Diana's age at time of marriage.

[Peedoffo]

I'm in my 20s so I really don't remember Diana. I did more reading on the subject and I can't believe the establishment thought it was ok to marry a 19 year old off to a man 13 years older than her who had no interest in her. No wonder she struggled this was the 1980s as well not the Victorian times! Could anyone around then tell me , why did her family back/support the marriage? Was there any concerns from the public ? I would be horrified at the thought of marrying my DD off at 19 to a much older man who wasn't really interest.

Oh well if refinery 29, that bastion of journalism, says so...

That article is based on another article that is based on other articles speculation. The press speculated in the same way they speculated about everything to do with her life. There was never any confirmation from anywhere. Certainly not from the Palace nor from Diana.

The only thing that was ever said publicly was by her uncle. But it wasn't based on any exam. There is no proof anywhere that it happened.

@MarshaMelrose You can't find articles that appeared in places like The Times from back then without paying. And lots of us remember those articles.
I know it is easy to try and rewrite history, but the papers did publish this.

I remember it as I said earlier. 10 at the time.

I don't dispute it was bandied about by the papers but there is no evidence that it's true and the palace never announced it had happened.

I vividly remember sitting with friends at uni, having lunch on the lawns and laughing in horror at the thought of any of our uncles making a pronouncement about our virginity.

It was 1981, and getting married young was not unusual then.
I can just about remember teenage brides in that era, and they were usually pregnant IIRC.

The average age for a woman to marry in 1980 was 22

I was only 12 when they married but I remember it well. Getting married at 19 at that time was very common, the average age then was 23 for women, and it’s now 30. So for the average to be 23 then lots were younger.

so no one was running around saying oh she’s too young.Charles was 31, it wasn’t really seem as he was some older bloke either.

to ne honest it was portrayed like a fairy tale. The reality was it was an arranged marriage and they had met twice before it was agreed. It was supposed to be his sister but she said no. Diana was very keen,

of course timed have changed, but at the time, no, this wasn’t seen as something weird or pervy

yes, this is it.. And she didn't have a virginity test, but a test wo make sure sure she could have kids. She was there to provide heirs, as she knew full well, being from an aristocratic background. Read the chapter 'I should have been born a boy' chapter in Andrew Morton's book

This was them on their wedding day, at 31 he was still a young man. They honestly didn’t look like a huge gap.

another photo when engaged, No one paid it any Mind.

Gerald Grosvenor married Natalia Phillips in 1978. She was eight years younger than him and the relationship seemed to be working. It was said at the time that he encouraged Charles to marry Diana.

Diana Spencer was young and with limited experience to avoid ex partners revealing all, but she was said to have had one previous lover.

I married in 1978 at age 20. My husband was 21.

God I just looked at that image of Charles and realised how much harry looks like him

Whatever misgivings either of them might have had they didn't look unhappy at the time. He was indeed quite young-looking. I don't remember anyone thinking it was pervy. Charles had been so harassed by the newspapers, many of us were pleased he'd found someone with whom to settle down. I recall a general feeling of excitement in the country. The Archbishop of Canterbury called it something like the stuff of fairytales. Diana's fringe was too long and the dress was fussy and worryingly creasy as she got out of the carriage. I believe they both went into with good intentions, as have many another couple, and I think they were all right for a while. When they went to Australia with William and Wills crawled to the edge of the blanket they looked happy. I have said this before: I wish people would look at newsreel of the time. Thank you for these two photos.

Harry looks like Charles because Charles is his father.

Is this a serious post? 😂😂😂

everyine knows Charles is his father, and being a parent doesn’t mean your kid looks like you. William looks fuck all like Charles .

made me laugh though.

The second photo is them on their honeymoon!!

Charles was 32. Plenty of people thought the age gap was too much, but it is true the media did not criticise it at all.
I mean if the people you hung about with at the time were the kind who loved Sam Fox and page 3 girls in the Sun, then you may not have heard any criticisms or concerns about the age gap. If you didn't you would have heard concerns expressed.

So there would be trace of the Palace confirming that? A newspaper from the time?

Thats my point. There doesn’t seem to be any trace of and actual announcement for it.

And as for ‘Diana did not say, she didn’t have her virginity tested’, that’s not proof it happened. Diana talked plenty about what happened. I am sure that would have been something she included. But the fact that she didn’t confirm it, isn’t proof it must have happened.

But as I said, there’s no actual proof the palace confirmed anything of the sort. People like you and my mum, obviously heard she had one and took it as fact, when it was rumour.

But if you can link the proof, that would be great. But I am pretty sure no such announcement was made.

That’s not confirmation. That’s a newspaper speculating. Even that article doesn’t state she has one. It says ‘it seems’ she did.

Because the news papers speculated. The palace did not confirm.

My memory is that while many newspapers speculated that her virginity would be checked but"sources" said that wasn't the case. I always thought it was a ridiculous suggestion/speculation. It's not something they could make her do is it? What would they do if she refused? Call the marriage off? I don't think so.

@TerraNostra I went to a senior school in a naice town(and a school highly sort after today). Back in the eighties, it was a five-form school. Those were the days when university wasn’t open to all, and only those more academic went, so six form consisted of the cleverer people, roughly equivalent to two forms. I’d say nearly all of these went to university or poly.

At uni, I knew several people who met their future wife/husband, and it wasn’t uncommon to go to several weddings within a year or two of graduating. From my circle of friends, most people were married by mid twenties (and had at least one child by the age of thirty).

@Logginglogger
@upinaballoon

Thats what I seem to recall. They did look happy with each other, and relaxed in each other’s company.

Thanks, so that is 40% then? That’s more in line with my experience.

Interesting though that you say that it was “before University was open to all” and that “only the most academic went”. Surely that’s still the case today?

@Logginglogger , William looks a lot like his father and relatives from his father's side.

I haven't managed to read the whole thread, but I'm struck by the people questioning Diana's need to be a virgin.

Have we moved so far now that the huge bubble of hypocrisy that we all lived in has been forgotten?

Every one of my cousins were virgins when they married, every single one. And all the babies born 6 months later at 8lb 6oz were just, you know, big for dates.

I moved in with my partner when I was 21, my aunts just about exploded. And my parents just about coped, brave face and all that.

7 years later little sis did the same and no one blinked an eye.

I'm not yet 60.