King Charles's 'unbearable' grief over Princess Diana's death revealed in $3000 letter

A letter, written by the now King in December 1997 to his friend, has sold for £1,500 ($2916) at auction.

Lyndsey Rodrigues
·Head of Yahoo Lifestyle and Entertainment
·2-min read
A letter recently sold at auction could shed some new light on how King Charles was coping in the months following Princess Diana's death. Credit: Getty Images
A letter recently sold at auction could shed some new light on how King Charles was coping in the months following Princess Diana's death. Credit: Getty Images

A letter penned by King Charles in December 1997 may shed some light on how he struggled to process the passing of his ex-wife, Princess Diana. The letter - dated December 8, 1997 - was written three months after Diana's tragic death in a car accident in Paris as she and her partner, Dodi Fayed, attempted to escape the paparazzi.

Her death at the age of just 36 rocked the entire world and upended the lives of her two sons Prince William and Prince Harry, who were just 15 and 12 when she died. While she and King Charles - who was still Prince Charles at the time of her passing - had ended their tumultuous marriage in 1996, his letter to Peter Houghton speaks of feeling an "unbearable emptiness" following the horrific accident.

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The letter suggests that Houghton himself was no stranger to grief as Charles writes that his heart “bleeds” for him following the death of “dear Liz” and that he could imagine the “agony” Houghton was going through and “longed to wave a magic wand to transform the situation.”

The handwritten letter, dated December 8, 1997 speaks of the
The handwritten letter, dated December 8, 1997 speaks of the "bewilderment and confusion that accompanies the removal of someone so young from the world." Credit: RR Auction
Charles and Diana finalised their divorce in 1996 - a year before she was killed in a car accident in Paris. Credit: Getty
Charles and Diana finalised their divorce in 1996 - a year before she was killed in a car accident in Paris. Credit: Getty

Charles also speaks of the “bewilderment and confusion that accompanies the removal of someone so young from the world." The three-page letter is signed “Charles” and the envelope was marked as to be delivered "by hand."

The letter recently sold at auction for £1,500, according to the Daily Mail.

The letter’s sale was facilitated by American company RR Auction, with a spokesperson saying that “this lengthy handwritten letter to ‘Peter’ expresses his sympathy upon the death of a loved one. Charles was likely particularly emotional at the time he wrote the letter, as Princess Diana had tragically passed away just a few months before in August 1997.”

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Interestingly, the letter also gives us a glimpse into the now-King's beliefs about what happens when someone passes away, with Charles referring to his Christian faith and quoting from the Bible.

"Now we see through a glass darkly, but then face-to-face," he quotes.

He then continues, “Personally, I believe that there is another dimension beyond this physical one and that we will be amazed to discover it for ourselves when we are eventually — or at a moment — called upon to make that certain journey for ourselves.”

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