Inside Princess Diana and Prince Charles' “utterly traumatic” 1983 tour of Australia

On Friday, October 18, Prince Charles and Queen Camilla began their first trip to Australia since their accession to the throne in 2023, but 40 years ago, Prince Charles and his then wife, Princess Diana, had a very different tour.

In March 1983, the then Prince and Princess Charles embarked on their first major international tour. Princess Diana was only 21 years old, had been married less than two years, and was still adjusting to life in the royal family. Her decision to have nine-month-old Prince William accompany her on her trip to Australia drew criticism

, as royals like Queen Elizabeth have in the past left their children behind in the UK for months at a time.

The pressure to be “on” 24/7 for weeks on end was daunting, and Diana made no attempt to hide it. She looked anxious, even depressed, and kept looking at the tarmac with a vacant stare throughout the brief photo shoot at the airport,” The Age reported

when the couple first landed in Australia. [Whatever the reason, Princess Diana had to work hard to make the photographer see her proud and happy young mother smile,” the media outlet continued.

As royal biographer Andrew Morton wrote in the New York Post, the trip was “a terrifying baptism of fire” for the new princess. But the princess began to find her footing and soon won the hearts of Australians.

As Prince Charles and Princess Camilla took on the 2024 tour, a familiar topic of conversation, republican sentiment was running high, and the royal family hoped that the glamorous and popular couple would charm Australians and help keep the country as part of a constitutional monarchy.

As anyone who watched “The Crown” knows, Prince Charles, nearly 13 years older than his wife, became increasingly frustrated as the trip progressed. Princess Diana's popularity soared, and crowds chanted her name and reached out to touch her. The prince was relegated to the sidelines.

The difference in their approaches to their royal duties became obvious. While Prince Charles gave formal speeches, Diana connected with the people through casual conversation and shy smiles.

The Newcastle Evening Chronicle reported (by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation) on Diana's popularity in Sydney.

Diana Fever was brewing, and Prince Charles did not take it well. Victor Chapman, who served as press secretary on the tour, received a late-night phone call from Prince Charles complaining about the lack of coverage about him compared to the praise his wife was getting,” Tina Brown wrote in The Diana Chronicle.

But while the Australians loved her, Morton wrote that the tour was “utterly traumatic” for the princess. 'He took it out on me,' Diana told her royal biographer about her husband. 'He was jealous. I understood that jealousy, but I could not explain that I did not ask for it.”

Morton, a trusted confidant of Diana's, wrote that Diana “could not bear the constant attention” from the Australian public and “her eyes were swollen with tears.

Despite the stress, the tour was considered a great success, and Brown wrote in the Diana Chronicle, “By the time Prince Charles and Princess Diana's tour was over, the monarchists outnumbered the republicans two to one in the Australian polls.

Whether Charles and Camilla's 2024 trip will have the same result is not known. Despite the fact that this will be the first time a British king has visited Australia (Elizabeth II is the first British monarch to do so), amidst growing republican sentiment, the prime ministers of all six Australian states have declined invitations to attend royal receptions.