EXCLUSIVE: How Princess Diana 'Destroyed' King Charles' Paintings and Art Supplies During Honeymoon Row
Princess Diana allegedly destroyed Charles' art during a honeymoon rage.
Sept. 9 2026, Updated 11:12 a.m. ET
Princess Diana destroyed one of King Charles' paintings and his art supplies during an explosive honeymoon row which exposed the tensions already developing inside their new marriage, according to a royal biographer.
As RadarOnline.com readers know, Diana was 20 and Charles 32 when they married at St Paul's Cathedral in July 1981, before embarking on a 12-day Mediterranean cruise aboard the Royal Yacht Britannia.
Diana Smashes Charles's Paintings On Honeymoon
Princess Diana reportedly destroyed Charles’s painting and art supplies during a honeymoon argument.
Despite Diana subsequently describing the honeymoon as a "tremendous success" in a letter, royal author Penny Junor, 76, has described a dramatically different atmosphere behind closed doors.
A royal source exclusively told us: "The tragedy of that honeymoon was that Charles and Diana arrived with completely different ideas about what those weeks together should look like. Diana wanted his attention and imagined they would finally have uninterrupted time to behave like newlyweds away from the enormous spectacle surrounding their wedding.
"Charles was accustomed to entertaining himself with painting and reading, and he didn't necessarily understand that Diana interpreted those things as rejection. What might have seemed perfectly harmless to him could feel to her like evidence that even on their honeymoon she was competing for his attention.
"That frustration accumulated until it erupted in utter rage. Destroying the painting and his materials was an extraordinary reaction, but it illustrated just how rapidly disappointment could become anger between them."
Inside Their Blazing Royal Battles
The young bride felt isolated by Charles’s independent hobbies.
Junor wrote in her biography The Duchess Charles had brought painting materials and books by South African writer and mystic Laurens van der Post for the journey.
She wrote: "He'd taken along his watercolours, some canvases and a pile of books by the Afrikaner mystic and writer Laurens van der Post, which he'd hoped he and Diana might share and then discuss in the evenings."
Junor added Diana "was no great reader" and deeply resented her husband's plans.
She wrote: "She hated his wretched books and was offended that he might prefer to bury his head in one of them rather than sit and talk to her."
Junor added: "She resented him sitting for hours at his easel, too, and they had many blazing rows."
The tensions reportedly culminated while Charles was painting aboard Britannia.
Junor wrote: "One day, when Charles was painting on the veranda deck of Britannia, he went off to look at something for half an hour. He came back to find she'd destroyed his painting and all his materials."
Another source said: "Seen with hindsight, this tantrum was an early demonstration of the communication problems that would haunt Diana and Charles' marriage. They were newlyweds, but they were already capable of making each other profoundly unhappy."
Camilla's Secret Cufflinks Spark Fury
Diana recalled discovering entwined 'C' cufflinks gifted by Camilla.
Diana later revealed Camilla Parker Bowles, then Charles's former girlfriend and now Queen Camilla, 79, became another source of tension in their marriage.
Discussing a pair of 'double C' cufflinks Charles wore during their honeymoon, Diana said: "On our honeymoon, cufflinks arrive on his wrists – two Cs entwined like the Chanel 'C.'
"Got it. One knew exactly. So I said, 'Camilla gave you those, didn't she?' He said, 'Yes, so what's wrong? They're a present from a friend.'
"And boy, did we have a row. Jealousy, total jealousy. And it was such a good idea – the two Cs – but it wasn't that clever."
The Tragic Aftermath Of Their Divorce
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Charles and Diana officially separated in 1992 before divorcing four years later in 1996.
Charles and Diana separated in 1992 and divorced in 1996, with Diana dying aged 36 in a high-speed car crash in Paris the following year.
Had she survived the smash, she would have toasted her 65th birthday this year.
Diana was killed after a Mercedes carrying her crashed in the Pont de l'Alma tunnel in Paris on August 31, 1997.
Her companion and suspected lover Dodi Fayed, 42, and driver Henri Paul, 41, were also killed.
Bodyguard Trevor Rees-Jones, then 29, was the sole survivor and suffered serious injuries.
The group had left the Ritz hotel in Paris shortly before the crash while being pursued by photographers.
A British inquest later concluded Diana and Fayed were unlawfully killed because of Paul's "grossly negligent" driving and the actions of pursuing paparazzi.
Investigations found Paul had been drinking and the Mercedes was traveling at excessive speed.
