Princess Diana’s royal tour led to the marriage breaking up
Princess Diana’s last foreign tour with Prince Charles – the ill-fated 1992 ‘Togetherness Tour’ of South Korea – proved the breaking point in their crumbling marriage, with aides, photographers and biographers now recalling the ‘terrible’ journey that made their divorce inevitable.
In November 1992, the Prince and Princess of Wales had been married for eleven years RadarOnline.com can reveal that any semblance of marital harmony is long gone.
Their tour of Seoul, intended to showcase British diplomacy and unity, instead exposed the deep rift between the pair to the world. Charles, then 44, and Diana, 31, were dubbed ‘The Glums’ by the press because of their joyless expressions and seemed visibly miserable; their tense body language confirmed what many already suspected.
Royal biographer Andrew Morton wrote by the time the trip began, “divorce negotiations had reached a critical stage and the Princess was in no mood to continue the empty charade.”
He added that in South Korea, Diana was “determined to show the world what was really going on.”
A former palace aide said: “It was unbearable to witness. There was no trace of closeness or friendliness between them – just two people acting out of obligation. Everyone there knew their marriage was over.”
But the tour almost didn’t happen at all. According to biographer Jonathan Dimbleby, just three months before departure, Diana “unexpectedly announced her unwillingness to go”, sending the royal staff into panic as they considered the diplomatic ramifications of her absence.
The standoff became a ‘test of strength’ until Queen Elizabeth II personally intervened. Dimbleby said: ‘In the end the prince told her point-blank that she would have to come up with an explanation herself for staying behind. To this the princess finally yielded, and meekly said that since the queen had asked her to go, she would go with him anyway.’
But once in Seoul, all hope of reconciliation between Charles and Diana evaporated. The royal couple’s icy demeanor was impossible to conceal.
Former Royal Press Secretary Dickie Arbiter, who traveled with them, recalled the moment the plane door opened, saying: ‘As the plane door opened I turned to the protection officer and said, ‘We’ve lost this one.’ The Prince and Princess were the embodiment of Mr and Mrs Glum – her expression pinched and pale, his rigid and somber.”
Arbiter continued: “Their body language was so hostile that it looked as if they could have killed each other with a single look. The dark cloud hanging over them would remain for the entire tour.”
When asked by a journalist whether the couple’s marriage was still intact, Arbiter replied: “All marriages have their problems.”
He later admitted, “It was an attempt to deflect the question, but I pretty much gave credence to all the rumors we had been trying to quash for months.”
Photographer Jayne Fincher, who was also on the trip, said Diana “looked beautiful, but she was crying with tears in her eyes. She looked terrible. My heart went out to her.”
By the end of the week, even Diana’s aides accepted that the marriage was over. One recalled “she could no longer tolerate her marriage and wanted to break away, whatever the consequences.”
Charles himself wrote privately at the time: “The tension is enormous. And yet I want to do my duty in the way I was trained. I don’t know what will happen from now on, but I fear it.”
A month later, on December 9, 1992, Prime Minister John Major announced that the Prince and Princess of Wales had formally separated, ending one of the most troubled royal marriages in history.
