Before Lady Diana Spencer married Prince Charles in 1981, the future king had been romantically linked to her older sister, Lady Sarah Spencer. In the late 1970s, Sarah, a red-haired young woman from a family closely connected to the royal household, appeared to be a possible match for the prince. The pair spent time together, including a skiing holiday in Klosters, Switzerland, in 1978, prompting speculation about a possible engagement. But Sarah soon gave an interview to journalists Nigel Nelson and James Whitaker that reportedly brought their relationship to an abrupt end. She openly stated that she was not in love with Charles and would refuse to marry him if he proposed, insisting that she would only marry for love. The interview also included personal details about her past, and reports later suggested that Charles was furious when he read it.
According to royal biographers, Sarah quickly realized that speaking so candidly to the press had been a serious mistake. Attempts to explain or challenge how the interview had been obtained reportedly did little to repair the damage, and her romance with Charles ended. Sarah eventually married Neil Edmund McCorquodale in 1980, but her connection to the prince took an unexpected turn when she introduced him to her younger sister Diana. Charles and Diana grew closer after meeting at the Spencer family home, Althorp, and their relationship developed into a royal engagement. They married on July 29, 1981, in a ceremony watched around the world and later welcomed two sons, Prince William and Prince Harry. Their marriage ultimately ended in divorce, and Diana died in a Paris car crash in 1997, at age 36. Charles married Camilla in 2005, decades after their relationship first began. Sarah remained close to Diana’s family and later served as president of the Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fund until it closed in 2012. Her decision to speak openly about Charles may have changed her own romantic future, but it also helped set the stage for one of the most famous royal relationships in modern history.
