Princess Diana’s Sister Dated King Charles III First But Refused To Consider Marriage With Him

Sep 06, 2023 by apost team

Princess Diana stepped into the spotlight the moment she started dating King Charles III. Surprisingly, it was her older sister, Sarah, who introduced her to Charles. The late princess was born Diana Frances Spencer on July 1, 1961, at Park House, Sandringham, Norfolk. Her parents, John and Frances Spencer, were the Viscount and Viscountess of the family estate at Althorp. 

Diana had two older sisters, Lady Sarah McCorquodale and Jane Fellowes, and a younger brother, Charles. Sarah and Diana's parents divorced when Diana was 7 years old. Their father fought for full custody of the children and won. Being close in age, Diana had a great relationship with her younger brother and only became closer with her sisters as she got older. She was particularly close to Sarah, who was six years older than her and worshiped her. After she moved to Sarah's flat in Chelsea, Diana also did most of the cleaning but didn't mind. 

The sisters remained tightly bonded after Diana married Charles, and Sarah was also sometimes seen traveling with her sister, serving as her lady-in-waiting. She was there by her sister’s side throughout her troubled marriage to Charles and, according to royal author Judy Wade: 

“Sarah knew about Diana’s affairs. In a way, she even encouraged Diana to be wild and to have lovers.”

Sarah was vivacious. However, she disappeared from the spotlight after her sister's tragic death in Paris. Sarah and her other sister, Jane, traveled to France to collect Diana's remains, and she recited a poem at her funeral. She was also co-executor of her will and served as president of the Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fund, which closed in 2012. Sarah stayed close to Diana's kids after her sister's death and was included in the family portrait for Archie Mountbatten-Windsor's birth. 

King Charles III engaged in a long search for a suitable bride who would also make a good queen, and his search led him to the Spencers. 

Per The Independent, Charles' uncle, Lord Louis Mountbatten, wrote a letter to him in 1974. It read, “In a case like yours, the man should sow his wild oats and have as many affairs as he can before settling down. But for a wife, he should choose a suitable, attractive, and sweet-charactered girl before she met anyone she might fall for.” 

This was exactly what Charles did before he finally met Diana. King Charles' first love was Lucia Santa Cruz, daughter of the Chilean ambassador to London. Although she was five years older than Charles, they had a brief but passionate romance, according to The Independent. Ironically, Santa Cruz introduced the king to his second wife and said Camilla was just the right woman for him. 

Charles and Camilla dated but ended things when the Prince had to serve in the Royal Navy. By the time he returned, Camilla was engaged to her now ex-husband, Andrew Parker Bowles.

Charles tried his luck again with the daughter of the 8th Duke of Wellington, Lady Jane Wellesley, but the relationship failed following the extreme media scrutiny that followed the relationship. A future relationship with Davina Sheffield was also cut short after the press found out she had a boyfriend and was no longer a virgin. The same stipulation had cut out Camilla previously. 

Charles would date Amanda Knatchbull and Anna Wallace, who both turned him down before he dated Sarah and then married Diana.  

apost.com

Sarah reportedly dated King Charles in her early 20s after the royal attended a shooting party at the Spencer home in 1977. It was here that he first met Diana when she was 16 and he was 29.

Things didn't work out for Sarah and the Crown Prince, and they broke up after a candid interview Sarah gave in 1978. Sarah had gone on a ski trip with the heir apparent and some other friends, and there were rumors that she could be the next princess.

However, the older Spencer defused the rumors and revealed why she could not marry the man who would be king. 

“Charles makes me laugh a lot. I really enjoy being with him,” she shared and added, “There is no chance of my marrying him. I’m not in love with him.”

“And I wouldn’t marry anyone I didn’t love whether he were the dustman or the King of England,” she said, and added that Charles was a “romantic who falls in love easily.” 

Charles and Diana reunited when she was 19 and he was 32. The two sat together after a polo match, and the late princess expressed sympathy over the death of Mountbatten, who was murdered the previous year. Her words struck a chord in Charles, who was still grieving the death of his dear uncle and, at that moment, thought she would make a great wife. 

Although Sarah previously dated Charles, there was no resentment when he chose to marry her sister. She told The Guardian in 1981:

“I introduced them. I’m Cupid.”

Did you know that King Charles dated Diana's older sister? What do you think of her involvement in their love story? Let us know, and be sure to pass this on to friends, family, and fans of Diana.