Royal life certainly has its appeals, with tiaras, ball gowns and jet-setting part of the deal. But as we’ve seen through the experiences of Meghan Markle, it certainly has its drawbacks.
And it seems Princess Diana was far from fond of all the attention that came with her position.
In his new book Long Live The Queen: 23 Rules For Living From Britain’s Longest-Reigning Monarch, Bryan Kozlowski sums up a metaphor that the late Princess once used to aptly describe what it’s like to live as a royal.
“[Royal life] is a bit like, as Princess Diana later described, always having to turn up on time for a wedding ‘every day of your life—as the bride,'” Kozlowski writes.
And as she revealed in her famously candid interview with Martin Bashir, she struggled to understand why she was garnering so much attention.
“It took a long time to understand why people were so interested in me,” she told the journalist.
“I assumed it was because my husband had done a lot of wonderful work leading up to our marriage and our relationship,” she began.
“But then … during the years you see yourself as a good product that sits on a shelf and sells well, and people make a lot of money out of you.”
Diana also famously admitted that it was her love for the public that kept her going, at times.
“I felt compelled to perform. Well, when I say perform, I was compelled to go out and do my engagements and not let people down and support them and love them,” she said.
The Sussexes have both been vocal about the toll that their previous royal duties have had on them, explaining that even for Harry, who has grown up in the monarchy, the spotlight has gotten increasingly difficult since the pair got together.
During their engagement interview, Meghan shared that nothing could have prepared her for the public scrutiny.
“I think I can very safely say as naive as it sounds now, having gone through this learning curve in the past year and a half I did not have any understanding of just what it would be like,” she said.
“I don’t think either of us did that we both said that even though we knew that it would be.”
To which Harry added, “I had tried to warn [her] as much as possible.”
“I think you can have as many conversations as you want, trying to prepare as much as possible but we were totally unprepared for what happened after that,” he said.
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