In 1981, the world was captivated by Princess Diana and her fairytale romance with Prince Charles. She was the public’s darling — the beautiful, shy young woman who had captured the heart of the Prince of Wales.
But behind the scenes, things weren’t as perfect as they appeared.
1981 was a monumental year for Princess Diana, a year that would change her life forever. While working as a nursery teacher’s assistant, she became engaged to Prince Charles, the heir to the British throne.
Their royal wedding in July that year was a worldwide spectacle, watched by millions as Diana became the Princess of Wales. But amid the glamour and the fairytale-like wedding, there were darker, hidden struggles that no one could see.
At first, however, everything seemed peaceful and perfect between the newly-in-love couple. When Charles left for a five-week royal tour in 1981, cameras captured Diana crying as she said goodbye, thought to be from the sadness of being separated from her soon-to-be husband.
But, as it turns out, the real reason for Diana’s tears was far more heartbreaking.
Real reason behind Diana’s tears at the airport
One of the most memorable and heartbreaking moments of 1981 occurred on March 29, when Lady Diana tearfully waved goodbye to Prince Charles at Heathrow Airport. The Prince was about to embark on a five-week royal tour, traveling to the United States, Venezuela, New Zealand, and Australia.
Dressed in a red coat, fawn skirt, and brown leather shoes, Diana walked beside the Prince through puddles at the airport after arriving in the Queen’s Rolls-Royce.
Just days earlier, Queen Elizabeth had given her formal consent for Prince Charles to marry Lady Diana Spencer, marking the start of their fairytale engagement.
As the RAF VC 10 prepared for takeoff, Diana stood by to say farewell Charles. The Prince kissed her on both cheeks at the rainy and windswept airport ramp.
A painful truth
This emotional scene marked several milestones — it was the first public kiss since the announcement of the Royal Engagement earlier that year, and it was one of the many images that defined Diana’s early years in the public eye.
Reports from that day confirmed that Diana was indeed crying as she parted from Charles. The farewell was described as deeply emotional, and Charles himself appeared moved by the moment.
“The Prince tried to cheer her up, kissed her once on each cheek, then with a broad smile petted her left and said, ‘Take care,’” reported the Western Daily Press in 1981.
The moment was photographed and covered by journalists worldwide, with the press labeling it a “tender farewell.”
Airport officials remarked, “We have never seen such a touching farewell.”
But as we would learn decades later, the truth was far more complicated — and far more painful.
Princess Diana’s own words
In a 2017 documentary, Diana: In Her Own Words, the world finally heard Diana’s side of the story. In the tapes she made for biographer Andrew Morton in 1991, she revealed that the tears weren’t because of Charles leaving. Instead, they were due to a devastating revelation she learned just hours before.
”You may recall seeing a picture of me sobbing in a red coat when [Prince Charles] went off on his aeroplane,” Diana says on the tapes. ”That was nothing to do with him going. The most awful thing had happened before he went.”
The cameras had no idea what was really happening behind closed doors.
At just 19, Diana was still a young woman, inexperienced in the complexities of royal life and relationships. But Diana had discovered something that would change everything: Charles’s ongoing relationship with Camilla Parker Bowles.
”I was in his study talking to him about his trip,” Diana recalled. ”The telephone rang; it was Camilla, and just before he was going for five weeks. So I thought, ‘Shall I be nice, or shall I just sit here?’ So I thought I’d be nice, so I left them to it. And it just broke my heart, that.”
