With the release of the Sussexes’ revealing documentary series Harry & Meghan on Netflix, the royals and their complex love lives are front and center for people around the world, including the love lives of Prince Harry’s parents, King Charles III and Princess Diana.
When Charles and Diana famously decided to end their marriage, the said the split was amicable, but no other official reason was given back then in 1992. Although it wasn’t until 1996 before the couple officially divorced, rumors and speculation about infidelity from both parties surfaced much earlier.
It was a well-known “secret” that during their marriage Charles had an affair with Queen Consort Camilla Parker Bowles, whom he dated before marrying Diana and whom he would eventually marry years later. Diana finally admitted in 1995 — after she and Charles split — that she, too, was having an affair. Diana had fallen in love with James Hewitt, her riding instructor, and claimed they had a five-year relationship. And while he’s her most well-known relationship outside of her marriage to Charles, there are stories of others as well.
Perhaps almost as well known was the one dalliance referred to as Squidgygate. A 1989 phone call between Diana and James Gilbey, heir to the Gilbey’s Gin fortune, took a risqué turn, and in the same 1995 interview in which she admitted her affair with Hewitt, she also admitted that the call was real, but did not elaborate on whether an affair had taken place. She also admitted to a “series of phone calls” with art dealer Oliver Hoare that were more than amicable.
Another rumored romance for the princess was Barry Mannakee who was one of Diana’s bodyguards. In tapes from 1984 to 1986 recorded by Diana’s voice coach, according to Der Spiegel, she described how she was in love with someone who worked in that capacity. He had also been fired from his role after allegations that the two had an inappropriate relationship.
Princess Diana reportedly had other relationships during the time she and Charles were apart but before the divorce; However, there are no other confirmed affairs that she spoke of during their marriage.
