Princess Diana Felt “Totally Excluded” From Prince William’s Christening: “It Couldn’t Have Been Worse”

The Gist

• Prince William’s christening took place at Buckingham Palace on August 4, 1982.

• The event occurred about six weeks after William’s birth on June 21, 1982.

• His mother, Princess Diana, said photos from the event were “ghastly” and that it “couldn’t have been worse.”

On August 4, 1982, Prince William’s christening took place at Buckingham Palace. The event should have been a special milestone for the little royal, but according to his mom, Princess Diana, it “couldn’t have been worse.”

William, the first child of Diana and then-Prince Charles (who wed on July 29, 1981), was christened a mere six weeks after he was born on June 21, 1982. Diana was experiencing postpartum depression at the time: She told biographer Andrew Morton, author of Diana: Her True Story (1992), that she felt unsupported at what should have been a happy occasion.

Queen Elizabeth, Prince Charles, Princess Diana, Prince William, Prince Philip, and the Queen Mother at William’s christening
Credit: Getty

“Nobody asked me when it was suitable for William,” Diana said of the date and time of the christening, per Marie Claire. “11 a.m. couldn’t have been worse. Endless pictures of the Queen, Queen Mother, Charles, and William. I was excluded totally that day. I felt desperate because I had literally just given birth. William was only six weeks old, and it was all decided around me. Hence the ghastly pictures.”

Diana told Morton that she “wasn’t very well, and I just blubbed my eyes out. William started crying, too. Well, he just sensed that I wasn’t exactly hunky dory.”

Per The Daily Mail, William’s christening—which took place in the palace’s Music Room, a traditional setting for such events—also happened to fall on the 82nd birthday of the Queen Mother. William wore the antique christening robe commissioned by Queen Victoria and was baptized by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Robert Runcie.

Prince William, Princess Diana, and Prince Charles
Credit: Getty

Diana and Charles were already experiencing marriage troubles at the time. According to royal biographer Katie Nicholl, Diana hoped that the birth of their second child, Prince Harry on September 15, 1984, would restore their relationship.

“The Waleses’ marriage had been in trouble for some time, the fairytale slowly and painfully descending into a story of dysfunction and heartbreak,” Nicholl wrote in Harry: Life, Loss, and Love. “By the time of Harry’s birth, Charles was becoming increasingly vexed by their incompatibility. Diana later admitted that Harry’s conception was ‘if by a miracle,’ but there had been a brief respite in their attrition just before his birth.”

Though the closeness didn’t last, Diana later admitted that the period before Harry’s birth was good for her marriage, as they “both were looking forward to their new arrival,” Nicholl wrote. “In fact, despite the fact she knew Harry was going to be a boy and kept it from her husband, Diana said that she felt she and Charles were ‘very, very close to each other the six weeks before Harry was born, the closest we’ve ever, ever been and ever will be.'”

Prince Charles, Princess Diana, and Prince Harry after Harry’s christening
Credit: Getty

In Morton’s book, he claimed that, while Diana was excited to welcome another son, Charles wanted a daughter. Diana told Morton that her husband’s first comment upon seeing his second son was, “Oh God, it’s a boy. And he’s even got red hair.” (Red hair was a trademark of the Spencer family.)

When it came time for Harry’s christening, Charles apparently told Diana’s mother, Frances Shand Kydd, “We were so disappointed—we thought it would be a girl.”

“Mummy snapped his head off, saying, ‘You should realize how lucky you are to have a child that’s normal,’” Diana recalled. “Ever since that day the shutters have come down, and that’s what he does when he gets somebody answering back at him.”

Ultimately, Charles and Diana separated in 1992 and finalized their divorce in 1996. Diana later told Morton that Charles “told a lot of people the reason why the marriage was so wobbly was because I was being sick the whole time. They never questioned what it was doing to me.”

Read the original article on InStyle