When Charles and Diana went on holiday to Mallorca (guests of the Spanish royal family)

as head of state Elizabeth II concerned about bilateral relations with her relatives (both she and her husband, Duke of Edinburghboth the king and queen of Spain are descended from Queen Victoria), but as a mother, queen and head of the Church of England, she was genuinely concerned about the declared cold war between her eldest son and daughter-in-law. She was so worried about the future breakup in the eyes of everyone (especially the tabloids) that she sent them and two sons to Palma, William and Harry on the same plane, not to mention the fact that two heirs would never have to share a plane.

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His Majesty hoped that the couple would “repent” in the warm waters of the Mediterranean Sea, or at least, thanks to the “priceless example” of their masters, they would learn to portray regal mutual sympathy between the parties. It wasn’t like that. Charles and Diana together they only survived a flight from Lutton to Son San Juan Air Base and a short trip to the official residence of the Spanish royal family in the Balearic Islands. They were met at the gates by their compatriots waving plastic flags with princely outlines stamped on the Union Jack. merchandising recycled from the wedding hinted that the public still believes in their romance never existed.

During a press photo in front of the Spanish royal palace, the Welsh princes said nothing. King Charles III was chatting with the Spanish queen, and Lady Di was joking with the king. Nearly three-year-old Prince Harry, followed by his four-year-old brother William, brought photos to life as they played with Juan Carlos and Sophia’s German Shepherd Archie. Tired of so many caresses, the youngest sat on the steps in front of the front door of the house.

Charles then did not wait for his wife and left for the autumn Balmoral a day earlier. According to a reporter Andrew MortonDiana Spencer confessed to him that “I spent my first trip to Mallorca with my head in the toilet. I hated.” Strange as it may seem now, at that time it was the princess who envied the prince, saying that “everyone was obsessed with the fact that Carlo is the most beautiful creature in the world. What about the girl who accompanies him? I knew he was hiding something inside that he didn’t want to show, didn’t know how to use and didn’t know how to show. I felt very embarrassed.”

Despite the bitter taste, the princes returned to the island in 1987, more unfamiliar than yesterday, but less than tomorrow. This time Diana arrived a day early. As the reporter summarized Marcos Torio in his book Summer in Mallorca: “Being in Mallorca not only does not bring them together, but is also a great opportunity to enjoy their separate passions. Diana sunbathing on deck Luckhappy that the king is showing her crystal clear beaches to dive into. Indeed, she is the princess of the people, because her holiday model is not much different from the preferences of the hordes of compatriots flocking to the Magaluf area: she walks in circles on sandy beaches, only she does it in luxury. crowns. Lady Dee participates in all the excursions that the Spanish royal family improvises along the coast. On land, eat vanilla and chocolate ice cream, learn how to make windsurfing and swim with the kids on Illetes beach, close to Mariventa, one of the busiest in the city. Charles was content that the Spaniards were busy entertaining his wife while “he was running.” from the sun in search of interior landscapes to immortalize in his watercolors. Yes associated with urban disorder and classical architecture”.

The Welsh princes attracted a large number of British reporters to Mallorca, who chartered helicopters and boats to follow the waves of the royal yacht off the coast, with the sole purpose of immortalizing the princess with their telephoto lenses. Spanish photographers could not explain how their colleagues managed to get the image of Diana in a bikini and Sofia in a sarong. They found it difficult to detect that foreign competitors were using a scanner tuned to the frequency of foreign royal guards, who, unaware of wiretapping, revealed every programmed movement of members of the royal family.

For a posing session in Mariventa on August 9, 1987, local photographers dressed in shirts and long trousers arrived in the belief that foreigners in T-shirts and shorts would abide by the rules developed by the Zarzuela staff. First, foreign journalists filmed for 10 minutes, then locals arrived. However, they all merged into one.

Prince Harry, who has since had several run-ins with the press, warned them that they might run out of material when they left: “Are you done? Bye Bye Bye”.

In 1988, the Spencers Windsors again flew in the same plane in one direction. Buckingham Palace public relations officials preferred the media to discuss whether it was irresponsible to send the top three in the line of succession on the same plane, rather than speculate about a family crisis. For their part, the Zarzuela Palace’s PR team, to save itself from last year’s showing, only accredited 25 local and 25 foreign photographers for the official pose.

As was the custom of earlier years, while Charles was painting landscapes, Diana sunbathed or played tennis with the Spanish king on the courts of Mariventa. As for the good relations between the honored and princess of the peopleNorton says she hated Juan Carlos I, whom she even called “playboy” This “nice“. Ken WhorfLady Dee’s bodyguard at the time, said in 2016 that she herself confessed to him that summer that Felipe VI’s father “He is womanizer. I know it’s absurd, but I’m sure he likes me. He flirted even in front of the queen.”. In 2017 Robert Devorik in an interview with Vanity Fair showed that “The King of Spain was very attentive to her, maybe even too much. One summer he told her that she looked a lot like the British journalist Selina Scott.” After one of these holidays, Diana confessed to me that Queen Sophia did not like him very much. She flirted with Juan Carlos, but innocently, like any woman. How could it be otherwise, because Carlo was like an ice cube? However, Colin Campbell noted in his biography of Diana at Sandringham that in those days Diana found a confidant in Juan Carlos, since “she was often left alone in Marivente, as Charles spent fewer days in Spain.”

The Prince and Princess of Wales made their last pilgrimage to Mallorca in August 1990. In this case, the family enjoyed a shorter stay. Carlo arrived first with his arm in a cast after an injury sustained while playing polo. Photo of the heiress who hugs Lady Penny Ramsey they were taken to the estate and placed on the front page as evidence of infidelity. Carlo, on the other hand, was comforting his friend who had just informed him that her four-year-old daughter had been diagnosed with cancer. Paradoxically, Diana felt free in Mallorca and even thought about buying property on the island. Second Jose Marty Gomezalso an unofficial biographer of the princess, became interested in the villa, which the English builder Roy Harry Strudwick was in Port d’Andratx.

On 15 August, after past quarrels at Marivent, the Prince and Princess of Wales posed together on board the ship. Luck.