Lady Diana Spencer broke the royal mold when she eliminated the word “obey” from her vows when she, just barely 20 years old, married Prince Charles on July 29, 1981—nearly 43 years ago. But the reason she opted to remove the key word is heartbreaking—The Mirror reports she made the change to her wedding vows to Charles amid her growing fears about his relationship with Camilla Parker-Bowles.
Royal brides before her like Queen Elizabeth, Princess Margaret, and Princess Anne had all promised to “obey” their husbands in their wedding vows, as prescribed in the Anglican Book of Common Prayer dating back to 1662, The Mirror reports. But Diana nixed that for herself, and instead said during the widely-watched ceremony at St. Paul’s Cathedral that she would “love him, comfort him, honor and keep him, in sickness and in health”—no obeying in sight.
