Prince Charles was not happy when he realized that Princess Diana was far more popular than him
Prince Charles may be next in line to the throne but it was Princess Diana who won the hearts of the people and soon became their queen. After their July 1981 wedding, Charles realized that Diana was unlike any other woman. She was not fearful of the spotlight or the thousands of people who would often show up to just have a glimpse of her. She was becoming accustomed to the royal limelight and she did not let fear take control of her. Soon, Diana became one of the most photographed and talked about person in the royal family. Charles happened to just walk in her shadow.
Lady Elizabeth Anson, party planner and a cousin to the Queen, told People that Diana found her way into the hearts of royal fans quite easily. “[Diana] sort of metamorphosed into a very, very elegant blonde beauty. They did a visit to Wales which was the beginning of, for Prince Charles, realizing, 'They’ve come out to see my wife, they haven’t come out to see me'," she said.
However, five years into their marriage, it was quite obvious that their relationship was slowly collapsing.
Charles started his affair with his longtime girlfriend Camilla Parker Bowles and Diana was shattered. As mentioned in Andrew Morton's book 'Diana: Her True Story', it is believed that Diana did not let go of a chance to confront Camilla about her and Charles' affair. It reportedly happened at a birthday party of Camilla's sister.
Journalist Martin Bashir interviewed Diana for BBC and, in the interview, the late Princess confesued that her marriage with Charles was not the fairytale one hoped it would be. This was also the interview which gave us her famous line, "There were three of us in this marriage, so it was a bit crowded."
There were a number of times when the palace tried to intervene with the hope of making Charles and Diana's marriage workable, but they were all disappointed.
On 20 December 1995, Buckingham Palace announced that the Queen had sent letters to the Prince and Princess of Wales, advising them to divorce. In July 1996, the couple agreed on the terms of their divorce.
While Charles felt he was being outstaged by Diana, after Prince William's marriage to Kate Middleton, he seems to have the same feelings about the Middletons.
In his unauthorized biography of the Prince of Wales 'Rebel Prince: The Power, Passion, and Defiance of Prince Charles', author Tom Bower claims that Charles felt “usurped” by the Middletons and “isolated” from grandchildren Prince George and Princess Charlotte.
The author claims that Prince Charles was not happy when the pair decided to spend Christmas with her parents rather than with the other royals. He is also unhappy about them setting up their home base miles away in order to "preserve their privacy". "Charles saw Kate and William as the new stars and feared he’d be in trouble,” Robert Higdon, the chief executive of Charles’ charity foundation in America, told Tom.