The girl next door
Although Prince Charles had known Diana almost all her life, he thought of her as a playmate for his younger brothers. He later dated Diana's older sister, Lady Sarah. Lady Sarah reintroduced Charles and Diana in 1977. "[Diana] taught him how to tap-dance on the terrace," a family friend once told McCall's. "He thought she was adorable … full of vitality (liveliness) and terribly sweet." Charles was struck by "what a very amusing and jolly and attractive 16-year-old she was," Time reported. Diana concluded that the prince was "pretty amazing."
However, Charles thought Diana was too young to consider as a marriage prospect and the romance didn't bloom for another three years. In July 1980 Diana visited the royal family's Balmoral Castle in Scotland to see her sister, Lady Jane, who was married to Robert Fellowes, the queen's assistant secretary. Once again Diana ran into Charles, and the two walked and fished together. Charles was quoted as saying in Time, "I began to realize what was going on in my mind and hers in particular." Diana was invited back in September. Soon afterward, reporters began to suspect the nature of her relationship with Charles and began to follow Diana constantly.
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