Princess Diana told friends she “never would have gone through with her divorce” if she had known how “desperate and ugly” the process would be in previously unseen letters.
The Princess of Wales, who passed away in a horrific car crash in Paris in August 1997, confided in her close friends Susie and Tarek Kassem while going through her split from the then-Prince Charles.
She met the Kassem’s in August 1995 during her regular visits to the Royal Brompton Hospital and went on to gush over them in the letters, often thanking them for being “protective” of her.
Now, the collection of 32 letters has been unearthed as the Kassem’s are putting them up for auction and are expected to sell for a whopping £90,000. The proceeds will be donated to charities Diana supported.
The couple said they chose to put the letters up for sale because “owning the documents is a great responsibility” which they do not want to put on the shoulders of their children or grandchildren.
Diana described how she was left “on her knees” over the divorce settlement and spoke of her fears that her phone was being tapped by the Royal Family.
In one letter, dated 28 April 1996, Diana wrote to apologize for canceling a trip to see the Kassems at the opera Tosca as the divorce was taking a toll on her.
“I am having a very difficult time and pressure is serious and coming from all sides,” she wrote. “It’s too difficult sometimes to keep one’s head up and today I am on my knees and just longing for this divorce to go through as the possible cost is tremendous.”
In another letter, dated 20 May 1996, she wrote to Susie: “As I don’t have a mobile it is difficult to discuss personal issues as my lines here are constantly recorded and passed on.
“If I’d known a year ago what I’d experience going through this divorce I never would have consented. It’s desperate and ugly.”
