Marriage to the Prince of Wales[edit]
Prince Charles, Prince of Wales, had previously been linked to Lady Diana's elder sister Lady Sarah, and in his early thirties he was under increasing pressure to marry.
The Prince of Wales had known Lady Diana since November 1977 when he and Lady Sarah were dating,[5] but he first took a serious interest in her as a potential bride during the summer of 1980, when they were guests at a country weekend, where she watched him play polo. The relationship developed as he invited her for a sailing weekend to Cowes aboard the royal yacht Britannia. It was followed by an invitation to Balmoral (the Royal Family's Scottish residence) to meet his family a weekend in November 1980.[19] She said, "I've had a lovely weekend," referring to it.[19] Lady Diana was well received by the Queen, the Duke of Edinburgh and Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother. The couple subsequently courted in London. The prince proposed on 6 February 1981, and Lady Diana accepted, but their engagement was kept secret for the next few weeks.[18]
Engagement and wedding[edit]
Further information: Wedding of Charles, Prince of Wales, and Lady Diana Spencer and Wedding dress of Lady Diana Spencer
Charles and Diana's wedding commemorated on a 1981 British Crown
Their engagement became official on 24 February 1981, after Lady Diana selected a large engagement ring consisting of 14 solitaire diamonds surrounding a 12-carat oval blue Ceylon sapphire set in 18-carat white gold, similar to her mother's engagement ring.[20] The ring was made by the then Crown jewellers Garrard but, unusually for a ring used by a member of the Royal Family, the ring was not unique and was, at the time, featured in Garrard's jewellery collection. The ring later became, in 2010, the engagement ring of Catherine Middleton.[21] It was copied by jewellers all over the world.[22]
Following the engagement Lady Diana left her job at the kindergarten and lived at Clarence House, then home of Queen Mother, for a short period.[17] She then lived at Buckingham Palace until the wedding.[17] Her first public appearance with Prince Charles was in a charity ball in March 1981 at Goldsmiths' Hall where she also met with Princess Grace of Monaco.[17][23]
Twenty-year-old Diana became Princess of Wales when she married the Prince of Wales on 29 July 1981 at St Paul's Cathedral, which offered more seating than Westminster Abbey, generally used for royal nuptials. It was widely billed as a "fairytale wedding", watched by a global television audience of 750 million while 600,000 people lined the streets to catch a glimpse of Diana en route to the ceremony.[20][24] At the altar, Diana accidentally reversed the order of Charles's first two names, saying "Philip Charles" Arthur George instead.[24] She did not say that she would "obey" him; that traditional vow was left out at the couple's request, which caused some comment at the time.[25] Diana wore a dress valued at £9000 with a 25-foot (8-metre) train.[26]
The Prince and Princess of Wales spent part of their honeymoon at the Mountbatten family home at Broadlands, Hampshire, before flying to Gibraltar to join the Royal Yacht HMY Britannia for a 12-day cruise through the Mediterranean to Egypt.[2] They also visited Tunisia, Sardinia and Greece. They finished their honeymoon with a stay at Balmoral.[2]