Queen sent brutal letter sent to Charles and Diana ending the marriage for good
Princess Diana and Charles ' marriage was officially over when the Queen reluctantly gave her blessing for their divorce to go ahead.
Charles and Diana married in a fairytale ceremony more than 40 years ago on July 29, 1981. However, it wasn't long before it was clear that the union had been a mistake due to their age difference and completely different interests. By 1992, it was announced that Charles and Diana had split - although at that time, there were no plans for them to divorce.
It wasn't until the Queen sent a stark letter saying she would allow the couple to get divorced, but that letter didn't come easily. In 1995, Diana gave her bombshell BBC Panorama interview with Martin Bashir, where she uttered the famous line "there were three of us in this marriage" when referring to Charles and his long-term love Camilla, now the Queen Consort.
Queen Elizabeth II and Princess Diana in 1987 at the Guards Polo Club, Smiths Lawn (Getty Images)The interview, which was watched by 22.8million viewers, caused huge embarrassment for the royal family after she also said the monarchy was in desperate need of modernisation and called the prince's camp the "enemy".
It plunged the royals into crisis as the general public sided with Diana - prompting the Queen to write the letter, which left the princess in no doubt about her annoyance at the interview.
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The Queen wrote in the letter: “I have consulted with the Archbishop of Canterbury and with the prime minister and, of course, with Charles, and we have decided that the best course for you is divorce."
The Queen was given approval by both prime minister John Major and George Carey, the Archbishop of Canterbury. Archdeacon of York, George Austin, told BBC television at the time: "There comes a time, sad and painful as it is, that a marriage has to be recognised as dead, and after the shenanigans and tantrums of the past few weeks, it has been very publicly obvious that it does seem to have died."
The letter reportedly left Diana furious as she felt she was being forced to agree to a divorce - despite not wanting one. Days later, Buckingham Palace formally announced the divorce in a statement saying “after considering the present situation the Queen… gave them their view, supported by the Duke of Edinburgh, that an early divorce is desirable".
The following year on August 28, 1996, the divorce was complete. It brought to an end the marriage of the pair that began with a huge fairytale ceremony at St Paul's Cathedral on July 29, 1981.
Diana was reportedly awarded a lump sum of £17million along with £350,000 each year to run her private office. She was also allowed to keep her apartments at Kensington Palace.
However, one thing she was stripped of was her title of Her Royal Highness. She then became known as Diana, Princess of Wales. She died following a car crash in Paris on August 31, 1997, alongside her companion Dodi Fayed - just a year after her divorce was finalised.
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