A lot of royal secrets are being revealed this year, and we’re only into the second month of the year! Just one month after Prince Harry dropped more than his fair share of bombshells in his memoir, Spare, some secrets from his late mother have now come out following the sale of some of her deeply personal private letters to friends.
The Late Princess Diana's Personal Letters Sold At Auction For $170K
The late Princess Diana’s personal letters to her friends Susie and Tarek Kassem, which were written as she and King Charles were going through divorce, sold at auction by Lay’s Auctioneers for an eye-watering $170,000. (King Charles and Diana separated back in 1992 and finalized their divorce on August 28th, 1996.) According to reports, the Kassems didn’t want to pass on the ownership of such deeply personal letters to their children or grandchildren – although they reportedly kept a few of the more confidential ones! – and wanted to sell them and use the proceeds to support some of the charities that were close to both Susie and Diana’s hearts.
Princess Diana's letters sell for £145,550 at Cornwall auction https://t.co/TT95t4IarA
— BBC News (UK) (@BBCNews) February 16, 2023
The 32 letters are collectively called Diana, the Private Correspondence of a Princess, although they were sold in individual lots. They were written on Kensington Palace stationery between 1994 and 1997, with Law's Auctioneer's describing them as "astonishing" and "confidential." Here are just a few of the biggest things that were discovered from the letters…
1: Diana Suspected Her Phone Was Bugged
In one of the letters dated May 20th, 1996, the late Princess Diana thanks Susie for sending her flowers, which she said was "a lovely start to the week," before going on to write that she thought her Kensington Palace phone was bugged.
"As I don’t have a mobile [phone] it is difficult to discuss personal items, as my lines here are constantly recorded and passed on," she wrote, before giving Susie an insight into what going through divorce was like for her. "If I had known a year ago what I’d experience going through this divorce, I’d never have consented. It’s desperate and ugly," she confessed.
2: Diana Discussed 'Tremendous' Cost Of The Divorce
In another letter dated April 28th, 1996, Diana firstly apologizes to the Kassems for missing a trip to the opera with them, before saying she was having "a very difficult time" with the divorce proceedings. She also got candid about the "tremendous" cost of her divorce from the then Prince Charles, writing: "It's too difficult sometimes to keep one's head up and today I am on my knees and just longing for this divorce to go through as the possible cost is tremendous."
3: Diana Said She Couldn't Bear To Spend Christmas In The U.K.
In another letter dated December 17th, 1996, Diana once again thanked Susie for sending her flowers, saying she appreciated it despite "not being a lover of Christmas." She then heartbreakingly said, "I will top myself if I remain here," and confirmed that she would be trying to combat her Christmas blues by spending the festive season abroad. Even more heartbreakingly, she added: "I hope that '97 will be an easier year for us all."
