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.

Agree I was married at 19 in1991 so where a lit of my friends. And we weren't pregnant.

Life was very different and also rather the same.

The press hated Koo Stark, Andrew's American actress / photographer girlfriend. Sarah Ferguson was seen to have been round the block a bit much but at least she was British and a bit of an aristo.

We weren't all simpering royalist thickos in the 80s you know. (Just like people now say 'oh, pervy DJs, sexism, teen marriages etc, well it was the norm back then.' Well it did happen just like it still does today - but that doesn't mean we thought it was OK!)

@kindlyensure

totally agree! Some people have a strange idea of social history. Also, the royal family really weren’t more popular the further back in time you go. Lots of people openly said how awful the marriage was at the time and many refused to watch. The RF weirdly seems to be more popular now than they were in those days.

It wasn't the bloody middle ages!

I think the assumption was that an immature, emotionally confused, very young, shy, naive , poorly educated, slightly frumpy, not terribly bright, but well connected young girl would be a virgin. Anyone a bit older and more worldly wise ( eg Sarah Ferguson a few years on) would be less likely to have a sexual past which was seen by the establishment as an essential requisite for the wife of the future king, though not his brothers of course. I think it was also assumed that with those qualities she would be happy to play a subservient and largely ceremonial public role to the monarch to boost his image but not outshine him, much as previous royal consorts had done. Oops to that expectation!

I am not a fan of Diana, but I do feel that she was badly let down by many people, not least her own grandmother who allegedly pushed her name forward as a suitable candidate.

Lady Ruth Fermoy is not Diana's mother. She was her grandmother - her mother Frances's mother.

Diana had to have tests to make sure she was fertile as well. Kate Middleton would propbably have had to do the same.

To cut down the possibility of scandal. The RF didn't want previous lovers coming forward to sell their story to the News of the World. '"I took Diana's virginity" says Argentinian polo player' type thing.
The marriage was arranged by Lady Fermoys and the Queen Mother. The Spencers were totally compliant. People think of the QM as sweet old lady but she was actually a devious and controlling harridan. She was instrumental in pushing Charles to accept Diana.

No wonder Harry is messed up, William must just bury his feelings. He seems closer to the Middleton's than the windsors..

Diana was a golden chalice, the perfect vessel for producing an Heir to the throne. Young and virginal. Camilla was never going to do that as she was already married with children. Very, very sad.

More likely, not less likely,

Except that they didn't! So I'm not sure what you heard, but it's not correct.

Your point about her private life being exposed is, of course, valid - but we don't need to focus on the 'virginity' aspect to know this!

I also take issue with whoever said that in the eighties only a small percentage went to university and most people left school at 16. It was the heyday of free university education, full grants and "new universities" popping up all over the place.

I went in 1983, at that point around 7% of the population had degrees. Most people did leave school at 16.

She was uneducated and was pretty much in the last generation of aristocratic girls for whom that was considered both normal and acceptable. Girls of her class were expected to become wives and mothers, nothing else. So she conformed to the norm, but my impression was that her family were thrilled that she went a step up by "bagging" the Prince of Wales. The Spencers had moved in royal circles for years and it's said that at one time they had her in mind for Prince Andrew.
Also, Charles was under huge pressure to marry and have an heir. In those days, 32 was considered to be late for marriage. Very sad situation for both of them, tbh.

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

The RF wanted a virgin for Charles.
Yes - in the 1980's.
A 19 year old is more plausibly virginal than a 20-something.

Her family was - to put it mildly - utterly dysfunctional, as was the family of the groom.

Neither family would have recognized a healthy relationship if it jumped up and bit them in the arse.

This is probably a fair comment too. Although Diana's sisters appear to have had long and happy marriages, her brother's love life is a car crash, and two of Charles' siblings didn't have happy marriages either.

It's just awful heartbreaking. It was the 1980s not the 1880s! How sad.

Yes, she was young, yes, the idea he had to marry a virgin was grim. However, the institution have at least moved on from that v old fashioned thinking.

The Queen was 13 and when she met the 18 year-old Philip at the Royal Naval College in Dartmouth. Philip started writing to her at that stage (allegedly at the instigation of his uncle who wanted an advantageous match for his nephew.)

The Queen married at 21.

I was an adult when Diana married, so remember the press coverage- her age was not a big deal- at all.
My mother married at 17, my sister married at 16- here in the UK- it was quite normal.

I remember a big discussion by the lockers the day after the engagement was announced, in secondary school in Ireland. I would have been in 5th Year, aged 16, turning 17 later that year, as were most of my year.

We were all appalled at the age gap and also how young Diana was. Iirc the likelihood of divorce was discussed, with the only argument against it being that it wouldn't be allowed in the RF, but they would live completely separate lives after she had produced a few babies.

Did the firm ever apologise? Even the queen got a love match (even if Phillip was supposedly a cheat).

I disagree.

In the unlikely event she stayed married and alive and became queen consort, she was far too flakey and unstable. As Kate will have learned, you need to be dull, free of scandal and completely reliable. There’s only so far being photogenic can take you.