In modern history, the persecution of royal women begins with Diana. The Princess of Wales unwittingly set a precedent for how women marrying into “The Firm” are treated when she wed Prince Charles on that balmy July day in 1981. The next – and final – 16 years of her life would form a blueprint for all who came after her, from Sarah Ferguson to Meghan Markle. Welcomed into the royal family with open arms, the newcomer would come to be treated as a throwaway if she ever stepped out of line.
By her own admission, Diana spent her time as a royal feeling like an outsider – despite being a friend of the family who’d been orbiting the royals since birth. Before her death 25 years ago this week [just to note why we’re talking about her], she said that the monarchy never prepared her for what was to come, regardless that she was just 20 when she and Charles were engaged. This outsider status grew exponentially after the pair separated in 1992 – it seemed, for all intents and purposes, like it was Diana versus The Firm. In her notorious interview with Martin Bashir in 1995, Diana claimed that the royal family saw her as a “threat of some kind”.
