A Princess of Wales

Chapter Seven: The Revenge Dress

29th of June 1994 - Kensington Palace

If news about the separation of the Prince and Princess of Wales hadn't been bad enough, the British tabloids had begun reporting that a controversial conversation between Prince Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles had been intercepted and shared with various newspapers across the country. 

The papers claimed 'a tape recording of an intimate phone call between the Prince of Wales and Camilla Parker Bowles has been played to them, but at the time they had opted to keep the full contents of the call private, choosing to instead only allude as to what was said. 

This likely stemmed from the fact that, at the time, the recording's authenticity was very much in question but that hadn't lasted long with both national and international newspapers had published the full transcript of the call in all its graphic detail. 

In addition to the posh male and female voices saying they loved each other, the man also expressed a wish to "live inside your trousers or something," before joking about turning into a tampon. 

The entire situation had been deeply embarrassing and the senior royals had created an informal group of advisors to find ways to improve the monarchy's image since the damage hits just seemed to keep on coming but nothing had been done except for minor measures. 

In an attempt to mend his own image, Charles had put together his own team which had lead him to film the documentary, Charles: The Private Man, the Public Role to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Charles's investiture as Prince of Wales. 

The documentary showed Charles on his official visits to Mexico, the Middle East, Australia, and various countries in Europe. 

Charles was interviewed about his children, Prince William, Prince Harry and Princess Adeline, and the failure of his marriage to their mother, Diana, Princess of Wales.

 The Prince of Wales had opened up about his marriage, his faithfulness to his wife and the failure of his marriage that "the last possible thing that I ever wanted. I mean, I'm not a total idiot ... It's not something that I went into, marriage, you know, with the intention of this happening, or in any way in a cynical frame of mind ... I have always tried to get it right and tried to do the right thing by everybody". 

In the programme, Charles notably admitted to having committed adultery after it had become clear to him that his marriage had broken down; he didn't mention Diana's own part in the breakdown of their marriage only speaking about his own actions.

That was how Diana found herself dressing for the evening, having originally declined the dinner invitation; however, two days prior to the dinner, following several days' publicity of Charles' infidelity revelations, she accepted the invitation. 

A smile on her face as she prepared for the evening ahead, knowing that everyone would be talking about her when she climbed out of that car; she stared right ahead at her own reflection. 

In the two years since she and Charles had separated, she had very little to do with her estranged husband unless it was to do with their three children. 

William, Harry and Adeline had been largely unaffected by the separation of their parents although it was noticeably odd for the three of them since Charles had allowed Diana to keep their Kensington Apartment while he moved into York House. 

Spritzing herself with perfume, Diana couldn't help but think of the headlines that had been written about Charles since his interview had aired; everyone talking about how he had to have lost his mind to take up with Camilla Parker Bowles. 

Not when he had a wife as beautiful as she at home, how could he possibly want a woman that was married with two children rather than the mother of his three children; that many looked up to for her charity work.