EXCLUSIVE: Radar Reveals the One Heart-Rending Reason Princess Diana's Mother Couldn't Stop Weeping at Her Daughter's Wedding to Prince Charles
Princess Diana’s mother was reportedly overcome with emotion at wedding.
May 22 2026, Published 10:00 a.m. ET
RadarOnline.com can reveal Princess Diana was left devastated on her wedding day to the then-Prince Charles after her mother, Frances Shand Kydd, spent much of the historic occasion in tears – as the big day reopened painful wounds from a fractured mother-daughter relationship which haunted Diana since childhood.
The future Princess of Wales, then 20, married Charles when he was aged 32 at St Paul's Cathedral on July 29, 1981, in a ceremony watched by hundreds of millions around the world and later immortalized as one of the defining royal events of the 20th century.
Diana Faced Secret Tears on Wedding Day
The Princess of Wales married Charles at St Paul's Cathedral in 1981.
But behind the spectacle of the fairytale wedding, Diana privately struggled with deep emotional tensions involving her mother.
That's according to revelations published in Andrew Morton's explosive biography Diana: Her True Story, which was created with extensive cooperation from Diana herself.
The book states Kydd, who died in 2004 aged 68, became overwhelmed by anxiety and emotion in the days surrounding the wedding and felt painfully excluded from preparations for her daughter's royal future.
"She kept crying and being all valiant and saying that she couldn't cope with the pressure – I tended to think I was the one under pressure because I was the bride," Diana told Morton.
According to royal insiders, the emotional scenes reflected decades of unresolved pain between mother and daughter dating back to Diana's early childhood.
Childhood Trauma Haunts Tragic Princess
Frances Shand Kydd spent much of Princess Diana's wedding in tears.
One source told us: "For Diana, the wedding was meant to symbolize far more than simply marrying the future King. Emotionally, she hoped it would mark the start of a happier, more secure chapter in her life after years of personal instability and complicated family relationships. But beneath all the pageantry and fairytale imagery, there were still deep unresolved wounds between her and Frances that had never truly been addressed."
The insider added: "What made the day especially painful for Diana was that instead of feeling emotionally reassured by her mother, she found herself distressed by Frances's visible anxiety, tears and inability to cope with the pressure surrounding the wedding. Diana already felt enormous scrutiny and expectation resting on her shoulders as the bride, so seeing her mother emotionally unravel during such an important moment intensified her sense of isolation.
"And those childhood feelings of abandonment never fully disappeared for Diana. The trauma of watching her mother leave when she was young stayed with her throughout adulthood and resurfaced repeatedly during major emotional milestones. There was always a part of Diana still longing for unconditional maternal support, and sadly she often felt that she was the one comforting or managing Frances emotionally rather than receiving comfort herself."
Spencer Reveals Heartbreak of Mother's Exit
Kydd left Diana's father following a bitter divorce battle in 1969.
The breakdown in the relationship between Diana and her mother reportedly stretched back to 1969 when Kydd left Diana's father, John Spencer, following a bitter divorce battle.
Diana was seven years old when custody of the children was awarded to their father. Diana's younger brother, Charles Spencer, 62, later described the heartbreak the separation caused his sister.
He recalled: "Diana used to wait on the doorstep for her, but she never came. Spencer added their father "was a quiet, constant source of love, but our mother wasn't cut out for maternity – she couldn't do it."
Kydd had left the Spencer family home after falling in love with businessman Peter Shand Kydd, who she later married before divorcing in 1988.
In later years, she reportedly blamed the intense global fascination surrounding Diana for contributing to the collapse of her second marriage.
Kydd later said: "I think the pressure of it all was overwhelming and, finally, impossible for Peter. They didn't want him. They wanted me. I became Diana's mum, and not his wife."
The Brutal Phone Call That Broke Diana
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Former butler Paul Burrell claimed he once overheard a furious phone call.
Relations between Diana and her mother deteriorated even further after Diana separated from Charles in 1992 and later divorced him in 1996.
Diana's former butler, Paul Burrell, claimed he once overheard Kydd unleashing a furious verbal attack against her daughter during a phone call said to have left Diana "crumpled on the sitting room carpet, sobbing into her white bathrobe."
The final rupture reportedly came after Diana lost her HRH title following the divorce.
Kydd later described the decision as "absolutely wonderful" – a remark said to have devastated Diana in the final year before her death in Paris at 36 on August 31, 1997.
