The Stunning Number Of Times Charles And Diana Really Met Before Getting Engaged
The average American couple dates for two or more years before taking the next step to an engagement (via Brides). One can imagine that in this scenario, the pair sees one another potentially hundreds of times.
Now, take Prince Charles and Princess Diana. The lovers who weren't so much in love met for the first time in November of 1977 (via Vogue). Oddly, and as viewers of Netflix series "The Crown" know, the Prince of Wales was actually courting Diana's sister, Sarah, when the future parents of two first crossed paths.
By the fall of 1980, it was public knowledge that Charles and Diana were together. And by February of the next year, the future king of England has popped the question to a then 19-year-old Diana.
Given the length of time between Charles and Diana's first encounter, one would assume they had plenty of opportunities to get to know one another. Except the number of times the two were in the same place at the same time before becoming betrothed will actually shock you — and offer even more clues as to why their marriage ultimately was doomed from the start.
Charles and Diana didn't know one another well when they got married
The wedding of Prince Charles and Princess Diana was one of the most highly-anticipated events in modern history, with 750 million people in over 70 countries tuning into the televised nuptials. But 15 years later, the couple once believed to be a thing of fairy tales was officially done (via Insider).
Now, the world knows that there was not much love lost between the Queen's son and Diana Spencer. As she famously said about his feelings for Camilla Parker Bowles, there were three people in the marriage — and it was rather crowded (via Seattle Times).
But it turns out that the union between the Prince of Wales and his beloved bride got off to a bad start indeed, with the couple meeting just 13 times before he asked her to become his wife, according to Newsweek.
So it's true that the would-be spouses barely knew one another when much of the planet's population tuned in to see them say "I do."
Charles and Diana had a short engagement, too
According to Oprah Daily, Prince Charles was basically coerced into proposing to Diana against his will. The evidence of this awkwardly emerged when the couple announced their engagement and upon being asked if he was in love, the Prince of Wales said, "Whatever 'in love' means."
Just five months later, the duo was married. As the Princess of Wales admitted in the documentary, "Diana: In Her Own Words," "We met 13 times and we got married. I was brought up in [the] sense that when you got engaged to someone you loved them" (via Newsweek).
But, the marriage for the ages it was not, by all accounts. The saving grace is that despite the doomed union, it produced two sons, Princes William and Harry, who seem to be very much in love with their wives.