she had not been supported by the Royal Family as she adjusted to the new way of life.
But it was the same interview in which she had revealed some of her hopes for the future, saying: “I sit here with hope because there’s a future ahead, a future for myself, for my husband and for the monarchy.”
Patrick Jephson, Diana’s former private secretary, said the interview was “painful” and meant there was “no way back”.
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Documentary makers Channel 5 explained: “We observe Diana break free from the royal family to find a new role, and a new voice.
“Now she was determined that her words would change the world. From AIDS patients to land mine victims, she gave a voice to the vulnerable, used a picture to paint a thousand words as she reinvented her image, and verbally fought back against those who criticised her mission.
“Diana’s life was cut short tragically at the very moment she had found freedom, happiness and her life’s calling. But death would not silence her, and her words live on.”
Diana: In Her Own Words airs at 9pm on 27 June on Channel 5.
