Princess Diana’s earliest royal crush may not have been the man she eventually married. A new book claims the late Princess of Wales spent her teenage years secretly sending Valentine’s Day cards to another member of the Royal family long before King Charles entered the picture.
Few figures in modern history have been dissected quite like Princess Diana, but author Catherine Mayer’s upcoming book, “Divide and Rule: Royal Women and Their Battles,” is shedding light on a surprising chapter from Diana’s youth. According to Mayer, Diana reportedly developed a teenage fascination with Charles’ younger brother, ex-Prince Andrew.
Princess Diana’s reported teenage interest wasn’t in Prince Charles, according to Catherine Mayer
In an excerpt published by PEOPLE, Mayer writes that Diana’s romantic ideals were heavily influenced by the fairy-tale romances she consumed as a teenager.
“If Diana failed to spot that Charles was incapable of giving her the love she craved, it cannot have helped that the love she craved was a fiction — a modern-day version of courtly love,” Mayer wrote in Divide and Rule: Royal Women and Their Battles.
The author went on to reveal a claim from one of Diana’s former school friends. “Before she ever met her future husband, she developed a passion at a distance for one of his brothers,” Mayer wrote. “The schoolfriend says that every year until Diana turned fifteen or sixteen, she sent Andrew a Valentine card, anonymously, of course.”
The revelation even caught Mayer off guard. Speaking to The Telegraph, she admitted, “I was quite startled when I found that out. That was new news.”
Ironically, Diana would later play matchmaker for Prince Andrew. Years after those reported anonymous Valentine’s cards, she introduced her childhood friend, Sarah Ferguson, to him. The connection ultimately led to Andrew and Ferguson’s 1986 wedding.
Ferguson previously recalled Diana’s enthusiasm when discussing Andrew. “I said to her, ‘Oh, Andrew’s really good-looking.’ And she said, ‘Duh, Fergs!’” Sarah told PEOPLE in 2021.
The book also explores how Diana’s love of romance novels may have shaped her expectations of marriage and contributed to the complicated reality she later faced with King Charles. Mayer ultimately describes Diana and Charles as “two damaged innocents” who entered their marriage carrying “conflicting expectations” and private doubts.
More than two decades after her death, Princess Diana’s story continues to reveal unexpected twists.
TELL US – ARE YOU SURPRISED TO LEARN THAT PRINCESS DIANA REPORTEDLY SENT VALENTINE’S DAY CARDS TO PRINCE ANDREW AS A TEENAGER?
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