EXCLUSIVE: The Haunting Regret Queen Elizabeth Took to the Grave About Princess Diana Revealed — On What Would've Been the Late Monarch's 100th Birthday
Queen Elizabeth II had a deep regret about Princess Diana that she nearly took to the grave.
April 21 2026, Updated 12:45 p.m. ET
Queen Elizabeth II went to her grave weighed down by regrets over how she treated her late daughter-in-law, Princess Diana, RadarOnline.com can exclusively reveal.
The monarch, who would have turned 100 on April 21, died at 96 on September 8, 2022, with insiders claiming she also placed blame on her son, King Charles III, for Diana’s "unraveling," believing his actions set her on a path that "ended in tragedy."
Queen's Deathbed Regret About Princess Diana Revealed
The queen admitted she was wrong about Princess Diana on her deathbed.
"On the queen's deathbed, she admitted she was wrong about Diana," a source revealed about the monarch in her dying days. "For years, she had regrets about how she treated Diana, but she never went as far as to say she was wrong about Diana."
There had long been whispers that the queen wasn’t especially fond of her former daughter-in-law, rumors that exploded in the aftermath of the princess' tragic August 1997 death.
Diana was killed in a horrific Paris car crash after her driver, later found to have been intoxicated, lost control while speeding through a tunnel to evade paparazzi.
But it was the queen's response that fueled the fire: she waited five full days before addressing a grieving nation, a delay widely seen as one of the most damaging missteps of her 70-year reign.
The Queen Placed Some of the Blame on Son Charles
The queen blamed then-Prince Charles for causing Princess Diana to 'unravel.'
The queen also blamed her son, Charles, for fueling the turmoil, pointing to his long-running affair with Queen Camilla during his marriage to the much younger Diana.
The betrayal reportedly drove Diana to seek comfort elsewhere as the high-profile union spiraled into a bitter, headline-making breakdown, with both sides ultimately straying.
"The queen felt immense guilt," the insider claimed. "Had she and Charles treated Diana differently, the course of history would have changed, and maybe Diana would be alive today."
"The queen blamed Charles for causing Diana to unravel," added the palace spy. "In a way, she felt he was responsible for her death because he set her on a path with the divorce that ended in tragedy."
The queen appreciated the ways Princess Diana modernized the monarchy after the princess' 1997 death.
Elizabeth reportedly felt she hadn’t shown enough compassion towards Diana at pivotal moments, including during the bitter divorce.
"The queen ultimately admitted Diana had modernized the monarchy in ways she only later appreciated," a palace source explained.
Queen's Regret Over Stripping Princess Diana of 'HRH' Status
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The queen allowed Princess Diana to keep her princess title in the divorce but not the HRH styling.
In her 1996 divorce from Charles, Diana was stripped of her "HRH" styling but allowed to keep her Princess of Wales title and her residence at Kensington Palace.
She received a nearly $23million payout but adamantly turned down the offer of royal protection services, afraid that her goings-on post-divorce would get back to the family.
"Diana was right to feel sad, confused, and shocked by the terms of that divorce," said the insider. "If the queen were able to do it over again, she would no doubt have spared Diana grief by leaving her 'Her Royal Highness' status intact despite the divorce from Charles."
