Princess Diana Press Reaction During Marriage Crisis Goes Viral

Princess Diana was hit by a hail of camera flashes the moment she looked up in archive footage from a royal tour of Germany that has gone viral on social media.

Diana and King Charles III, who was then still a prince, attended a welcome ceremony at the Neues Rathaus, in Munich in November 1987, against the backdrop of feverish speculation they were effectively living separate lives.

Wearing a wide-brimmed, black Philip Somerville hat, her face was initially obscured until she looked up, prompting a frenzy of pictures.

Flashes can be seen lighting up her face as she prepared to sign a guest book.

The moment went viral after it was shared on X, formerly Twitter, by account @historyinmemes alongside the message: "Ever wonder why Princess Diana always kept her head down in public?"

The clip was viewed 45 million times and liked 248,000 times between January 22 and 23.

The reason Diana was under such intense scrutiny may have something to do with the fact press in both Britain and Germany billed the tour as the "reconciliation on the Rhine" following what the Los Angeles Times described as "shaky times for their six-year-old marriage."

Its report at the start of the tour read: "All have devoted acres of space to stories that Charles, 38, and Diana, 12 years his junior, have spent only one night under the same roof in the six weeks prior to this trip, according to media palace-watchers."

"Because of Charles' extended absence," the report continued, "one London tabloid ran the brash headline, 'Anybody Seen My Dad!' Another advised, 'Patch Up Your Marriage.'

"Queen Elizabeth II and spokesmen at Buckingham Palace have maintained a cool silence on the state of the relationship, but this did not stop the News of the World from reporting Sunday that Diana had, in a fury, stormed out of a reconciliation meeting arranged by the monarch.

"Even the staid Sunday Telegraph ran a story about the troubles of the storybook marriage under the headline, 'A Nasty Twist to the Fairytale.'"

All that speculation may well have increased the pressure on photographers to capture Diana's every facial expression as editors searched for evidence of the cracks that were reportedly appearing in her marriage.

Ultimately, Charles and Diana separated in 1992 after his affair with Queen Camilla was exposed in a book by Andrew Morton that Diana co-operated with. They divorced in 1996.

The photographers in Munich would likely have been invited by the palace press office and would usually include local media as well as the traveling British press.

However, outside of official royal engagements Diana was also hounded by paparazzi photographers looking for more candid images of her going about her private life.

Prince Harry spoke about the media harassment his mother experienced in his documentary Harry & Meghan, released by Netflix in December 2022.

He said: "She may have been one of the most influential, powerful women in the world, but she was completely exposed to this. I saw things, I experienced things, I learned things, the pain and suffering of women marrying into this institution."

Jack Royston is Newsweek's chief royal correspondent based in London. You can find him on X, formerly Twitter, at @jack_royston and read his stories on Newsweek's The Royals Facebook page.

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