Princess Diana Tried To ‘Duck Out’ Of Korea Tour, Queen Made Her Go

Princess Diana and Prince Charles’ marriage was already going downhill before they went on a tour of South Korea. In fact, things have become so bad that the Princess of Wales wanted to duck out of the trip.

However, the late royal was left with no other choice but to join her husband on tour after Queen Elizabeth forced her to attend. In the book “The Duchess,” royal author Penny Junor called the royal couple’s trip to Korea a disaster.

“Neither Diana nor Charles could exchange a civil look, let alone a word, and the press was onto it like a flash. Things were going downhill fast and one more domestic incident, when the Princess canceled a shooting weekend for the boys at Sandringham with their father and a group of friends, including the Parker Bowles, was the last straw. It happened every year at half term and they’d been looking forward to it for months,” she said.

Princess Diana’s decision to cancel her sons’ trip with their father left Prince Charles furious. The heir to the throne realized that this was the last straw and the farce had to end. On Dec. 9, 1992, Prime Minister John Major announced the Prince and Princess of Wales’ decision to go their separate ways. However, Major said that the couple has not divorced.

In her other book “The Firm,” Junor went into detail on how Her Majesty forced Princess Diana and Prince Charles to push through with their Korea tour. She said that after the disastrous event, Prince Charles realized that there was no reason for him to stay with Princess Diana.

“The marriage was over and all hope that he and Diana might still be friends was also over. Julia Cleverdon, chief executive of Business in the Community, was with the Prince of Wales that day. She had worked closely with him for nearly ten years and in all that time, despite innumerable crises, she had never seen him so utterly miserable,” Junor said.